Derek Lowe, Director of Product

joined in 2014, from 🇺🇸

Taking a break and relaxing on Siargao Island (in the Philippines)

What led you to become a product manager?

I would say a little bit of luck and a little bit of trial and error. When I first moved to Hong Kong for grad school, I thought I was going to work in finance or at a bank. In my head I thought — computer science background, worked at an aerospace company and an asset management company, adding an MBA, why not fully transition and pursue a career in finance? After all, Hong Kong is considered to be the largest finance hub in Asia, right?

Well that didn’t last long. 6 months into my graduate program and after talking to friends and understanding career trends, it seemed that a lot of people were trying to get out of finance and into tech. This is where I thought: computer science + business = product management = PERFECT! So I decided to research more about product management, found it super interesting, and ultimately decided to pursue a career in it. After now 6 years of working in product management, I cannot express how happy I am to have made that decision. It’s not an easy path to take, but it’s rewarding, challenging, exciting, stressful, (insert lots of adjectives here…), and I would advocate for everyone (especially those looking to switch careers) to at least research more about it and try.

What does a typical day look like?

Please note that exercise is important for the brain and body!

(On a good day if I can wake up early)

1. Wake up around 7
2. Go for a nice harbor run or hit the gym
3. Breakfast time (MOST IMPORTANT meal of the day…please don’t forget! Read this if you don’t believe me)
4. Head to work
5. Straight to the coffee machine to kickstart the brain (black coffee preferably)
6. Work time!
7. (If I am unable to do 1 and 2) Do some form of exercise — gym, basketball, or run
8. Watch some basketball and read up on global news and the financial markets
9. Wind down by listening to some music or a podcast
10. Sleep and repeat!

Name three people or things you feel inspired when creating a product.

I’ll use 3 words that inspire me when creating a product —

Opportunity

Whether it’s making things more efficient, helping to bypass time, or simplicity and convenience, opportunities will arise for a product to solve a problem. The key is determining what that problem is and then how to go about solving it.

Impact

When you build a product, you always want to strive to make a big and positive impact. Measuring becomes important, but growth trumps everything. If your product has continued growth, you’re making a bigger impact on your users.

Self-learning

If building the right product to solve a problem was so easy, everyone would be doing it and everyone would be successful. There is no recipe for success, which is why learning on the fly and adapting to different situations becomes increasingly more important. Users are different. Behavior is different. Not to mention, users and behavior will be completely different if your product is in different markets around the globe. You won’t know everything, so having the right mindset to be aware and continue learning keeps me motivated to improve and do more.

Anything you want to promote or plug?

For those looking to read more articles online, there are two websites I would recommend (unfortunately you have to pay for more content):

1. The Athletic: mainly about sports related news and events, but the content is interesting
2. Seeking Alpha: for those who enjoy reading about the stock market, Seeking Alpha has a ton of good information to help you invest