In this edition of “Meet a LiveIntenter”, we’re talking to VP of Product Management, Andy Keum. Andy is an even-keeled kind of guy who is a rational thinker and consensus-builder when it comes to solving problems. Always unassuming, his colleagues also describe him as logical, smart and witty; but when it comes down to it, Andy is all about helping LiveIntent dominate.
What led you to LiveIntent?
“It’s people!” No, not Soylent Green, the people at LiveIntent and the people-based marketing solution that we provide. Great conversations with various LiveIntent team members that I met throughout the interview process and as I learned more about LiveIntent’s business built on top of the anonymized email hash as a cross-device ID graph. I knew I wanted to get involved in building out the product portfolio and the product team to support/enable that vision.
Has your perception about email changed since working for LiveIntent?
To me, email has primarily been a way to connect with family and friends at home, a communication channel through which I engage with colleagues at work, and a mechanism for accessing information (either in my inbox or by using email to log in). But through my time at LiveIntent, I no longer look at email as just email but see a people-based advertising ecosystem built on top of email in a way that’s more ‘real’ and persistent.
Respect the email!
How does your role as VP of Product Management fit into the big picture at LiveIntent?
As a company, we have no shortage of motivated clients and partners to work with, interesting problems to solve, and innovative products to build. The Product team can help to navigate the landscape, prioritize among the competing ideas, and drive the development and launch of these ideas as viable products. More specifically, my team and I are focused on delivering the “goods” for the Demand Side so that we can better support our advertiser/agency clients, scale our business, and onboard new partners that drive incremental demand on our platform.
Tell us about an upcoming project you’re excited about.
We have lots of exciting projects coming up but the one I’m most excited about is figuring out how we can best leverage our data assets – whether it be data-driven optimization best practices, analytics product offering, or audience segment based targeting. As the saying goes, we’ve barely scratched the surface of what we can do here and I expect us to share exciting news in 2017.
Who has been an influential person in your career?
My friend/then-boss from ~15 years ago gave me advice when I first became a product manager: “if you have friends in the company, you’re not doing your job”. Took me a while to figure out what that meant – a PM needs to do the job based on facts/data and not based on relationships. One must also have thick skin to face criticism/critique, and have the conviction to drive initiatives that may be unpopular at times. I’m looking forward to not having any friends at LiveIntent!
What is one piece of advice you would give to someone looking to start a career in Product?
There is no single job that prepares you for a product role better than any other role, so stay curious, ask questions, and be proactive in suggesting how we can build a better product!
If we came to your house for dinner, what would you prepare for us?
Korean food, of course. No, we don’t have an open BBQ grill built into our dining table. Had to take it out once we had kids.
What is your 2017 theme song?
It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) – R.E.M.
See yourself at LiveIntent? Learn more about our culture or check out some of our available positions here.
Source: LiveIntent