(0:17) Rob introduces Dane Pieri, Product Manager at Benchling. (1:02) Dane shares that he attended CMU and was involved with local Pittsburgh startups until he graduated and moved to Silicon Valley after graduation. Since then he’s been involved with a few startups but product management has been a major focus of his throughout his career. (2:51) Rob comments on Dane’s decision to get involved in the startup community instead of diving into the corporate world and asks about the factors that influenced him. (3:50) Dane shares that it isn’t an easy decision and you never really know if you’re making the right decision. But the startup community has allowed him to dive into the problems that he’s wanted to solve and given him more freedom than his friends who have gone into the corporate world. (5:21) He discusses that what he really cares about is working on problems that he’s passionate about and that will make a difference in people's lives. That’s one of his motivators for working at Benchling where they are using biotech to influence the advancement in the pharmaceutical space. (7:33) Pat asks Dane what advice he would give to CMU students who are looking into product roles at startups. (8:04) Dane delves into his recipe for success, which is to find something that you genuinely care about working on and then get to work on that thing. Startups are unique in that depending on the size you have a lot of freedom to pick the problems that you want to work on and then focus on solving those things. (10:20) Rob comments on how clear the career path is when looking at the corporate world versus the startup world. (11:12) Dane discusses that he got involved in the startup community through his network and the CMU network. He mentions that if you know how to code then there is a place for you in the startup community as everyone is always searching for talent. (13:40) The power of the CMU and Pittsburgh community is that we’re all about helping each other grow. Tell our listeners what they can do to help you. Dane shares that he’d love advice from Rob and Pat on how to organize and track long-term goals and short-term tactics without losing focus. Pat advises Dane on how he uses a combination of tools like Trello and Miro to ensure he keeps focus his long-term outcomes while meeting short-term objectives.

Pat O’Donnell: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pat-o-donnell-78993267

Rob Miller: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-miller-b4177b82/

Dane Pieri: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danepieri/