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‘A Product Manager’s Best Friend’ is a series aimed at demystifying the role for young product managers. I’m Jared, a PM who has worked in…

'A Product Manager's Best Friend' is a series aimed at demystifying the role for young product managers. I'm Jared, a PM who has worked in a wide range of environments (fintech & adtech, seed stage startup to large publicly traded tech & financial services companies, remote and colocated, etc.

A Product Manager’s best friend: Blogs & Twitter.

A Product Manager’s best friend: Customer Feedback.

This post is part of the series, 'A Product Manager's Best Friend.' Click here for more posts.

A Product Manager’s best friend: Drawing (Sketching & Wire-framing).

This post and ensuing series was inspired by a thought I had last week: Although "secret weapon" was appropriately clickbait-y, it was dramatic and incomplete. I was going to write specifically about DevOps (save the 'devops' phrase bashing for the actual DevOps post; I'll try to do it justice) and

A Product Manager’s best friend.... a series to demystify the job for young PM’s.

A process for aligning and communicating early & often.

I wrote this post following an interesting tweet thread regarding communicating in a <50 person org.

I posted the above thread on Twitter and figured I'd cross-post here: 1/ I've been working as a Product Manager for a decade now. The word 'decade' makes it sound like a long time.

Some thoughts following 10+ years as a product manager working on digital products.

E-commerce Predictions: Will consumers choose cryptocurrency to shop online?

Shilo Jones and his team at Statbid conduct an interesting survey each year polling participants on various e-commerce predictions. This years results of the 2022 survey can be found here.

One of the questions was “what percentage of e-commerce transactions will be made using some form of crypto currency 5 years from now?”

The respondents were surprisingly optimistic.

Having crossed professional paths in the past, Shilo reached out to ask me if I’d be interested in sharing a response to the results. I’m in no way an expert on the crypto space but I thought this would be a fun thought exercise so I shared the response below.

My response:

It takes a very, very long time for anything to change when it comes to the payments space, especially when it comes to payment method adoption by consumers. One simple reason for this is that it’s really hard to change user behavior without a 10x improvement in both user experience and end user value. Cash works, and everyone already knows how to use it. Debit and credit cards work really well, and people know how to use them. They also provide a lot of value to consumers (rewards, protections, security, etc.). For a new payment method to gain adoption, it’s going to need to be 10x easier, safer, and provide significantly more value to the end user, and that’s extremely difficult to do. Think about Apple Pay penetration… amazing user experience, but still not quite dead simple for the masses to figure out. Additionally, there’s always a classic chicken and egg problem when it comes to payments. Like Apple Pay, crypto will have to overcome a chicken and egg problem between merchants and consumers for use cases around payments to gain clarity. Nothing changes fast, and 5 years is categorized as lightning fast in this context.

Crypto is still considered a frontier technology (one that doesn’t have mass adoption, or even value prop clarity). It’s extremely early… promising, but early. The value prop for merchants in the US to accept crypto payments isn’t remotely clear at this point in time, and it’s largely dependent on the value prop and penetration for consumers (hence the chicken and egg problem). This is the crux of the issue. It’s not yet clear what the value prop is for many of the current cryptocurrencies and cryptoassets for consumers. Many theories exist, and there are some benefits, but nothing with certain and obvious clarity at this stage. When it comes to Bitcoin in particular, it doesn’t make sense for most people to want to spend it within the next 5 years, as it’s currently designed to satisfy the store of value/digital gold use case. And this is OK. If it is to have a shot at being used for transactions in the future, it likely needs to be a trustworthy store of value first, and that is going to take many years to work itself out. It doesn’t make sense for the masses to want to give up any of an asset that is being used as a store of value (especially one that is expected to grow significantly in value). Aside from that angle, there are all of the obvious holes that are going to take a few years to fill around custody, key and recovery phrase management, taxes, regulatory clarity, etc.

From a merchant perspective, we have to think about the value prop to them here in the US, and it’s far from clear. They have to deal with all of the same issues that consumers do around custody and that’s no easy feat for most businesses. There’s just not a clear benefit to most merchants to accept crypto in the US until the value prop for consumers to earn, hold, and spend crypto clarifies itself.

With all of this being said, I can envision a future where an ‘internet money’ gains traction and provides a lot of value to both merchants and consumers, but we’re likely more than a decade away, if it even ends up happening at all. Until the full ecosystem gets built out, there won’t be mass adoption. This ecosystem will have to include everything from crypto dispersed payroll and retirement contributions to lending and borrowing instruments. We’re already seeing lending products come to market like the folks at BlockFi. It’s likely that payments is just one use case that crypto proves useful for, but it won’t happen in the next 5 years. We first need to see if the store of value use case pans out. After all, what merchant will want to accept something that isn’t considered a trustworthy store of value? It’s extremely exciting to think about the progress that will be made over the next 5 years in the crypto space regarding regulations, taxes, custody, onramps, and new value props while we learn if bitcoin satisfies the digital gold use case.

