From Law to Product: Aram Muradyan, Head of Product at Squire

Sruthi Ramaswami | January 18, 2021

For too long, the tech industry has relied on pattern matching as a core determinant of success, but it’s time for that to change. As we look to our own portfolio network, there are several examples of amazing leaders who once took a path less trodden, and bring refreshing, creative insights to their work as a result. Today, I’m thrilled to share with you a conversation with Aram Muradyan, Head of Product at Squire, the leading end-to-end platform for barbershops. Aram has led product at Squire for the last six years and was previously a Research Analyst at NineWells Capital Management and an Attorney at Hawkins Delafield & Wood and Latham & Watkins. Our conversation was filled with lessons Aram has taken from his non-linear career path to becoming the product leader he is today. We talked about everything from the importance of humility to informing your intuition with multiple perspectives to dreaming for your customers and more. Read on!

Q: Where did you grow up? What influence did your upbringing have on you?

A: I was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan and lived there until I was 12. We then moved to Brooklyn, New York, two and a half years after the Soviet Union fell apart. As you can imagine, it was quite a culture shock. I think most immigrants who come here at that age share a certain feeling of obligation towards their parents and the sacrifices they’ve made.

My father always told me to chase my dreams because, as he put it, “this is the place to do it.” I think that people come to the U.S. because they truly believe that the ceilings don’t exist here or even if they do, they are much higher than they are back home. I haven’t always taken my father’s advice, but the older I get the more I recognize the wisdom in those words.

Both of my parents were scientists in the Soviet Union, but had to take up blue collar jobs here. Now that I am around the same age my parents were when we came to the U.S., I often ask myself whether I would be able to make the same sacrifice. My parents’ story keeps me going and at the same time keeps me humble.

I would also say that witnessing how hard my parents worked and how they approached their responsibilities made a very lasting impression on me. Your work ethic and approach to responsibilities is something people around you will always recognize. As a leader, when people see you working hard, they aspire to do the same.

Q: You’ve had an interesting journey from studying computer science to practicing law. Walk us through your journey before Squire.

A: I studied computer science as an undergrad at Stony Brook. It was somewhat of a natural choice. For Soviet parents, you’re successful if you are either a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer! I always did well in math and science and enjoyed solving problems, so you can say it was a natural fit at the time.

I did well academically at Stony Brook, but I got the feeling that I wasn’t as passionate about being an engineer as some of my peers were. That was a sign for me to look elsewhere. Law had always been in the back of my mind. I was fortunate enough to get into UPenn Law and the opportunity was too great to pass up. I had an amazing three years and looking back, going to law school was one of the better decisions I’ve made in my life. That and joining Squire of course!

Q: What did you learn from your experiences as a lawyer and then in equity research that you’ve applied to building product at Squire?

A: The most important lesson I learned was the ability to argue a point from each side. Human beings often form conclusions and spend the rest of the time convincing others and most importantly themselves that they are right. This skews our perceptions. We start to believe that we have discovered the “truth” and that the other side just doesn’t get it. In law, you learn how to persuasively argue both sides of an issue, and that truly opens your eyes to the fact that for many questions there really isn’t one “right” answer.

I had a similar experience when I briefly worked in equity research. You may be looking at a stock and thinking you are getting a bargain at $20/share. You’ve done the research, your intuition has never failed you before, and you are convinced! Before pulling the trigger, you have to remind yourself that someone is willing to sell at the very same price you think is a bargain. Always make sure your intuition is well informed.

At Squire we view ourselves as innovators, not followers. Nevertheless, whenever what seems to be a revolutionary idea comes across my desk, it would be a disservice not to consider why our competitors have not pursued it. You have to respect your competition. I have witnessed numerous times how this exercise leads to a refinement of the original idea, that then leads to a better outcome.

Another skill I acquired as an attorney that helps me today is the ability to quickly hone in on what matters. As a product manager at an early stage company, you quickly realize that you cannot solve every problem your customers have. As a result, the ability to identify what really matters becomes absolutely critical.

Q: These are awesome learnings. How did you then transition to Squire?

A: I had known Dave and Songe, the founders of Squire, for a while. We were all living in Harlem at the time and found ourselves at the same social events. After working in law and equity research for a few years, I wanted to take a break and figure out my next move. Songe and Dave had started Squire earlier that year, so I called them and asked if they needed another body in the office. The rest is history.

