Product Innovation Series with Aram Melkoumov

Product managers in many ways hold the whole business together. They are tasked with understanding what the customer wants and needs, then turning that into an actual product. In this conversation Burak Kantarci shares how he manages product at Thundra and his takeaways after moving from a designer role into product.

Show Notes

About Burak
Burak Kantarci is a Product Manager at Thundra where his main goals are to simplify developers’ daily life and make their workflows more errorless and enjoyable. He lives in Turkey and has a degree in Computer Science.

SHOW NOTES:
0:00 | Introduction to Burak Kantarci
1:17 | Original product at Thundra and the different pivots it has undergone
6:24 | Metrics to track as a product leader before pivoting
9:31 | How to prioritize products
15:52| Burak’s biggest takeaways going from a product designer to a product manager
18:04| Current working framework on his role
22:51 | How to keep product vision in alignment with other stakeholders
25:50 | Key product lessons/ principles Burak keeps coming back to when stuck
30:18 | Parting wisdom and golden takeaways
32:24 | Wrap-up

QUOTES:
“Getting your hands dirty is the only way to understand the problem and the solution of a product.” [17:40]

“Repetition creates clarity and alignment of a company’s product purpose. Product managers should derive a way of constantly communicating the purpose to the stakeholders. This can be through frequent memos.” [24:30]

“Know your superpowers as a product manager, and be aware of the company culture and leadership. It helps you do actionable things” [30:45]


Connect with Burak Kantarci

Personal Website: https://www.burakkantarci.com/
Company’s Website: https://www.thundra.io/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burakkantarci/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/kantarci
Email: burakkantarci.08@gmail.com

What is Product Innovation Series with Aram Melkoumov?

Product Innovation Series is an in-depth interview series featuring product & innovation leaders from small startups all the way to Fortune 500 behemoths. Our guests share their battle-tested perspective on what prevents teams from shipping a great product.
The show is hosted by Aram Melkoumov, the CEO of Crowdlinker.