My advice to any retailer thinking about accepting crypto as a form of payment would be to think long and hard about who your customer (or desired customer) is and what value they’re getting out of paying in crypto. It’s unlikely that the demand is there yet. You may get more PR value out of headlines promoting that you’re accepting crypto than you will out of new customers that shop with you due to the fact that you’re accepting some form of it. If you think there’s value and want to explore it further, then reach out to Coinbase about their Coinbase Commerce product. I’m pretty sure they aren’t even charging for the service at this time. If you’re already a believer in the likelihood of bitcoin becoming a store of value with an increasing price (and if you have the risk appetite for it), then it’s probably worth adding it to your website even if you only get a few sales, because those few sales just may end up being worth significantly more in the future than if they paid in fiat. But know that it’s a huge ‘if’, and you’ll need to learn to store it securely.

The rest can be read on Statbids blog post: https://www.statbid.com/blog/will-consumers-choose-cryptocurrency-to-shop-online

“1/ Why I'm excited about remote work: An advantage of growing older is that you become more comfortable with who you are. At least this is true for me. It's quite liberating.”

A thread on why I’m excited about remote work (hint: it’s not always about traveling and working from anywhere in the world).

Crossposting this short Twitter thread. 1/ That feeling in the air & your body just prior to releasing your startups first product to the 🌎 is 1 of the best you’ll ever feel professionally.

A tweet thread about the time leading up to the launch of Blispay and the time period that immediately followed.

2/ I’m going to share short and concise opinions each day and see how long I can go on for. Note that personal finance is highly…

Over 100+ tweets of tips, recommendations, and explanations.

Thankfully, perseverance is a great substitute for talent.

Steve Martin

#quote #steve martin

…you must realize that anything you measure automatically creates a set of employee behaviors. Once you determine the result you want, you need to test the description of the result against the employee behaviors that the description will likely create. Otherwise, the side effect behaviors may be worse than the situation you were trying to fix.

Via ‘The hard thing about hard things’ by Ben Horowitz

Elegantly describes the very serious problem I see happening when company leaders attempt to focus on some metrics without digging in to understand why they are what they are.

#business #the hard thing about hard things #ben horowitz #quotes

In good organizations, people can focus on their work and have confidence that if they get their work done, good things will happen for both the company and them personally. It is a true pleasure to work in an organization such as this. Every person can wake up knowing that the work they do will be efficient, effective, and make a difference for the organization and themselves. These things make their jobs both motivating and fulfilling. In a poor organization, on the other hand, people spend much of their time fighting organizational boundaries, infighting, and broken processes. They are not even clear on what their jobs are, so there is no way to know if they are getting the job done or not.

'The hard thing about hard things' by Ben Horowitz

#quotes #business #startup culture #book #ben horowitz #the hard thing about hard things

Personal Finance Kick

My sole purpose with this post is to provide transparency into how I’ve saved money. My goal is to help my peers realize why and how they should start saving ASAP. At a minimum, read some of the material I recommend. This is not a ‘how-to’ guide. This should serve as an example and a motivator.

If you don’t feel like reading this in its entirety then just read this and fund an account with Wealthfront.

PHASE 1: GET STARTED

I began interning for Bill Me Later while attending Loyola College in Maryland as a full time student during my sophomore year. I was working about 30 hours a week while attending school full time. I wasn’t making that much money but it wasn’t too little.

My Actions:

Cashed each of my paychecks and spent the money during the weekends and on housing utilities.

Advice: If you’re still in college, get an internship. It was one of the most impactful decisions of my life. Also, don’t spend every dollar you make just because you aren’t sure what else to do with it.

PHASE 2: EVOLVE

I transitioned to a part time employee during my senior year after we were acquired by eBay/PayPal because I was working enough hours. This enabled me to take advantage of tuition reimbursement among other benefits. I also started making a little more money. At this point, I felt a desire to become financially responsible and knew I couldn’t keep cashing and spending my paychecks.

My Actions:

Opened a Mint account to understand how much I was earning and spending, and what I was spending on.

Created a spreadsheet to track my financial situation, updating it every single paycheck, which I still do to this day.

Read the book, I will Teach You To Be Rich. It’s super easy to read and super informative. Teaches you about choosing credit cards, bank accounts, investment accounts, budgeting, and saving automation.

Bought some mutual funds through a financial advisor, paying 1% annually for his services.

Started contributing to my 401k (account with Charles Schwab).

Opened an ING Savings Account which was paying ~2% interest at the time.

Got the Bank Of America Visa World Points credit card and negotiated a lower interest rate and higher credit limit.

Advice: Open a Mint account if you can’t easily state how much you make on average and how much you spend. If you don’t have a credit card or understand how to choose a good one and even lower your interest rates, or have a checking account, or a savings account, or investment accounts (taxable and retirement), then read I will Teach You To Be Rich because it’ll take you one night and will be the best $14 you ever spent. It should be required reading in high school. At a minimum, always contribute the amount that your company matches on your 401k.

