Michael Scully reviewed all 1,000 applications personally when he posted a product manager role last August. Every. Single. One.

That same obsessive attention to overlooked details drove him from coding in his dorm room to leading product at Summer, a public benefit corporation tackling America's $1.8 trillion student loan crisis.

In our conversation, Michael discovered something shocking: The majority of people defaulting on student loans qualified for affordable payment plans—they just never knew these options existed. During the pandemic payment pause, borrowers' loans got sold, addresses changed, autopay broke. Prime credit scores tanked overnight through no fault of the borrower.

"We're not dealing with edge cases," Michael explains. "These are normal people who did everything right, caught in a system that's surprisingly complex for what should be simple."

We cover:

→ Diverse teams catch problems homogeneous ones miss (hire for "culture add" not "culture fit")

→ Where there's confusion, there's opportunity to help at scale, and how to spot opportunities.

This episode covers student loan solutions. But it's really about building products that meet people where they struggle most—and the leadership philosophy that attracts top talent to mission-driven work.

Timeline:

03:01 FinTech Trends and Student Loans

04:07 Challenges in Student Loan Management

05:58 Summer's Approach to Solving Student Loan Issues

10:48 Employer Benefits and Financial Wellness

14:45 Navigating Regulatory Changes

17:37 Product Management Insights

20:09 Proactive Messaging and Customer Experience

29:06 Hiring and Team Building

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.wayofproduct.com

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