In this episode, we sit down with David Currie, a Product Manager at Pepper, a hyper-growth Series B startup, who brings a unique perspective on what it really takes to succeed in product management. With a background spanning engineering to solutions engineering to product, David shares hard-won insights about prioritizing customer understanding over technical prowess.

Join us for an honest conversation about building products at scale, the art of prioritization, and why being too technical as a PM might actually hold you back. If you're curious about product management at fast-growing startups and want to understand what truly moves the needle, this episode's for you.

We cover:

• Why David compares his product journey to "A Sand County Almanac" and systems thinking

• The career progression from engineering to product management and key lessons learned

• How to build PM skills through community and continuous learning (not just interview prep)

• His prioritization framework: solving real problems that align with business strategy

• Why PMs shouldn't be gambling and should "test small, fail fast, learn, repeat"

• The dangers of technical PMs steamrolling their engineering teams

• How to balance short-term customer requests with long-term strategic vision

• Why AI can't replace human empathy in customer discovery

Key takeaway? Focus on understanding your customers' problems deeply. Technical expertise is valuable, but customer empathy is your superpower.