Nikolai Alexiev (’11) joined Andrey Anastassov for a chat on his experience in the Product Management field over a video call on the Lideri.BG podcast.
Andrey Anastassov is an AUBG and Radio AURA alumnus, who graduated with a double major in European Studies and Journalism and Mass Communication. He started a podcast in Bulgarian that is focused on entrepreneurship, mentorship and business development, handing the mic to Bulgarian leaders in such fields to share their knowledge and experience. Andrey’s podcast aims to connect their stories with the Bulgarian audience around the world and highlight their impact globally.
You can read the English version of the blog post about Nikolai here and listen to the full episode below:
From Bulgaria, to Australia: Nikolai Alexiev, Product Director at MyPass
“Years ago, when Rock and Roll was young still” – that’s how the beginning of Georgi Minchev’s hit song “Blissful years” sounds. Not that long ago, but still in my university years, I met Niki. The place was AURA, the student radio in the American University in Bulgaria. His role there was as a radio host, while I was the news journalist.
Over a decade later, in front of the mics, we are now on air, but this time to talk on Lideri.BG, where I invited him to talk about his new position as Product Director in MyPass. I was already aware that he left for Australia and started a career as a product manager, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out about his directorial position in one of the biggest local companies that deals with compliance in the energy sector.
Well, the blissful years have long passed and nowadays you contact your friends on LinkedIn out of all places. So, I texted Niki on LinkedIn after my invite and not long after (possibly the shortest I’ve needed to convince a guest to participate in the podcast), he was already in his living room with his laptop, telling his story about his career path and product management, as a whole.
“There is a relatively serious risk for someone to get into an accident and get hurt,” he explained, describing the nature of the software they’re developing – a compliance software for the energy industry that guarantees employees are given all the right training and safety tests.
There is a need of an experienced product manager, who can go over ideas and theories on what the market wants whenever a new product is launched. Nikolai pointed out that business strategy is actually 80% product strategy, since there won’t be any business without its products.
He gladly shared his previous experience on a curious case in a previous company:
“I ended up with a product in 12 different countries and our only preparation for their markets covered the product translation only.”
He was forced to propose to the board a discontinuation of the product in around five key markets. He admitted that it was a bold move, but it was a necessary decision, which was well-taken by the company in the end.
We covered many tendencies in the job field – technical preparedness, its difference with business analysts, and even the interesting story of AirBnb and how they stopped working with product managers.
