Julia Starun, Product Director at Railsware with 17 years in product management, dives into the impact of her recent MBA on product leadership. She highlights the gap between MBA theory and the fast-paced startup environment, especially in people management. Julia discusses how MBA frameworks can simplify uncertainty but warns against over-complication. She also shares insights on how understanding business metrics, like P&L, reshaped her product decisions and improved strategic thinking for market positioning.
20:27
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
question_answer ANECDOTE
Why She Chose An MBA
Julia joined an MBA to fill gaps in frameworks and hands-on practice for marketing, go-to-market, and building strategies.
She had 17 years automating processes and wanted structured tools to execute changes across departments.
insights INSIGHT
MBA Content Feels Corporate And Slow
MBA curricula tend to teach structured, slower-change corporate practices that fit big companies more than startups.
Julia found some teachings outdated for fast-moving product teams and modern tools like AI.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Don't Expect New Leadership Tricks
Validate existing leadership approaches with formal training but don't expect radically new people-management techniques.
Explore specialized research or courses to manage neurodiverse teams, as MBAs currently lack fundamentals there.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Today, we are another episode in our series, sponsored by our good friends at Railsware. Railsware is a leading product studio with two main focuses - services and products. They have created amazing products like Mailtrap, Coupler and TitanApps, while also partnering with teams like Calendly and Bright Bytes. They deliver amazing products, and have happy customers to prove it.
In this series, we are digging into the company's methods around product engineering and development. In particular, we will cover relevant topics to not only highlight their expertise, but to educate you on industry trends alongside their experience.
In today's episode, we are chatting with Julia Starun, Product Director at Railsware with over 17 years of experience in product management, business process automation and optimization. Julia will share her insights into where an MBA helps you manage a product team - and where it doesn't.
Questions:
What was your story before MBA, and what motivated your decision to pursue it?
What real-world gaps between MBA theory and product management practices did you discover at Railsware?
Does MBA training help with the "people management" side of leading product teams?
How can the tools and frameworks you learned during your MBA help with uncertainty – or overcomplicate things – when creating products?
How does understanding "business stuff" – like P&L, unit economics, financial modeling, etc. – change how you approach product decisions?
Does MBA business strategy training help product managers think beyond features to market positioning?
For someone already managing product teams, when does pursuing an MBA make sense versus other learning paths?
What's your biggest surprise about how MBA education did (or didn't) change the way you approach the realities of product team leadership?
Code Story: Insights from Startup Tech Leaders