mParticle Founder on Product Design

Introduction

Michael Katz, co-founder of mParticle, talks about building products and teams that are focused on delivering value for customers at every level. From his time working at startups and large corporations, Michael shares the advantages of building your own team with a culture that is always focused on making products for its customers.

The Startup Advantage: Building Teams On Your Terms

One of the things that I’ve learned about myself is that I don’t enjoy cleaning up other people’s messes. Being at Yahoo, there was too much technical and cultural debt. This turned into a huge source of stress for me. I knew that it was time to start over and build something new. As a result, I set out to launch a sustainable business and create a product design legacy that changes people’s lives.

For me, startups are all about building products that you want. This was true when I started Interclick and it’s true to this day at mParticle. However, it’s not just about building products. In the end, it’s about building a team and a culture that makes you proud.

There’s only so much value in starting a business if your only focus is the market opportunity. Likewise, the same holds true if you only focus on technical challenges being solved through your product design. Throughout my career as a business leader, one of the goals that I’ve set is for employees to say, “this is the best job I’ve ever had.”

Having that foundational culture in place is very important in creating a sustainable business. As companies grow, you need to have complete alignment around people, process and platform. This creates harmony throughout your team. Furthermore, you create a culture that is focused on product design with the customer in mind.

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