By On Thursday 29 October I went to my first product event in Barcelona: ProductTank Barcelona, October edition, hosted at the MANGO offices. The Meetup page listed 109 attendees and 49 people on the waitlist. I walked out with new conversations and the feeling that I had moved to the right city for this work.
Why I am in Barcelona
A few weeks before that evening, Fabienne and I moved from Lausanne to Barcelona for her new job. Since the move I have been exploring the Barcelona product scene, one conversation and one event at a time.
Barcelona, in six photos
Click a photo to zoom
Four Barcelona product people I talked to
I have talked with four Barcelona product managers, and their conversations live on Product Moat, my project where I publish written conversations with product people. I have a stake in that project, so read my enthusiasm with that in mind.
- Alexander Hipp, AI Product Lead at Miro: read the conversation
- Mariona Dotras Perales, Product Manager at Spendesk: read the conversation
- Cristina Ornato, Product Manager at Vinted: read the conversation
- Marta Sanaú Hornero, Lead Product Manager in Artificial Intelligence: her conversation is not published yet.
What stood out in all of them is the friendliness. People here are willing to help and to share their stories from the product world.
ProductTank Barcelona at MANGO
The evening had two talks. Clara Fernández Pachiani, lead PM at MANGO, showed how she answers the sales-forecast question for products that will not generate revenue right away, with practical examples from her own work. Tomás Caraccia, an investor and experienced software and platform product and engineering leader, spoke about how AI accelerates the kind of learning that changes outcomes inside companies. Karine Nascimento organized the evening, and I had a chance to speak with her. She has an impressive tenure in product, and juggling that with running the ProductTank events takes real effort.
I also met a few very nice product people there. My takeaway: product talks work best when current topics, AI above all, come with real stories from people doing the job.
What a product community adds
Barcelona is a good place to find communities that give inspiration and fresh topics, especially AI and how teams use it in their own environments. The first effect is easy to name: I meet people. The second-order effect is speed. I learn about product faster than I did before, and I see how product management looks across different companies.
Next: Lenny's Newsletter Meetup
On Thursday 12 November, from 18:00 to 21:00, I am going to the Lenny's Newsletter Meetup in Barcelona, hosted by Marc Bisbal at Garage Beer Co in Eixample, with drinks courtesy of PostHog. I expect to meet more product people from the area, and I will report back on what I learn.
If you work in product in Barcelona, reach out. I would like to hear what you are building.