#9 - Andrew "Tokes" Tokeley, Product Leaders & community

In this episode, we talk with Andrew Tokeley who helps successful NZ businesses build high-performance product leadership teams.
Tokes talks about what product is, how product leaders can work closely with the business, and understanding how to develop your product strategy alongside the business strategy. 

His name is Andrew Tokeley but most people call him Tokes.  

Tokes founded his coaching business in 2017 and is NZ’s only full-time independent product leadership coach. 

Since then, he has worked with over 60 companies ranging from start-ups to large corporations and even helped a few government agencies to adopt a more product-centric approach to their work.   

His work typically involves working directly with senior product leaders, executive teams, and founders to help raise the understanding and practice of product leadership. 

While he calls himself a coach, he is just as likely to provide advice to his clients, drawing from over 20 years of experience as both a technical and product leader himself.   

Tokes also works as a Product Operating Partner at Movac, providing support and guidance to a number of their portfolio companies.  

In 2015 he created Wellington’s largest product MeetUp, ProductTank, now boasting 2500 members, and he is a founding committee member of Product Aotearoa, a non-profit organisation supporting product leadership across the country.  

In his previous life, he has been a statistician, software developer, and banana picker.