CAESARS.DEV’s Post

Why'd I make the jump to fractional from full-time? Here's a bit about how I thought about this jump myself: 👍 1 - Saying “yes” to product: After a career building products at Airbnb and early-stage cos, I still fundamentally loved the craft of product management. So continuing to build products and teams in some capacity was a no-brainer. 📕 2 - Learning from new products, industries & teams: I'm a curious guy. I wanted to work in a capacity that enabled me to work on, and ultimately learn from, a diversity of teams, products, and industries. And after having spent 5+ years at Airbnb, I was also eager to get back into early-stage product and company building (which is ultimately what attracted me to a career in tech and what led me to work on the founding team of my first startup during college). 📈 3 - More impact: My career has spanned building products and teams across growth and early-stage cos and in product & non-product roles. Given this, I felt uniquely positioned to drive product and business impact for cos at the earliest stages. And doing this in a fractional capacity, where I would be able to work simultaneously across multiple products and cross-pollinate the learnings from one company to the next, would enable me to deliver even more impact than I otherwise could have. 💪 4 - Increased autonomy, control: I also wanted to experience a relationship with product mgmt that afforded more autonomy. I wanted more control over what I worked on and how I spent my time. Through this, I wanted to develop even more control over my career and my trajectory. 👨💼 5 - Scratching that entrepreneurial itch: After having worked in growth-stage tech for more years than I (tbh originally) anticipated, it was time to re-tend to the entrepreneurial bug (that's always lurking). I wanted to get back to being an owner and building something from the ground up.

✅ Alright, it's done! After 3.5 years at FinCompare GmbH, I'll be hosting my goodbye party in our office this evening - it's my last day. My main feeling is deep gratitude. When I joined in 2021 as a Senior Product Manager, I chose FinCompare for two reasons: 1️⃣ The mission that the startup follows and the positive impact on the world I would contribute to. 2️⃣ A product-driven approach with state-of-the-art product management techniques and the right people in my department. Both turned out to be true, and this is exactly the reason for my deep feeling of gratitude. 💰 We were able to support countless SMEs in Germany with hundreds of millions of euros in financial solutions. 😷 We helped struggling companies during the COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis. 📈 We helped young businesses and solopreneurs finance their goods and win their first customers. What more can a product guy, who wants to serve customers and have a real impact, ask for? In addition, in the product team we... 🤖 Added features like a bankability check, automated KPI analysis, and marketing automation. 👨💻 Started rebuilding and modernizing our software architecture. 💡 Tested new monetization options and learned a ton. What a ride, I tell you. There are too many names to put them into this post, so I say THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR EVERYTHING! Thanks to everyone who made this such a remarkable journey. Thanks for the trust you put in me. Thanks for the learnings you gifted to me. Thanks for the great conversations, tough decisions, and lots of laughter. 🙏 The next chapter of my career is about to start very soon, and I'll post about it. For now, I'm enjoying all the good and sad feelings that come along when you are on your last day with your colleagues and teammates. What a great day! 😊

Handing over my role as App Group Leader has been one of the most bittersweet moments of my career. For years, I recruited the right people, built the team from scratch, set up processes, fought for my group whenever needed, developed them, supported them, and delivered top-notch products. I was their "work parent." Letting go of that? It’s tough. But if there's one thing I know, I’m leaving the team in great hands.
🔹 Shahak Maimon, the new Mobile Group Leader, is an incredible leader—highly professional, deeply technical, and well-respected by the team. I have no doubt he will take it to the next level.
🔹 Nathan Gonikman, leading the Backend team, has been a rock throughout this transition, ensuring stability and innovation continue seamlessly.
🔹 And a huge thanks to Lisa Zimmer, the Parking Product Manager, who has been instrumental in onboarding me into my next adventure. Her insights, patience, and expertise have made this transition smoother. At the same time, I’m stepping into a new challenge as Product Manager for Parking and Parking Lots — the very heart of Pango and what defines us to millions of users. I’m excited for the opportunity to shape and improve the core experience that everyone knows us for. This role carries much responsibility, and I’m embracing it with full commitment and enthusiasm. 🚀 I’ve always wanted to be closer to the business and have a more significant impact on our users.
🚀 I’ve spent 15 years in development, which gives me a unique advantage in understanding the product from a technical and strategic perspective.
🚀 I’ve already been exposed to fascinating data, and I can’t wait to dive deeper. Transitions like these involve a great sense of responsibility — to the teams I’ve led, the products I’ll shape, and the impact we’ll create for our users. I’ve never shied away from responsibility. So, after handing over from both sides, I’m ready for this challenge—bring it on! Because as a certain web-slinger once said…
"With great power comes great responsibility."

