DV FACES: Jeanny Wang, Product Director
“I always say: product is not the business. Product is about how to make your business work.”
When BCG Digital Ventures Product Director Jeanny Wang first moved to Berlin, the city’s current tech-forward landscape was still in its early days. In a scrappy new ecosystem for burgeoning businesses, Jeanny found that roles in startups were less defined than they are today, and companies she worked at were made up of people who, like her, were willing to try out all sorts of areas of the business. “Everyone kind of did a little bit of everything,” she remembers. “I covered everything from design, product management, business development to marketing.”
Having grown up in Taipei, with a stint in the US for her undergraduate degree, Jeanny originally arrived in Berlin for postgraduate studies in media theory and cultural anthropology. During her studies, she became immersed in the incipient discussions on cyberspace, and how this new electronic frontier was bound to democratize knowledge and power structures, and change society as a whole. It was during this time that she began to get involved in Berlin’s nascent startup scene, ultimately leaving academia to pursue a future in tech.
Berlin’s early startup scene was the perfect place to figure out where her all-rounder attitude could get her — and, with her interest in the whole process of digital projects, she swiftly realised she was best suited to product management roles. After more than fifteen years of building digital products from the ground up, she still gets a buzz from the chance to be involved at every level of the process. “The beauty of it is that you really kind of touch every single element of the company,” she explains. “You really have a lead role in defining what the product will do and how it will impact users — both negatively and positively.”
The role of product manager has changed drastically since Jeanny began. In particular, she thankfully no longer has to explain the necessity of her role. “When I started, the role of product manager was mostly understood either as project manager, engineer manager or business developer. What was always missing was someone who advocated for the user, and someone who was able to navigate between the world of business, tech and consumer to drive towards solutions. That has changed quite a lot, especially in the last five to six years.”
The scale and complexity of products have increased dramatically, she explains. “Not only are we dealing with increasingly demanding customers in a hyper-competitive global environment, but we now have access to much more data and touchpoints to influence users’ behaviour and actions.”
Despite getting her start in the early Web 2.0 tech scene, Jeanny has worked across multiple industries at different stages of business. After the startup she worked at was acquired by Nokia, she was involved in bringing people to maps and oversaw products such as the FriendFinder. Then, in 2013, Jeanny was involved in the Simband R&D initiative at Samsung SSIC in Silicon Valley, tasked with building the world’s first modular health watch in advance of the Apple Watch.
Through her R&D work, Jeanny has garnered multiple patents, but she finds just as much excitement staying close to market. She explains, “I would breakdown my career thus far into two parts: I spent the first part of my career trying to bring technology to the masses, and the second part building and scaling product teams.”
Just before joining DV, Jeanny had the opportunity to start her own startup in fashion B2B, Veee. As a product person, she explains, “you’re always on the lookout for the next disruption opportunity.” When she was approached by a VC about a chance to address the inefficiencies of fashion wholesale, she jumped at the opportunity. “Unlike fashion B2C, there is so much positive change you bring to fashion B2B”. A lot of the wastefulness of the industry is a direct result of the rigid and outdated ways of working. “For me, the purpose behind Veee was really immediate — I could see where we could create an impact really fast.” Within two seasons, Veee became a key destination for the fashion industry with over 1800 of the world’s most coveted premium brands attracting multiple brand retailers from over 143 countries.
For Jeanny, this was an opportunity to use her knowledge of digital behaviors to push for an industry-wide transformation, even when it meant disregarding the accepted status quo. “From a product perspective, what was really exciting for me is that we went against some of the suggestions, we had these really great numbers, which surprised our competitors and also some of the investors,” she said.
After her successful exit, through a chance encounter with an old friend Jeanny found herself in talks with BCG Digital Ventures. “I was lucky not be in a rush. This gave me the time to get to know the people at DV and consider what challenges I want to tackle next.” DV’s proactive attitude and impact-based business model appealed to her. “I’ve seen first-hand how tech can bring about positive change to industries. When the change is for the betterment of all involved, it can be quite gratifying.”
When it comes to life outside of work, Jeanny is frank in saying she considers herself to be quite conventional. She enjoys the simple luxuries of life such as taking the time to read, travel and enjoy good company and food. If she could have a choice, she would love to spend more time mentoring and teaching courses on product leadership. Back in 2010, Jeanny took a sabbatical to guest lecture a graduate course on “Service Design for Business” at New York’s School of Visual Arts. “Ever since I understood the direct impact that product could play on business,” she explains “I had the urge to attract people who brought with them a more humane, compassionate view on business.”
It’s not about driving a utopian agenda, she says, but about bringing more diversity into key decision-making roles, something which is key to her professional life.
