PayPal Product Executive on From Problem Solver to Product Leader: 17 years at PayPal working in 10 different roles | E229 | #TheProductPodcast
“I’m a problem solver by nature, a product leader by craft and change maker in spirit, and that just describes me.”
In this edition of #TheProductPodcast newsletter, we dive into the world of product leadership with Prashanthi Ravanavarapu , former Product Executive at . With 17 years of experience across various roles at PayPal, Prashanthi shares invaluable insights on customer-centricity, building high-performing teams, and driving innovation in product management.
🗞️ Subscribe to this newsletter so you get to learn how Product is being done inside the most important companies, directly from the top product leaders in the industry.
There are many incredible lessons to learn from Prashanthi. Here are a few of the top ones:
➡️ Embracing Internal Mobility for Business Impact
“If you focus on what’s the business value you can deliver for the business and what’s the customer value you can provide for the customer, actually building a business case for a role becomes easier.”
Prashanthi emphasizes the importance of internal mobility not just for personal growth, but for creating value for the business. She suggests looking at the intersection of your unique strengths, interests, and business gaps to identify opportunities. This approach allows you to build a compelling case for new roles that solve problems others can’t, demonstrating how your transition benefits both you and the company.
➡️ Customer-Centricity: Beyond Buzzwords
“Being customer centric is really as simple as being kind and gaining empathy for your customer.”
Prashanthi cuts through the noise surrounding customer-centricity, focusing on its core essence: empathy. She stresses the importance of understanding not just how customers interact with your product, but their entire context — what happens before and after they use your product. This deep understanding transforms your work from a job to a crusade, making you feel like a “warrior for your customer.” Prashanthi’s approach involves immersing herself in customers’ lives, conducting in-home visits, and using methods like journaling to gain comprehensive insights into their behaviors and needs.
➡️ Building Missionary Teams
“Building missionary teams actually has a couple of things you have to think in mind. Not everybody might be driven by the big mission, right. Maybe they don’t want to be world changing, maybe they don’t want to end global poverty, but at the end of the day, I don’t think any human being will walk away feeling like I’m not a good person.”
Prashanthi shares her approach to building highly motivated teams by tapping into basic human nature. She combines Daniel Pink’s drive theory (purpose, mastery, and autonomy) with a focus on solving real customer problems. By connecting team members directly with customers, providing opportunities for skill mastery, and offering autonomy, she creates an environment where people are motivated by both career growth and the satisfaction of doing meaningful work.
➡️ Justice-Driven Product Design
“How can you bring that justice thinking into your products? That way you’re not just building products that are inclusive, equal or equitable, but you’re actually fixing the systemic issues that create racial bias, ethnic bias and all these kinds of bias in the system.”
Prashanthi introduces the concept of justice-driven product design, inspired by the apple tree analogy of inequality, equality, equity, and justice. This approach goes beyond creating inclusive or equitable products to address systemic issues causing bias. It challenges product leaders to think more deeply about how their products can contribute to a more just society, fixing root causes rather than just symptoms.
➡️ Mindset Over Skillset in Team Building
“I believe in the concept of skill set is not as important as mindset. It really translates to mindset over skill set. Whenever I’m hiring PM’s, I’m always thinking about the mindset.”
When building high-performing teams, Prashanthi prioritizes mindset over skillset. She looks for four key mindset attributes: customer-centricity, growth-mindedness, service orientation, and proactivity. Prashanthi believes that people with the right mindset will solve bigger problems and learn necessary skills faster than those who simply have the right skills at the outset. This approach to hiring and team building focuses on long-term potential and adaptability rather than just current capabilities.
🔑 Key takeaways
- Focus on creating business value when seeking internal mobility opportunities.
- Practice true customer-centricity by deeply understanding customers’ lives and contexts.
- Build missionary teams by connecting personal growth with meaningful customer impact.
- Implement justice-driven product design to address systemic issues and biases.
- Prioritize mindset over skillset when building high-performing product teams.
- Continuously learn and reflect to develop a structured approach to product leadership.
🎧 Check out the full episode here 🎧
➡️ If you found this valuable, help us spread the impact by sharing, following and rating the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, so we all help each other learn and grow.
Do you want to level up your Product Management skills? Check out our certifications , ready to help you improve your or your team’s skills wherever they are: entry, mid, or senior level.
🗞️ Subscribe to this newsletter so you get to learn how Product is being done inside the most important companies, directly from the top product leaders in the industry.
