Ask Me Anything - 60 Minutes with Ryan

I put 5 stars, but, honestly, I wish I could give much more! I never had a proper mentor—only occasional peers slightly ahead. But after moving to the USA, I realized I needed one to understand the market, hiring, and excelling as a product manager, ideally from my industry. For now, I've been working with Ryan for six months, focusing on landing a new job. Due to technical reasons, I could only start applying two months ago. Our work has increased my chances tenfold: the first 3-4 months were spent preparing my portfolio, CV, case studies, mock interviews, and networking. Once I could apply, we reviewed every interview and developed tailored strategies for each company. Ryan's ability to answer extra quickly and give laser-focused advice is something crazy :) It is very important that Ryan is the hiring manager himself and has hired people in different companies. He clearly understands what different companies are seeking in you and helps to highlight those parts in your stories. I especially want to highlight two approaches: 1. Storytelling is the king in your hiring process. 2. You need a clear framework that will incorporate this storytelling. Ryan will help you master this balance of how to structure all your experience, but at the same time, not to be a scripted robot. This is VERY important in the hiring process, to be able to demonstrate your personality. If you are trying to find a mentor that will structure your experience, your skill set, help you to articulate your personal story and give you tools to tell it – Ryan is the best choice. I literally can't wish more. Beyond job hunting, I also want to deepen my product management skills, and I’m excited to continue learning with Ryan once I land my next role.

Ryan is a great mentor, who delivered on all the things I hoped for and often exceeds my expectations. I have reached out to Ryan after I was let go at my previous role along with all other PMs. First and foremost I was looking for somebody to give me domain-specific PM perspective in the autonomous vehicles / systems. My goals were: - Honest evaluation of my current skills and XP (compared to the expectations of top AV companies). - Skill development to fill the gaps where needed and share industry insight (the gap between my startup experience and larger companies in my domain) - Review my application materials and improve them - Help to figure out networking and generating more leads Ryan is very focused, has a clear method on getting started with mentoring by sharpening your application materials and your story – but also flexible to attend to specific needs or interview prep. He is quick to respond to any inquiry and puts in extra effort outside of the sessions you actually pay (by reviewing work or questions beforehand). In conclusion–while I am still not in my next role, and continue working with him–I am very pleased with Ryan’s mentorship.

Great mentor for those coming from a technical, non-software background. I come from a background of academia and construction. I was looking to gain exposure to Product Management and apply new skills to my current role. I'm really Ryan introduced me to this platform because, otherwise, I wouldn't have imagined searching for it otherwise. Ryan was great at introducing many of the language and norms of Product Management. Moreover, he helped me translate the language of PM into the language used in my industry to help me gain support at work.

After I was let go at my most recent job, I felt like I needed help with my PM skills and career. I was looking for someone who, like me, was an engineer turned PM with experience across large and small companies who could guide me through this difficult career phase. When I stumbled upon Ryan, I felt like he could be a great person for me to learn from and I am so grateful that he agreed to help me out. With mentors, I have found that you get as much as you put into the relationship. However with Ryan, I found that you consistently get more than you put in. For instance, without my asking, Ryan asked me to provide a couple of writing samples for him to review outside of our mentorship sessions. His feedback on those was super helpful. This is a constant theme where Ryan actively identifies areas we could work on as opposed to being someone who passively input when asked. Overall, I have found working with Ryan to be super helpful. This community is lucky to have someone so insightful and generous as he is.

Amazing Experience and on the spot feedback and perfect guidance for clearing and achieving any behavioral interview/Making an impact in interview. I enjoyed the conversation and particularly liked his way of storytelling and striking conversation rather than answering questions. Thank you and I highly recommend getting guidance from him.