[Career Insights] Amy Ru: How Lemonade Stands Can Teach You to Launch Successful Products

We had the pleasure of interviewing Amy Ru, an Associate Product Manager at LinkedIn, during our 'Intro to Product Management: Industry Workshop.' She offered valuable insights and practical tips on navigating the field of product management, revealing what it takes to succeed in the industry.

Meet Amy Ru

Amy Ru has built a diverse career at LinkedIn, contributing to various high-impact teams. From her early work on Feed AI, where she helped develop content classifiers and even introduced memes to the platform, to her efforts on company pages, Amy has been at the forefront of LinkedIn's innovation. Today, she works on the ads measurement team, where her focus is on optimizing advertisers' return on investment (ROI) and ensuring they gain maximum value from their campaigns. Amy’s broad experience highlights her dynamic approach to driving both engagement and value across LinkedIn's platform.

“Product management is the perfect blend of technical knowledge, creative design, and business acumen. I think the best part is the amount of influence you have, and you can build really cool products without needing to have a CS degree or coding experience.”

When we think of product management, our minds often jump to high-tech industries and complex software. However, the truth is that product management experience doesn’t have to be limited to technical products.

“Even if you’re recruiting for a company that owns technical products, you can use experience from non-technical products.”

This perspective opens doors for individuals from unconventional backgrounds or industries that may not appear technical at first glance.

Amy highlights one opportunity to break into product management: the LinkedIn Associate Product Manager Program

LinkedIn Associate Product Manager (APM)

The LinkedIn Associate Product Manager (APM) Program offers two year-long, full-time rotations on diverse LinkedIn teams, designed to maximize your learning, development, and ability to contribute meaningful work. You'll be supported by a dedicated network, including managers, mentors, a specialized APM program team, and your fellow APMs. After completing the program, you'll have the option to continue with your current team or explore new opportunities within LinkedIn.

Showcasing Your Experience

The key takeaway here is that “anything can be taken and showcased as this is a product that you are building.” It’s all about how you frame your past roles and experiences. Whether you were managing a local event, running a small business, or leading a team in an unrelated industry, these experiences can all be reframed within a product management narrative.

The Lemonade Stand Example

One of the clearest illustrations of this idea is the analogy of a lemonade stand. Running a lemonade stand may seem like a simple business process, but in reality, it captures the concept of product management.

“If you run a lemonade stand, that is literally product management for selling lemonade,” explains the Amy. From sourcing lemons to squeezing the juice, you’re involved in every step of the process. This is similar to managing the lifecycle of a product, where every detail—from raw materials to final sale—must be considered.

So How Do You It?

Start by identifying the crucial skills every aspiring Product Manager should master:

• Understanding Technical Systems: While you don’t need to know how to code, having a basic understanding is essential for accurately estimating timelines.

• Effective Communication: Excel in both verbal and written communication. You’ll not only lead meetings but also provide clear written instructions.

• People Skills: Build and maintain a variety of relationships; your guidance as a Product Manager is crucial.

Think about the roles you’ve taken on in your past experiences that can be adapted and highlighted within a product management story. Did you oversee the creation of something new? Were you responsible for ensuring a product or service reached its target audience? These are all elements of product management. The challenge lies in creatively connecting the dots between your past and the future role you’re aiming for.

“It’s about how creative you are with your current experiences,” Amy says. So, reflect on your experiences and showcase them as part of your product management narrative.

Every Product Manager’s Portfolio Needs These

A well-rounded product management portfolio can be the difference between landing an interview and getting passed over. Here are the essential elements you should include to make yours stand out.

Technical Projects

Demonstrating technical proficiency is crucial for any product manager, even if you're not from a technical background. Include examples of projects that show your ability to work with technology:

• Personal website: Build a website to display your portfolio, showcasing your skills and accomplishments in one place.

• Build your own app: Developing an app highlights your ability to take a product from concept to completion. It’s a great way to show off problem-solving skills and technical understanding.

• Attend a hackathon: Participation in hackathons demonstrates your ability to work under pressure, collaborate with others, and create innovative solutions in a short timeframe.

For helpful tutorials on building technical projects, check out hackernoon.com.

Product Improvement Ideas

A core part of product management is identifying ways to improve existing products. Your portfolio should reflect your ability to generate and refine product ideas:

• “What’s your favourite project?”: Include examples where you’ve worked on projects you’re passionate about and explain why they’re your favourite.

• “How would you improve X feature?”: Demonstrate your analytical thinking by sharing your approach to improving specific product features.

• Design an object for a specific user: This exercise showcases your ability to create user-centered designs. Think about a particular user group and design a product or feature to meet their needs.

For practice, use thepminterview.com, which generates new PM interview questions on the fly.

Additional Resources

Continual learning and preparation are important for staying sharp as a product manager. Include these resources in your portfolio to show that you’re actively engaged in improving your skills:

• Product Management Bootcamp: A source of PM education and certification.

• iGotAnOffer: Helps with preparation for PM interviews and case studies.

• Lewis C. Lin’s Interview Prep Slack Channel: A community where aspiring product managers can share interview tips and insights.

• Exponent: Offers detailed interview guides, mock interviews, and other resources for PM roles.

• apmlist.com: A curated list of companies hiring for Associate Product Managers (APMs), perfect for those looking to start their PM careers.

These components will help you build a dynamic and effective portfolio that highlights your skills, experience, and readiness for product management roles.

Want to dive into this industry? Learn more about our Product Management Bootcamp!