100 PM in conversation with Mike Bracco, JibJab.
Mike Bracco doesn’t miss east coast winters and he doesn’t care for inefficiency.
Meet the guy who charmed his way into a writing job at The Next Web with no technology experience, co-hosted This Week in Social Media “just for fun,” and managed to land his first PM role just three years after graduating because he was hungry. An inspiring role model for going after what you want and a living, jogging testament to the merits of learning on the job.
As a Senior Product Manager, Bracco is responsible for leading JibJab’s mobile applications into the new era of social messaging, taking cues from Snapchat, Facebook and the emerging world of chat bots.
You need to be curious and you need to be constantly testing. I have hundreds and hundreds of apps on my phone. I’m testing everything. I think you can’t really be good at your job if you’re not playing with everything that’s out there, because things change fast, things evolve fast. — Mike Bracco
We caught up with Mike to talk about elf hats and what’s next on his product roadmap.
In this episode we’ll look at:
- A typical day in the life of a product manager
- Why “recipes” are essential to maximizing personal productivity
- How to live happily in Los Angeles without owning a car, and
- Why side projects are essential to getting started in product management
We had a great time geeking out about tools and toys and a rich conversation about building the right skills for a career in product — hope you have just as much fun listening!
You can learn more about Mike’s journey at his website — http://mikebracco.com/ or if you snap, give him a follow.
Listen to Episode 1 — “Subtract until it breaks”
Prefer text? Read the entire transcript here.
