Crew Spotlight: Meet Maheep Bhalla, the San Jose/Bay Area Head of Chapter

Products That Counts welcomes our new Head of Chapter for the San Jose Chapter, Maheep Bhalla! Maheep, formerly Director of Product Management for Transformco, is a customer-focused Product Leader with more than a decade serving as a product professional. He believes that a Product Manager wears multiple hats but should always champion the voice of the customer.

As Head of Chapter for the San Jose/Bay Area Chapter, Maheep regularly invites product leaders like Google Fmr Product Lead, Will Doolittle, and Peek.com CPO, Navya Rehani Gupta, to share their insights on product management.

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What’s your favorite product and why

With his product management expertise, Maheep has noticed a few products that stand out in the marketplace, but one, in particular, is remarkable.

“Whatsapp is the one Product that I swear by. I use it for work, to check in on family and friends, to communicate with my sports and hobby teams, and to keep in touch with ex-colleagues and long-lost friends. The simplicity of execution is remarkable. Whatsapp makes it so easy to get started.”

Why does product management matter to you?

“A product manager is the one person who takes a customer problem, works with others to find a solution, and then delivers a tangible solution to the problem. It is this tangibility of outcome that matters to me the most.”

What makes a great product?

We all know of products we thought were excellent but didn’t stick around. Some didn’t receive enough sales support, were ahead of their time, were unprofitable, or failed for dozens of other reasons. Considering those ideas, Maheep’s thought process on what makes a great product is instructive. 

“A great product is one that delights the customer while solving their problem and makes the product development process fruitful for the creator.”

What makes a great product manager?

Today is The Age of Product and there’s never been a better time to be a Product Manager or Product Leader. It’s not a role for anyone, however. With more than 10 years as a product manager, Maheep has developed insight into the skills necessary to succeed.

“A focus on the customer layered with leadership, communication skills, and execution skills are the essential ingredients of becoming a great product manager.”

What are the blogs, newsletters, books, and resources that you find most helpful.

In addition to reading numerous product-related blogs, Maheep said he also regularly reads Medium articles for insight. He also counts on the content he finds here at Products That Count, and is now part of the growing crew that’s engaging product professionals to share their knowledge and create better products.