At AdRoll, my job combines technology, data, and consumer behavior. In this role, I have gained a deep understanding of how advertising and web traffic work. What makes my job truly fascinating is using this extensive dataset to generate valuable insights and strategies. These insights help advertisers communicate with the right people, in the right locations, and at the right moments programmatically.
According to experts, the digital advertising industry is still in its early stages, constantly evolving with increased investment in online channels. Upon completion of my MBA, my primary objective is to secure a product manager position at a prominent company within the digital media/digital advertising sector. Working alongside esteemed industry leaders will allow me to enhance my knowledge and skills. Ultimately, I aspire to attain a senior leadership role at a smaller startup where I can create groundbreaking products and successfully execute their go-to-market strategies while making a significant impact.
The internet depends on advertising for its accessibility, even though it is commonly seen as a necessary evil. However, digital advertising has the potential to be beneficial rather than disruptive. By utilizing data models, digital advertising can introduce users to valuable products and services while also ensuring a positive online experience. It is crucial for industry leaders to be open about their data usage and work towards building trust with users, especially in light of growing concerns surrounding privacy and information exploitation. Through these efforts, digital advertising can attract advertisers and earn the trust of users.
I aspire to enhance my knowledge and credibility in order to revolutionize the digital advertising sphere and become a champion for both advertisers and consumers. By working as a product manager at a prominent company, I will have access to the necessary resources and assistance to devise effective strategies that tackle these issues. Subsequently, my future role in a startup will serve as a platform for me to create and promote a viable solution.
The common denominator in all of my employment experiences has been the chance to contribute to early-stage, dynamic startups that were essentially pioneering new business models. These companies all boasted a naturally merit-based culture and had limited resources to hire individuals with highly specialized skills, which meant that I had the opportunity to take on responsibilities that someone right out of college would seldom encounter in a more organized setting.
My previous experiences, including creating and managing a Sales Operations team at Bloomspot, executing a product pivot at Crowdcast, and working directly with AdRoll’s major advertisers to optimize our platform, have given me a solid foundation for my future career in product management. To accomplish my goal, the next necessary step is obtaining an MBA education from Anderson.
Anderson’s hiring statistics show that they have been successful in assisting graduates in securing jobs in the Technology industry, specifically in Product Management and Marketing roles. The recent revamping of the curriculum, which includes more specialized tracks for MBA candidates, will play a crucial role in preparing me for my future career after graduation. Mandatory Core classes will enhance my critical thinking abilities and contribute to my development as a versatile leader. Additionally, electives focused on the Marketing Track, like Product Management and Consumer Behavior, will equip me with advanced skills that I will utilize throughout my professional journey.
My sister, Irina Fayngersh, graduated from Anderson in 2008 and characterized her time there as a distinctive chance to employ management concepts within a highly collaborative atmosphere. Her extensive network and stories of learning from exceptional peers, esteemed professors, and leaders in the industry further confirmed my determination to apply.
Throughout my entire career in Technology, I have been exposed to a somewhat insulated school of thought. However, collaborating with students from various countries and industries will push me to develop new perspectives, set higher goals, and continue questioning the status quo. Participating in the AMR program is especially exciting for me as it will undoubtedly equip me with invaluable practical skills. In order to gain more international experience, I would likely focus on a Global Pro-Social project to expand my perspective beyond the primarily domestic realm. Lastly, as I am about to get married, UCLA’s beautiful Westwood location and emphasis on family life offer an ideal environment for my fiancée and me to start our lives together.
Throughout my experience working at three different startups, I have faced the heartbreaking realization on two occasions that the business I was fully committed to would not prosper. In both instances, insufficient funds caused my position to be terminated, which was a painful and discouraging experience. However, being let go from these jobs proved to be beneficial in unexpected ways. It provided opportunities for personal growth, improvement of skills, and ultimately guided me towards my current career path. As a result of these challenges, I have managed to overcome my fear of failure and am now more willing than ever to take risks. I firmly believe that the lessons learned from failure hold greater value than not taking any chances at all.
The collapse of the daily deal industry led to Bloomspot laying off employees, which eventually resulted in the elimination of my position. However, my time at Bloomspot provided me with valuable management experiences that gave me the confidence to seek a role where I could make a greater impact on the overall business. This led me to join Crowdcast as their sixth employee.
Working at Crowdcast exposed me to various job functions that furthered my professional growth. One of the most significant opportunities I had was to develop and execute the beta program, which ultimately led to a product pivot.
Despite experiencing consistent increases in revenue, Crowdcast was unable to become profitable or secure additional funding. As a result, the company was acquired by a competitor, leading to an unsuccessful exit. Recognizing the importance of improving my technical and analytical skills, I accepted a position at AdRoll. Here, I have had the opportunity to deeply engage with the digital advertising industry and further develop my leadership abilities.
Having gone through the failure of two startups, I now have a deep understanding of the effort and circumstances needed to establish a prosperous team and business. I observed two founders embark on their dreams and establish companies, and although the outcome was not favorable, both founders still deemed the experience valuable in the grand scheme of things. I recognize that not all of my pursuits will be successful, yet my accomplishments subsequent to the layoffs have taught me that attempting and not succeeding is still more rewarding than never having ventured out in the first place.
As an early employee and salesperson at Bloomspot, I played a crucial role in developing the sales team’s processes. However, as the company grew to over 150 employees, I noticed inefficiencies in how we handled the post-sales delivery of offers. To address this, I proposed to our executives the creation of a new team that would coordinate the interaction between merchants and our content team. This would allow salespeople to focus solely on generating new business while ensuring customer satisfaction and improving our rerun rate. Management approved the idea and gave me the opportunity to establish and staff a Sales Operations team.