PHASE 3: GROW UP

I graduated in the summer of 2009 and transitioned into a full-time employee with Bill Me Later/PayPal. Not much changed besides the amount of money I was making considering I was already contributing to my 401k, adding to my savings account, and paying off my credit cards (all thanks to the book I had read a few months earlier). I saved as much as possible that year so I could try to buy a house at the end of 2010 at 23 years old.

My Actions:

Terminated relationship with financial advisor and moved my mutual funds into an eTrade brokerage account to manage on my own.

Bought my first house. Got a great deal on a foreclosure and went with a 5/1 arm.

Got the American Express Starwood Preferred Guest credit card.

Advice: Buying a house was one of the best financial decisions I ever made, considering it appraised 3 years later for 25% more. I wouldn’t have been able to do this if I didn’t save in the prior year, or if I lived in many other cities besides Baltimore. Living in Baltimore was a conscious decision that has played a big role in my ability to save money. And no, it’s not as bad as The Wire (best show of all time) makes it out to be. Now I’m better prepared to live in more expensive cities when the time comes. When you're our age, buy a house that you can easily afford in a desirable area.

PHASE 4: STRATEGIZE

2013 was the year I decided to take a bigger interest in my finances by defining a savings and investment strategy. This required me to do some research to develop an understanding of some theories, some history, and to search for people I want to be like and emulate.

My Actions:

Got married (not really going to help you but it certainly impacts your personal finances in one way or another).

Refinanced my home with Quicken Loans (who was fantastic to work with).

Read the book, A Random Walk Down Wall Street by Burton Malkiel who is also the Chief Investment Officer at Wealthfront.

Read the book, The Elements of Investing by Burton Malkiel and Charles Ellis.

Read the book, The Four Pillars of Investing, by William Bernstein.

Connected my accounts (and my wifes) to Personal Capital to help me understand what expenses are associated with funds I’m invested in, and how many years of retirement I could be wasting. Does a great job of showing our entire portfolio.

Updated my spreadsheet that I started in 2007 and have updated every pay period since then to include my wifes assets as well so we can track past earnings and forecast going forward.

Opened a taxable investment account with Wealthfront. I’ve become a huge fan of the product but more-so of the company.

Opened a taxable investment account with Betterment. I primarily opened this because I wasn’t sure if I was ready to invest the $5,000 minimum with WF. Since then though, I’ve begun to send more WF’s way and will continue to do so going forward. If you can’t afford the $5k minimum for WF then this is a good alternative.

Got the United Mileage Plus Explorer credit card.

Combed through our existing allocation settings in all of our retirement accounts and reallocated based on what I think is best for us, and focused on reducing or eliminating funds with high expenses, diversifying, thinking about retirement goals, and enhancing our savings strategy.

Advice: Read any of the three books in my first few bullets of this phase. I highly recommend A Random Walk Down Wall Street but if you hate reading, you can go with the shorter book, The Elements of Investing. Then, go to Wealthfront and start following their blog. Follow some of their employees or COO, Adam Nash, on Twitter or Quora. Finally, fund your Wealthfront account and start adding to it monthly. But be sure not to pull out when the market dips; that’s the time to keep investing.

Some screen shots for those who need visual stimulation…

Final Words

Someone much smarter than me said, “Humans are emotional, and markets can shift frequently and unpredictably. Most individuals underperform the market by 3-4%, and most of that is market timing errors - buying when the market is high, and selling when it’s low. The right answer is to not let your emotions get the best of you. Invest as much as you can, regularly, and without fail. Never defer saving due to market timing. If you are young, time is on your side.” That’s similar to what Burton Malkiel expresses in his book as well as the theory behind Wealthfront.

It makes total sense and that’s why I’m such a fan of the company’s mission and I believe they’re staffing properly to execute against it. So much so that I’m trusting them to help grow a percentage of my savings. The comfort and ease of setting it and forgetting it is why I think it’s a good lot for you to park your money if you’re new to this world as well.

Bonus

Not related to saving but some of my other favorite financial services include BillGuard for keeping safe, PayPal for easy check out and alternative credit, Venmo for sending and receiving with friends, WEPay which we used for wedding gifts, Credit Karma for staying on top of my credit reports, and Shopify for easily creating and running storefronts.

*Data in the screen shots of my spreadsheets are just examples. They don’t include real personal data.

*My views are my own and are in no way related to those of my employer, PayPal or eBay.

UPDATE (11/6/14) - Add the book 'Stop Acting Rich: ...and Start Living like a Real Millionaire' to your reading list. Read it before you buy a house or your next car. You don't accumulate wealth by earning more; you do it by saving more. Learn that most people who drive BMW's and live in $1mil+ homes don't actually have a million in net worth. They're pretending. 3x more millionaires live in <$400k homes than $1mil+homes and more drive Toyotas than BMW's. The price of your house and the neighborhood you choose will dictate your lifestyle. It's the most important financial decision you'll ever make.

#investing #personal finance #invest #Wealthfront #betterment #retirement #reading

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