Spotlight on our Product Games Finalists — The Wharton School
After our first round of competition, the Product Games field has narrowed to four teams of very talented and accomplished technology-focused business school students. Here we present the three finalists from the team representing The Wharton School. Read on to learn about their backgrounds and what drew them to product management in particular.
Karthika Periyathambi
Current Degree: MBA Class of 2018, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Other Degrees: Master of Science (MS’11), Stanford University, USA; Bachelor of Engineering (B.E. Hons ‘09), Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences BITS-Pilani, India
Previous Employment: Hardware Engineer and 20% Product Manager, Google, Mountain View, USA; Senior Design Engineer, Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, USA
What interests you about product management?
In my mind, a Product Manager is the CEO of the product. From understanding the customer needs, to calibrating company’s capabilities in fulfilling that prioritized customer need, planning the design, development and launch of the product, testing the assumptions, validating the competitive reactions and building a product that would lead to both short-term growth and long term progress towards the company’s vision: all of these combinedly frame as Product Management. These range of challenges, the presence of a constant learning curve and the ownership impact of driving an innovative product to the customers: this is why I am very passionate about Product Management.
Piyush Keshri
Current degree: MBA Class of 2018, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Other Degrees: Master of Science (MS’11), Stanford University, USA; Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech’09), Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India
Previous Employment: Product Manager Intern, Square Inc., San Francisco, USA; Founder, DilliGrocery, Delhi, India; Senior Design Engineer, Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, USA
What interests you about product management?
I am primarily interested in the FinTech sector as it holds the power to drive economic growth in emerging countries. It reduces friction in building businesses through the ease of capital movement across different stakeholders. In such an empowering sector, product management plays a unique role in driving the technological innovations and addressing key consumers pain points to build a better world. Product management’s multi-faceted role empowers me to leverage my diverse skills while developing new ones throughout the product cycle.
Daniel Ting
Current Degree: MBA Class of 2018, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Other Degrees: Bachelor of Business Management, Insper, Brazil
Previous Employment: Hedge Fund Analyst, Cox Capital, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Prop Trader, Itau BBA, Sao Paulo, Brazil
What interests you about product management?
I’m very interested in product management, because through this role I will have the chance to create something new that customers value while collaborating with smart people and solving different types of challenges. I want to be involved in a role where I have exposure to innovation, collaboration and new challenges.