What started as a casual side hustle turned into my next career step. All things considered, it was a fairly easy decision to make. The three of us were friends, aligned on the product vision and had similar views of what we wanted to achieve.

Q: How did you navigate the learning curve when transitioning to building product? How did that experience make you the leader you are today?

A: Since I joined Squire in the early days, I had the opportunity to do everything. I sold the software, ran a barbershop (yes, Squire acquired a barbershop where we tested our v1 of the Commander application!), fielded customer success calls and listened to engineers discuss how things should be built and why. As a result, I got to really understand both the business that we are serving and the business that we are running. This experience made my transition to strictly building product much easier than it otherwise would have been.

Q: What do you think are the core characteristics of a successful product leader? Do you think any of these traits or skills are underrated in the tech ecosystem today?

In my opinion, the top three characteristics of a good product leader are well-roundedness, vision and confidence.

  • On well-roundedness: A product manager at an early stage company should feel comfortable working in every other department outside of engineering. As a product manager, you are the expert. There is nobody else. You should be able to sell your product, answer any questions about it and troubleshoot any issues your customers are experiencing. It may be someone else’s job, but you should be able to do it.

  • On vision: As a product leader, you have to assume the role of a visionary, especially at an early stage company. This is why very often the first product direction comes from the CEO and other founders. Anyone taking over the role needs to assume the responsibility to innovate, not just execute.

  • On confidence: As a product manager, you are the internal salesman, and you can’t be that unless you’re confident in both yourself and the vision you are bringing into being. Only with confidence will you be able to stay the course, address everyone’s concerns and win over stakeholders.

I think well-roundedness is probably underrated the most in the ecosystem today because product has become a profession with a career track. Ultimately, the professionalization of the product function is a good thing because it provides a level of structure that is needed in larger organizations and for people to consciously choose it as a profession. However, I think it is important not to lose sight of the fact that innovation is often a by-product of a non-standard approach. If every product person has the same training and brings the same experiences to the table, all the products we love and use today would look and feel the same.

Q: How would you describe the culture of the product org at Squire?

A: After we closed our latest round, I was fortunate enough to find and hire five great PMs. I looked for independent thinkers who were looking to solve problems and not just execute on predetermined solutions, and I think I found them. Our PMs are involved throughout the development cycle from research to release. This invokes the feeling of ownership that resonates in everything that we do.

In addition, I think that Troy Payne, our Head of engineering, must have been a product person in his former life! I can’t say enough how important it has been to our success to have a Head of Engineering who truly understands the product and our customers. Our departments work in close cooperation under the umbrella of the Technology department and I think this gives our PMs and engineers much needed perspectives about each other’s work and challenges, which will allow for us to deliver better products more quickly in the future.

Q: Did you experience any early product-building moments that didn’t work? If so, how did you go about solving that problem and building the muscle of recovering from failure?

A: When we originally thought about what the Squire platform should be, we focused on solving the B2C problem. From personal experience of getting haircuts, we concluded that if we created an application that allowed customers to find barbershops, book appointments and pay for them, millions of customers would download the app and barbershops would be falling over to sign up with us. We tried everything. We even hired a chalk artist to draw murals all over New York City to tell people to download Squire! But we were wrong. Yes, some people downloaded the app, but without buy-in from barbershops, the whole experience failed.

We then turned to another personal experience; we were all extremely loyal to our respective barbers. We quickly pivoted to take a B2B approach and develop a platform that barbershops would find useful. We figured that if barbershops adopted Squire, they would politely ask their customers to use it as well. We were right this time!

I would say humility was very important to rebound from our initial failure. You spend so much time thinking about an idea and selling it to the world that pivoting feels like an admission of being wrong. And it is, but so what? The only way to even the score is to get things right the next time.

Q: What’s something you’re hoping to learn next?

A: Personally, I want to polish up my Spanish. I love the language and it would be great to study it to a point where I can read one of Gabriel García Márquez’s books in Spanish. I have a long way to go!

Professionally, I want to continue to develop a better eye for design. When you have been building a B2B product for so long and with limited resources, you can’t help but choose functionality over UI. Now that we have the resources, we can do both and I am very excited for it.

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A huge thank you to Aram for his insights and time! Learn more about Squire here: https://getsquire.com/