This interview podcast features Rohini Pandhi, a product leader at Mercury, discussing the company's journey from initially rejecting the need for product managers to building a 30-person product team. The conversation explores the signs indicating a need for PMs (bottlenecks, increasing complexity), strategies for building a successful PM team (defining roles, creating a career ladder, developing a robust interview process), and the importance of prioritizing quality user experience even in "boring" industries like fintech. Phandhi introduces a helpful framework categorizing PMs as "pioneers," "town settlers," and "city planners," illustrating different skill sets needed at various company stages. Listeners gain practical insights into building a product organization, hiring PMs, and advocating for quality, along with specific examples from Mercury's product development process.
