Communication, Empathy, and Ambiguity in Product Management (with Alejandro Dao) | Ep. 9

People trying to figure out what they wanna do for a living hear Larry Port talk with his good friend Alejandro Dao, lead product manager at Pendo.io, a very cool and innovative software company in North Carolina. Alejandro describes product management as leading the product's vision and strategy, deciding what to build next and why, and working with engineering, design, and customers.ㅤHe compares the role to a quarterback and an orchestra director, keeping the tempo and pace of software development and making sure everybody knows what they are building and why. Alejandro shares a mix of tactical and strategic work, from sprints and steel threads to roadmap meetings, user empathy, and many conversations with customers.ㅤThe conversation walks through his trajectory from a shy kid and Model UN to a support engineer, software developer, sales engineer, sales operations manager, MBA at Duke, an internship at Amazon, and landing at Pendo in Raleigh, North Carolina.ㅤ👤 Guest BioAlejandro Dao is a lead product manager at Pendo.io in North Carolina. Originally from Venezuela, he has a background in computer science and engineering. Alejandro started as a support engineer and software developer at Rocket Matter, then moved into sales engineering, solutions engineer, and sales operations manager, owning Salesforce and sales processes.ㅤHe completed a two-year MBA program at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and used that to pivot into product management. After a technical product management internship at Amazon, he chose to stay in North Carolina. He joined Pendo, where he owns the guides product and spends a lot of time with engineering, design, and customers.ㅤ📌 What We CoverWhat a product manager is, leading the vision and the strategy of the product, deciding what should be built next and why, and working with engineering, design, and customersQuarterback and orchestra director analogies for product management, keeping the tempo and pace of software development, so everybody knows what they are building and whyConcrete examples from Pendo, with two big pillars, analytics and guides, and Alejandro owning the guides product and crafting what the vision of the product is going to beDay-to-day work that mixes tactical and strategic, from sprints, steel threads, and compromises to roadmap meetings, senior leadership, and a lot of meetings with customers about frictions, frustrations, and use casesCommunication and empathy as critical soft skills, including stories from Rocket Matter, working with attorneys under a lot of pressure, and flexing that empathy muscleWhat it is like to work with engineers and UX designers, speaking the same language, rowing in the same direction, building prototypes together with tools like Bolt, Lovable, and V zero, and using AI as a superpower, not a replacementAlejandro’s path froma shy kid and Model UN, into computer science and engineering, video games, Florida Atlantic, a career fair conversation about Atlas Shrugged, and eight years at Rocket Matter in multiple rolesMoving into sales engineering, solutions engineer, and sales operations manager, owning Salesforce integrations, automating syncs, and modernizing sales processesWhy Alejandro wanted an MBA at Duke, filling knowledge gaps in accounting, finance, and business administration, and how the hardest part was getting in, not the academicsUsing the MBA to pivot into product, recruiting for Google, Apple, Amazon, Wayfair, VMware, and landing a technical product management internship at Amazon during the first year of COVIDFalling in love with North Carolina, choosing not to move to Seattle, and building a relationship with the recruiter at Pendo, North Carolina’s first unicorn, to join a company that does software for product managersHow work hours, travel, and lifestyle in product management depend on company size, industry, and person, from nine to five with Slack after hours, to talks at Duke, onsite visits, and international trips to places like Mexico City, the UK, and South AmericaHow AI and LLMs fit into product and engineering work today, helping with unit testing, triaging bugs, document feedback, and quicker prototyping, while creativity, junior talent, and core coding remain essentialWho might be a good fit for product management, including people who like public speaking, talking to customers and C level leaders, dealing with ambiguity, and talking to a gamut of personalities across engineering, design, sales, and leadershipㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedPendo.ioRocket MatterFacebookThe Tipping Point by Malcolm GladwellAtlas ShruggedSalesforceFlorida AtlanticDuke University and Fuqua School of BusinessAmazonGoogleAppleWayfairVMwareBoltLovableV zero