A call for support as I embark on the next phase of my blockchain journey
You’ve probably heard by now that ConsenSys went through a reorganization last month. With the fast pace of change at Bay Area start-ups, reorgs are quite common — for me, the reorg was an opportunity to reflect. To reflect on what is important to me, what I have learned, and where I want to go.
I was fortunate enough to do this self reflection in South Africa, while on vacation with my fiancé and 23 of his Haas MBA classmates. Pondering about life, with 23 like-minded friends, while sitting awe-struck, looking at beautiful sunsets in Cape Town, was so unbelievably fulfilling and reminded me why I love blockchain: the people and the community.
As I start my job hunt and begin traversing the murky blockchain waters, I hope to have my community’s support — your support — in identifying product management opportunities.
Below, I’ve provided my professional experience, as well as the values that are important to me when evaluating new job opportunities.
If you know of companies that may be a fit, please reach out to me directly via email at rika.sukenik6@gmail.com
THANK YOU!
Professional experience
Most recently, I was a product manager at ConsenSys. On my last team, I built an Ethereum dApp for a geospatial data provider. I had a foundational role in setting product strategy and guiding the team towards our North Star. I conducted market and customer research, crafted impactful and meaningful user stories, and ensured team cohesion. On many occasions, I rolled up my sleeves and helped the engineers test new features. I also created a team culture wherein everyone felt empowered to speak up. At the onset of the project, I set up 1-on-1 intro calls with every team member, to establish rapport. It was received very well by the team, and one of the engineers even told me that he was not expecting me to do that, but was very pleasantly surprised when I did. Establishing trust on my teams has always been very important to me. It certainly served the team well, particularly during sprint retrospectives when team members felt empowered to speak up and speak honestly.
At ConsenSys, I completed ConsenSys Academy’s Ethereum Developer Course. The course was challenging, even for seasoned developers, but I persevered and successfully built a sports betting dApp. I learned a boat load of technical skills, and gained first-hand experience into the very real struggle blockchain developers face when building in Web3. I not only became a more empathetic product manager, but I also became better at sprint planning and setting deadlines.
Early on at ConsenSys, I realized that many people in the Ethereum community were not aware that ConsenSys was a pioneer and behind many of the most frequently used Ethereum products, such as Truffle, Metamask, and Infura. In an effort to increase awareness and strengthen the ConsenSys brand, I started an interview series. The inaugural interview was with the Truffle team. You can find the interview here. In a similar vein, I worked to increase awareness of Ethereum tools, platforms, libraries, and the like, and contributed to an expansive GitHub repo. I was also able to be an early beta tester for a number of ConsenSys products, from prediction markets to decentralized capital raising.
Deloitte Blockchain
Prior to joining ConsenSys, I worked in the blockchain space at Deloitte. Leveraging my past technology consulting experience (also at Deloitte), I led a team through the design and build of a decentralized trade finance application. I wore many hats, and played a foundational role in both sales and product pricing. For the former, I presented and sold the product to senior executives at Fortune 100 companies, and for the latter, I built a dynamic pricing model. I also spent a lot of time collaborating with stakeholders to ensure that leadership was aligned with the project’s mission and goals, and that the project continued to get funding.
Lastly, I collaborated with individuals across the entire organization to produce blockchain thoughtware. I dove deeper into the impact blockchain will have by industry, and leveraged the knowledge I gained as a technology consultant whilst being exposed to a broad set of industries, from insurance to health to retail.
Values important to me when evaluating new opportunities
- Team of passionate and intellectually curious individuals
- Focused on consumer blockchain products and building on public blockchains
- Companies with a mission to redesign our financial system and increase access to digital assets
- Building products that maintain the core blockchain tenets of trustlessness and decentralization
- Company located in the Bay Area
Nice to Have:
- Team is applying mechanism design to building a token
Personal Interests
- Yoga, Meditation, Tennis, Travel, Hackathons, Podcasts
Please reach out with job opportunities via email to rika.sukenik6@gmail.com
