Brad Ross · Product leader · Lehi, Utah
Good strategy is mostly deciding what matters, and being honest about what doesn't.
I've spent twenty years in product, working out which problems are worth a team's time and how to get people pulling in the same direction. This is where I share how I think, what I've learned, and who I am outside the job.
One personal sentence to close the intro, something only you'd say. Example: "When I'm not in a roadmap review, you'll find me ___."
How I think about product
Who I am
Product strategyWhat I believe
These are the habits that show up across every team I've led, drawn from what has worked.
The shared layer is where the leverage is.
The most valuable product work often sits underneath the features customers see. The documents, rules, and services that every other team depends on decide how fast the whole company can move, so I look there first.
A strategy you can't measure is a wish.
I write the business case before the roadmap, freeze a baseline, and say out loud what "better" means. It keeps me honest and gives my partners something solid to say yes to.
Say no early, and say why.
Prioritization is a form of respect for the team's time. A clear "not now," with the reasoning, builds more trust than a vague "maybe."
Influence beats authority.
Most of the products I've shipped depended on teams I didn't manage. The work is listening well enough to find what each group needs, then making the shared goal the easy path.
Your own edit or opinion. What do most people get wrong about product? Add a belief of your own, or rewrite any of the four above in your voice.
Strategy in practiceThree bets
Three decisions that shaped how I work, each told as the problem, the call, and what happened.
Lendio · 2022–2026
Moving a lending platform from manual batches to real time
- Problem
- Loan processing relied on manual, batch-style steps. Every extra touch slowed funding for small businesses waiting on capital.
- The call
- Treat documents and requirements as a platform every team could build on, and push lenders toward API-based submission instead of email and spreadsheets.
- Result
- Automated offer submission rose from 24% to 55% in nine months. Time-to-fund fell 22.7% year over year against a 20% goal, the first fully met KPI in that initiative.
Lendio · Business case
Making the case for an event-driven workflow architecture
- Problem
- Workflows were tangled, hard to change, and hard to audit.
- The call
- Propose a different architecture and back it with numbers, not enthusiasm.
- Result
- A $344K case with 197% projected ROI won a two-year program, and the idea became a pillar of engineering's roadmap.
Lingotek · 2015–2021
Giving customers and executives one honest view of the data
- Problem
- Our largest accounts, worth 39% of revenue, couldn't easily see the value they were getting.
- The call
- Build an Intelligence Dashboard from zero: the data warehouse, the BI layer, and the APIs. I also sponsored those accounts myself.
- Result
- The dashboard shipped, and those relationships held through the company's acquisition by Straker.
Swap in or add the story you're proudest of, especially one where you were wrong or changed your mind. Those are the ones people remember.
The personWho I am
Beyond the titles, I'm the person who ______________.
Two or three honest sentences about you. Where you're from, what you care about, what you'd want a new teammate to know on day one.
Outside of work
Family, hobbies, what you do on a Saturday in Utah.
How teammates describe me
Three words, or a quote you actually heard.
Something you wouldn't guess
A surprising fact, a past life, an odd skill.
The road so farWhere I've been
Twenty years, eighteen in product. The through-line is moving closer to strategy and to leading people.
2022 – 2026
Principal Product Manager · Lendio
One of the largest SMB lending marketplaces in the U.S. Led the Loan Processing Automation and Pre-Approvals initiatives; 137 epics shipped in four years.
2021 – 2022
Director of Product Management · Canopy
Led a team of seven, built the PM career ladder with the CPO, and designed the Workflow Automation module.
2014 – 2021
Senior PM, then Head of Product · Lingotek
Joined the executive team and led Product, UX, Solution Engineering, and Documentation. Delivered 16 products and rebuilt the API platform.
2011 – 2014
Lead Product Manager · Identifix
Led product and UX for a $100MM+ ARR platform, with teams spread across the U.S., Vietnam, and Uruguay.
2005 – 2011
Marketing Analyst & Sales · Xactware
Where I learned to talk with customers. Top salesperson six months running.
Education
Utah Valley University
B.S., Business Management · 3.88 GPA · Beta Gamma Sigma
LatelyWhat I'm curious about
I've been spending a lot of time with AI, using it both to work through ideas and as a way to help small businesses. This year I used Claude Code to ship a medical spa's website and a patient-consultation app. It's changing how quickly a product idea can become something real, which is exactly what strategy people should be watching.
What do you think AI means for product management? A sentence or two of opinion would make this section yours.