Mike Ditson

Austin, Texas Area, TX United States

VP of Product at Square Root, Inc.

CUSTOMERS: At some point two or three weeks into working with me, people usually ask, “did you ever work in sales?” I have never been a salesperson but I love this question because I consider it a compliment. It is one-half of the reason I work in “Products.” In my first job as a product manager I worked for a V.P. of Engineering who would be out visiting customers all of the time. When I asked him why the head of development put in so much extra time on the road he said, “Mike, sales is everyone’s job.” It stuck. ENGINEERING: The other reason I work in Product is to work with engineers! If I have ever experienced perfect “flow,” in product management, it was about a