We have exceeded our goals in terms of Product Managers from the Boston tech scene joining our new VentureFizz Product Management Community!!! The caliber of people joining at all levels of experience is insane! Are you interested in joining?  There are only a handful of invites left for our Original (OG) Members - where you'll get a free one year subscription! To request an invite, click on the link in the description. #productmanager #productmanagement

Want to know how we create new features? Senior Software Engineer (and Disney lover) Josnei Olszewski has broken it all down for you in our latest blog post 💭 Find out how we take our products from ideation to launch and beyond to deliver more uniquely wonderful experiences to our customers than ever before. Tap the link in the comments below to check it out 🔻 #ProductDesign #InsideGetYourGuide #SoftwareEngineering

Hey Everyone! In my Learn in Public challenge with (2/5 ) NextLeap, I explored Airbnb for writing a review. In my previous post, I mentioned that I've chosen Airbnb for writing reviews, and now the wait is over. Here's the complete approach for Writing a review. Once again, a big thanks to the NextLeap for their guidance and support. I'm eager to hear your thoughts and feedback! See you soon on the next challenge in the upcoming week. #NextLeapPMFellowship #LearnInPublic #ProductManagement #Airbnb #ProductTeardown

Ever tried making a burrito at home? You know, the kind where the tortilla doesn’t rip, the guac isn’t too extra, and every bite hits just right? That’s what building a cross-functional team feels like — except the stakes are higher, and no one’s allowed to eat the deliverable. 𝗘𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁: - 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 = The meat (or plant-based alternative): Without them, you have no substance. - 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀 = The fresh veggies: They make everything look appealing. - 𝗕𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁𝘀 = The cheese: They hold everything together, ensuring every flavor works. - 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 = The spices: They set the tone, adding just the right kick of prioritization. - 𝗤𝗔 = The guac: Essential, but only noticed when it’s missing. 𝘼𝙣𝙙 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥? Well, they’re the tortilla, keeping it all wrapped tightly so nothing spills out mid-project. But let’s face it, we’ve all been there — too much of one ingredient, and suddenly it’s chaos. That’s why SDLC best practices (Software Development Lifecycle, for the uninitiated) exist: to ensure no team bites off more than it can chew. 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁-𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲: Think of it as reading the burrito recipe — ignoring it leads to soggy outcomes. Sprint planning? That’s your mise en place. And retrospectives? It’s where you learn not to microwave the tortilla for 2 minutes again. 𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀: NASA’s cross-functional teams delivering the Mars Rover (Imagine QA saying, “This HAS to work the first time”). Spotify’s squads delivering seamless music experiences (because their PMs and devs jam well together). Cross-functional teams aren’t just teams; they’re flavor symphonies, working together to deliver one satisfying product. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻: What’s your favorite “ingredient” in a team? Let’s hear it in the comments! And if you’ve ever been part of a burrito team gone wrong, share your spicy stories below! 

10 years ago I met an accomplished product exec who was enjoying career and personal life while only working 3 days a week. Here's what I learned: There's a very small number of people who impacted the trajectory of my career and Gibson Biddle is on that list. A decade ago, Gib joined Life360 as an Interim Chief Product Officer for 3 days a week after executive roles at Netflix and Chegg. His goals were to level up the entire product function at the company, pull us out of the weeds to think about product strategy, and become more hypothesis-driven. While I was a pretty junior member of the team at that point, I enjoyed full access to Gib through his product review sessions, 1:1 coffees, and his afternoon talks where he tried out new formats with the product team, his guinea pigs. I was a sponge, the osmosis was strong, and the learning was rapid. I learned so much from Gib about tradeoffs, goal-setting, experimentation, user research, and more. But most importantly, Gib was a role model for a different reason: he was the first truly successful exec I met who also seemed to be fully enjoying life professionally and personally at the same time. His way of life was inspiring. If you're looking to learn more about life outside the "traditional" route, this conversation is for you. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/d59Bw2CH

Setting up a squad is all fun and games until you have your first backlog refinement and everyone's expectations are wildly different! One person might expect a sprint at full velocity. Another person might expect confirmation of when the ticket they requested will be done, delivered and live. As a Product Manager you want a Tech Lead to bounce ideas off and help figure out how the hell you're going to build a dancing penguin across your homepage. And as the Squad Lead you just want people to talk to each other. The reality is you're in for a bumpy few months whilst you figure out ways of working, so adapt to change and embrace the chaos.