Moll’s Background 

From a young age, Andrew Moll harbored an entrepreneurial spirit, spearheading his first business at age 12. 

Now in the midst of his career, he serves as Head of Product for Abacum, a computer software company based in San Francisco, California that is currently going through Y- Combinator (a well-known startup accelerator). 

Moll began his professional career at Microsoft in a technology position. 

He eventually took a break from the technology realm and started a business in Brazil: a subscription box business for Crossfit products. 

The subscription box business grew and he was able to sell to a bigger subscription box conglomerate. 

From there, Moll moved to Spain to pursue an MBA, and then joined TravelPerk. He joined as the 80th employee and by the time he left the company it grew in size, employing around 500 people. 

“It started out [as] four PMs, really scrappy having to do everything — building everything brand new,” Moll said. “There, I launched one of our largest products FlexiPerk, a business cancellation service that has done really well.” 

Using Entrepreneurship to Transition From Tech Evangelist to Product Manager

At Microsoft, Moll had a fast-paced tech job. However, creating his own subscription box company proved to be entirely different. 

Running his own business meant improvisation at times.

“We ordered all the boxes and realized halfway through that none of them had the logos, stickers, or social accounts we ordered,” Moll said. 

To combat this, Moll’s team gathered markers and created stencils so they could color their logo onto boxes that were to be shipped the next morning. 

Moll’s Favourite (and Least Favourite) Aspects of Being a PM

Moll’s favourite part about being a PM is the time he spends thinking and problem solving. 

“My process usually involves a lot of walking,”  Moll said. “I end up walking around the block a bit, spending some time outside, coming back and writing and thinking about the different problems we’re facing.” 

Moll’s least favorite part of being a PM is writing tickets. 

“It’s just making sure that like, we’re breaking them down into the right granularity, right?” Moll said. “[A] PM shouldn’t be writing tickets in isolation nor writing tickets just to write tickets.” 

Moll thinks that writing tickets can sometimes be monotonous. However, the work that is being completed has meaning is going to deliver real value to customers.  

Moll on Imposter Syndrome

Many PMs in the industry experience imposter syndrome — and Moll isn’t any different. 

He said that in his time spent at larger companies it was easier to get second opinions, whereas now, he is the only product manager at a small company where the founders haven’t been product managers before. This makes it his responsibility to build the culture. 

“It’s tough, you know, that there’s a lot of times where you can ask yourself, hey, is this the right product culture to build? Is this what we’re supposed to do as PMs?,”  Moll said. 

When it comes to product, Moll said he knows the pillars, visions, and principles— he knows how to do product, but, is striving to overcome imposter syndrome and learn how to use that knowledge to inspire others to build great products. 

To combat imposter syndrome, Moll recommends “comparing down.” For him, this means looking at and acknowledging the progress that has already been made, rather than solely focusing on the end goal and all of the stages that have yet to be completed.

At the end of the day, if you know the goal and are meeting the customer’s needs, that’s the baseline. Once that’s figured out, move up from there and focus on improving and growing. 

Storytelling in Product Management

Product managers can influence and motivate their team toward a common goal through storytelling. Product managers use storytelling to help their team visualize the product roadmap and the value of the product being delivered. 

Moll said he developed his sense of storytelling from his uncle. 

“I always looked up to him and his ability to tell a story, to tell a joke and to bring things together,” Moll said. “It was always quite inspiring to me.” 

Growing up, Moll was one of the only kids on his street, and the adults would have bonfires where he’d listen to them exchange stories back and forth. In order to contribute to the conversation, he learned to tailor stories to his audience in this case adults three times his age.

Moll said that it takes practice and experience to become a storyteller and that he continues to build the skill to this day.

Prioritizing Metrics 

Moll’s approach to data is being data informed rather than data driven. 

“When we’re looking at data, you have to keep this in mind that most of it is probably skewed in some way and it’s not perfect,” Moll said. 

Moll spends most of his time in a B2B space, where there may not be statistical significance for each of their data sets.

“Where I think metrics are super important, is setting goals,” Moll said. 

Metrics should help to establish and clarify product goals. 

“If you’re looking to increase something from x to y, you definitely have to have a baseline, and you have to have the goal that you want to reach to,” Moll said. “Without that, you’re just kind of stabbing in the dark.” 

Moll’s Advice

At the beginning of his career, Moll wasn’t focused on having fun or delving into the things he was passionate about because his family urged him to take the path of stability. 

His advice?: Do what is fun, challenging, and inspiring. He left his job at Microsoft, slightly scared of what the future might hold but to his relief, when he quit, his world seemed to open up.

“I think that there was nothing to be scared of, it has been way more fun since then,” Moll said. “It really was a turning point for me in both happiness and career progression.”