From Politics to Product Management
Curious about how our Product Managers found their way into the world of Product Management? 🤔
Tanya, Product Manager, takes us through her unexpected journey—from a gap year to exploring fintech and tackling global challenges along the way. 🚀
"Every decision we make is ultimately grounded in data. This approach gives us a powerful advantage and ensures we're always moving in the right direction."
Tanya Agarwal (She/Her)
Product Manager
Can you tell us a bit about your background?
I took a gap year between school and university to travel and gain experience in the advertising industry, where I was drawn to the impact small agencies had. This sparked my interest in dynamic, smaller companies. I then studied Politics at University of Edinburgh but quickly realised that a career in the UN or EU wasn’t for me. The idea of making an impact over the long term didn’t suit my more fast-paced nature.
During this time, I interned at Code First: Girls (under Entrepreneur First), where I ran the entire initiative due to changes in the team and had the chance to be mentored directly by the EF Founders. This led me to explore tech roles, including Product Management.
After graduating, I entered Product roles and found myself in the fintech field. At a legal tech startup, I saw that financial education was a key barrier for customers, which led me to focus on financial products for small businesses. I later worked on fincrime controls at a global payments company before joining Wise almost three years ago.
What made you apply to Wise?
I’ve been a customer of Wise for years, ever since my year abroad when Wise was the only way I could pay my landlord. When I saw a role focused on sanctions after working on Fincrime in general over the last few years, I knew it was the right opportunity. Having worked in this area at my previous company, I wanted to dive deeper and tackle the challenge on a much larger scale. The constantly evolving regulatory landscape, especially in a fast-growing company like Wise, is something that continues to motivate me, and it’s a challenge I’m excited to be part of solving.
Has anything surprised you since joining Wise?
What continues to surprise me every day is the motivation to make things better for our customers. It’s inspiring to be part of a company where thousands of people across the globe are committed to the same mission— something I truly believe is unique to Wise.
Another thing that stands out is how data-driven our decision-making process is. While we all bring our intuition and experience to the table, every decision we make is ultimately grounded in data. This approach gives us a powerful advantage and ensures we're always moving in the right direction.
What excites you about working directly with financial crime prevention?
The challenge of finding the right balance between delivering an exceptional customer experience and managing risk—is something that no business can ever truly perfect. The complexity of striving for that balance while navigating an ever-changing macro-environment and business growth is what makes it so rewarding.
The possibilities within financial crime prevention are endless. We essentially keep our customers safe by ensuring that money flowing through our systems is not funding sanctioned entities.
We can enhance the product at multiple touchpoints—whether it's on the data input side, the engine side, the case creation and handling side, or even on the operations, analytics, and compliance fronts. The scope for improvement is vast, and that’s what makes it so engaging and dynamic to work on.
What are some common misconceptions people have about Product Management?
With any role, the reality is that it can be tough at times and requires a lot of hands-on work. Sometimes, you need to dive into any domain or team at a moment’s notice. For example, if your team is facing a bottleneck in hiring, you might need to step in and take on sourcing and hiring yourself to keep things moving.
As a Product Manager, you need to be willing to do whatever it takes to get things moving forward, even if it’s outside the typical product-related tasks.
What skills or mindset do you look for when hiring Product Managers at Wise?
Resilience, clear communication and a growth mindset.
Resilience plays a key role because the tech industry is known for its fast-paced nature. Product Managers (PMs) should be ready to tackle curve balls head on and guide their teams and stakeholders towards moving the correct metrics in the most effective way.
Clear communication is important as the role requires working with different types of internal, and sometimes external stakeholders. This allows PMs to convey their product vision, requirements and priorities, as well as bring everyone on the journey together, ensuring that everyone has a clear understanding of the goals and can contribute effectively.
And finally, a growth mindset is key. A fast-paced environment fosters continuous learning, encourages efficient feedback incorporation, and helps individuals view their problem from a broader, long-term perspective.
If you could go back and give your younger self one piece of advice about Product Management, what would it be?
Be curious and creative. Don’t just focus on Product Management books—focus on books that shape your thinking and leadership skills. I recommend Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman and The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli. These books teach critical thinking and decision-making—vital skills for any successful Product Manager.
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