Being given such a significant level of responsibility was a privilege for me, but it also made me anxious because I lacked professional experience in managing people. The management team, including some individuals who acted as my mentors, offered the necessary assistance to help me grow as a leader. The managers I respected the most possessed specific essential traits: honesty, approachability, and the skill to consistently and effectively set objectives. My goal as a manager was to imitate these qualities.
By acquiring effective project management skills, I was able to mentor three individuals and support their promotions in other departments. I also handled HR-related matters, which led to the termination of an unproductive team member. As a result, the Sales Operations team’s effectiveness was quickly demonstrated and we were able to expand to 14 members while undertaking extra tasks.
Besides our main objective of delivering flawless offers more efficiently, the Sales Operations team had the task of implementing two significant initiatives: a structured program to re-engage merchants and a loyalty product for credit card users. The most difficult aspect I faced while managing these projects was assessing the skills and limitations of each team member and assigning them appropriate roles where they could maximize their effectiveness.
To accomplish this goal, I implemented biweekly individual meetings with every team member and frequently gathered input from the sales and production teams that my team closely collaborated with. The credit card loyalty product became incredibly significant as it ultimately allowed Bloomspot to stand out from the numerous competitors and remain operational during the industry’s decline. The effectiveness of the product was the main reason why JP Morgan Chase decided to acquire Bloomspot in 2012.
The most challenging task in my professional career was laying off nine out of fourteen members of my team at Bloomspot. During the boom of the daily deal industry, our company grew rapidly. However, as revenue declined, we had to make the tough decision to reduce our workforce by almost 40%. Unfortunately, as the newest team focused on process efficiency rather than generating revenue, my team was impacted the most. Despite being offered assistance from the COO to handle the layoffs for me, I felt a responsibility as the one who hired most of the team to personally deliver the news face-to-face. Although it was painful, this experience taught me about one of the toughest aspects of leadership.
When I was young, my family moved frequently, resulting in me attending five different schools from kindergarten to sixth grade. Rather than focusing on developing my own identity, my main concern was adapting to new environments, much like a chameleon.
However, everything changed during the summer after sixth grade when I spent three weeks at Camp Tawonga. On my first night there, all the campers gathered around a campfire and sang together. Among the songs, my favorite was an adaptation of John Denver’s Country Roads with customized lyrics representing Camp Tawonga rather than West Virginia. The returning campers performed this particular song with immense enthusiasm and it quickly became my favorite as well.
The lyrics “Take me home, to the place where I belong” will forever symbolize my initial sense of community, which played a vital role in shaping my identity. Tawonga’s focus on personal development motivated me to actively contribute to unfamiliar situations rather than simply adjusting to them. When my bunkmate injured his ankle after a three-day backpacking trip, I unexpectedly offered to carry his backpack for the remainder of the journey. The fulfillment I experienced from assisting him mitigated the burden of the additional 30 pounds.
Having a home to call my own not only gave me the opportunity to develop confidence, but it also allowed me to establish deep and long-lasting friendships, such as with the best man at my upcoming wedding in May. Thanks to the newfound confidence I gained, I was selected to be the emcee for the camp talent show, performing in front of an audience of 300 campers and staff. To wrap up the show, I gave a powerful performance of Country Roads.
Starting out as the tenth employee at Bloomspot, I gained a valuable insight into the development of a startup. As our company expanded to 150 employees, I observed flaws in our approach to managing the delivery of offers after sales. I presented a proposal to our executives suggesting the formation of a new team dedicated to streamlining this process. With their approval, I had the chance to establish and assemble a Sales Operations team.
Having the support and guidance of experienced mentors on our management team was instrumental in my development as a first-time manager. I looked up to these successful leaders and worked hard to embody their qualities, which helped me become more confident in my new role. The effectiveness of the Sales Operations team became evident right away, enabling us to expand our team to 14 members and handle more responsibilities.
Our main accomplishment was implementing a credit card loyalty product that helped Bloomspot stand out from its competitors and survive during the industry’s decline. We discovered specific data points that encouraged merchants to join, and through a targeted outreach approach, we successfully onboarded enough merchants to make the product thrive.
Bloomspot was unable to sustain positive growth, resulting in the layoff of nine team members. Despite the difficult task of letting go of people I had close relationships with, I take pride in the contribution we made to the company. This experience greatly influenced my personal development.
Having worked at multiple startups, I have firsthand experience of the painful realization that the businesses I dedicated myself to would not succeed. In both cases, these startups depleted their capital and as a result, my position was eliminated. Undoubtedly, job loss is a difficult experience, especially when it happens twice. However, these challenges ultimately led me towards new opportunities and guided me to my current career path. Consequently, I have successfully overcome my fear of failure and now fully embrace taking risks. I understand that the knowledge and growth gained from failure outweighs the alternative of never taking risks.
The layoffs had a beneficial effect on my career as they provided opportunities for me to venture into different job functions in industries where I had no prior experience. This enabled me to transition from working in consumer internet to enterprise software to digital advertising. With each role, I acquired new skills that have ultimately led me to establish specific goals and the determination to pursue them.
After experiencing the failure of two startups, I have gained a profound understanding of the effort and conditions necessary for creating a prosperous team and business. I observed two entrepreneurial individuals chase their dreams and establish companies, and even though the results were unfavorable, both recognized the value of the experience in the end. I acknowledge that not all my endeavors will be triumphant, yet I prefer taking a chance and failing rather than living with the remorse of never having attempted.
