Esteban Contreras
Hootsuite

59 / Balance Mission & Vision For Great Products

Description
What does it really mean to be obsessed with serving your customers? How can we balance mission and vision to build great products?
In this episode, ITX product leader Matt Bush joins Sean in a lively conversation with Esteban Contreras, a Senior Director of Product Management at Hootsuite. Like many so organizations in the space, Hootsuite deftly adapted to a pandemic-driven business climate to continue serving customers from a fully remote work environment. Esteban shares how celebration and culture were key to this process.
Some customers seem less concerned with the long-term vision of your product. Even product teams sometimes struggle to grasp their long-term goals when they don’t know the path for getting there. For some, Esteban adds, “A successful day simply means getting out of work on time.”  And that’s why mission is so important. Mission explains why we exist in the first place.
Listen in to catch more from Esteban; learn about his unique entrance into product management and cools ways to celebrate activities that are integral to customer success.
Esteban’s Recommended Reading
Hackers and Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age, by Paul Graham.
The Product-Led Organization: Drive Growth By Putting Product at the Center of Your Customer Experience, by Todd Olson.
 

About Carlos
Esteban Contreras is a Senior Director of Product Management at Hootsuite, the global leader in social media management software. Esteban has spent over a decade at the convergence of technology and marketing. He is passionate about solving problems with software and developing customer-centric, mission-driven product teams.
At Hootsuite, Esteban has driven the vision for its social media marketing solutions and led product portfolios responsible for publishing, engagement, mobile, analytics, integrations, and machine learning initiatives. He has advised tech startups in SaaS, gaming, social networking, and e-commerce. Originally from Guatemala, Esteban lived in the United States before moving to Vancouver, BC where he now lives with his wife and two kids.