Products That Count
Product Talk
EP39- Products That Count: Product School Founder and CEO on What Makes a Great Product Manager
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EP39- Products That Count: Product School Founder and CEO on What Makes a Great Product Manager

Founder and CEO of Product School, Carlos González de Villaumbrosia, talks about his insights into what makes a great product manager in this episode. Carlos started his career in software development in Spain—but he knew he always wanted to be in Silicon Valley because he was very excited about technology. Carlos mentions to me that in addition to engineering, he also went to business school. Both career paths were great in their own respect—but he wanted to find something in the middle. Engineering, as he recalls, was very low-level and technical and business school was very high-level and strategic. That’s where he found product management—his passion and dream.

On the show, you’ll hear how Carlos found the formula with Product School where people can learn the latest and greatest with product management and tech while keeping their life. He also provides advice to companies who are looking to hire for their first product role and beyond. His top three product management qualities to look for in any product person includes:

  • Technical Skills: When talking about software (or websites and applications) you need to be comfortable understanding and knowing how the technology works. It doesn’t mean you need to be a software engineer, but, you need to know about the technical inner workings of the product itself.

  • Industry Domain: Products vary from industry, market, country. You’ll have an advantage if you understand your target market, customer, and product market.

  • Communication Skills: As a product manager, you’re going to spend most of your time communicating rather than executing. You need to know how to talk to all different types of people from all different departments and beyond. It’s the 80/20 rule.

Click the link to find out more about, The Product Book: How to Become a Great Product Manager, a book inspired by the learnings and curriculum of Product School.

To get more insights on product management visit Product School to see their events or join their free Slack Community. To connect with Carlos, find him on LinkedIn.

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Products That Count
Product Talk
Produced by Products That Count, a 501(c)3 nonprofit that helps everyone build great products, this podcast is an award-winning show by and for product minds, with millions of downloads and a 5-star rating on most major platforms. Each of the 300+ episodes features a product leader interviewing another product leader and exploring what it takes to build great products. Recent ones feature the Chief Product Officers of Brex, Glassdoor, Experian and more.
About Us: Products that Count is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that helps everyone build great products. It celebrates product excellence through coveted Awards that inspire 500,000+ product managers and honor great products and the professionals responsible for their success. It accelerates the career and rise to the C-suite of 30% of all Product Managers globally by providing exceptional programming – including award-winning podcasts and popular newsletters – for free. It acts as a trusted advisor to all CPOs at Fortune 1000, and publishes key insights from innovative companies, like Capgemini, SoFi, and Amplitude, that turn product success into business success. Learn more at ProductsThatCount.com.