✨Team highlight: Welcoming Sam Pearson!
By: Will Staunton
Tags: Furniture, SaaS, Ecommerce, Product Management, Development

What made you interested in joining Bear?

I saw that Bear is in a unique position by being first movers in a market that isn’t saturated. That gives us a huge opportunity to build a product that is the best of the best and leads the way in the space. Once I met Sam, Ed, and Jeff, I knew I was talking to an organization that I wanted to be a part of!

What are you most excited about doing as you join the team?

I’m excited about working with our team and our customers to build a product that they are excited to log in to every day! The users we are building software for have some complicated problems to solve, and that makes it all the more fun and exciting.

“Collaboration and communication go hand-in-hand with iteration.”

What’s your philosophy for building a great product?

I could go on about for pages and pages, but I’ll keep it to 3 key aspects that I believe are a must when building a great product:

Collaboration. One person doesn’t decide on features for a product, just as one person doesn’t build a product. Creating an amazing product requires collaboration across multiple teams both internally and externally. You never know what ideas a person will have until you bring them into the conversation. A product cannot be built in a silo. Teamwork makes the dream work :). Communication. Open communication amongst all parties involved in a product (both internally and externally) is a key to building a successful product. Being open about product vision, key themes and initiatives, and what we are working on builds a trusting relationship within the company, as well as with our customers. Constant Iteration. Collaboration and communication go hand-in-hand with iteration. Collaborating with others internally and externally and communicating ideas, plans and prototypes allows for the team to iterate quickly. The team must be comfortable with taking feedback and iterating on the product based on that feedback.

What’s the one piece of advice you’d give to people learning product management?

It may sound weird that “learn the product inside and out” is not my one piece of advice, but I think that’s a given. My biggest piece of advice is to build up your relationships… with everyone. Being a good product manager means that you need to gather information from multiple different sources and multiple different perspectives. Building up relationships will allow people to be open and honest about what they are looking for in your product and what needs to be improved. People need to feel comfortable to come to you with ideas, issues and feedback knowing that you will take them into consideration in order to improve the product. Like I said above, teamwork makes the dream work.

“Build up your relationships… with everyone. Being a good product manager means you need to gather information from different sources and perspectives.”

What’s your favourite article of furniture? Do you have a favourite ecomm marketplace?

I actually just began redecorating my entire condo, so it’s very hard for me to choose my favourite piece of furniture. I’d have to go with my new bar stools, they pull my whole boho-modern vibe together!

What do you do in your downtime?

I spend most of my downtime with my two dogs. We love to pack up at the end of the week and spend time exploring at the cottage. When the dogs have gotten sick of me, I spend time attempting (keyword here) to play the guitar, working out or adventuring around the city.

Welcome to the team, Sam!

✌🏼🐻

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