Andrew Bowker

☀️ Product manager by day ☀️  |  🌙 Dad by night 🌙  | 🔨  DIYer / 'maker' by late night 🔨 

I write about product management, career lessons, side projects, and soft skills. 

A core belief: humans are the backbone of business.  Because of that, I like to spend time developing and nurturing personal relationships. I've found that to be the most useful skill despite the random collection of 'hard skills' I've acquired over the years. I've spent time developing start-ups, diving into the intricacies of digital marketing, managing products, selling, creating successful customer outcomes, and sharpening statistical analysis skills to make better business decisions. 

Strengths:
1. Achiever - I come alive when I can work hard, get many things done, and achieve audacious goals.
2. Belief - I can talk to the hearts of people and see past the surface. High Emotional Intelligence.
3. Self-Assurance - I have the power to persuade and lead passionately. This shines during presentations and in situations where I need to persuade. 
4. Restorative - I love to solve problems and constantly improve things. "It can be done better".
5. Woo - I have a knack for "winning others over". Relationships are important to me.

Owner

Now accepting clients for Career Cheat Codes 2023 - https://careercheatcodes.tech

It took me 3 years and 60+ failed applications to break into Product Management. If I could go back, I'd focus on 3 things from the start:

1. Create products
2. Build relationships
3. Interviewing skills

Now I help a community of 24k+ do the same. So far, I've helped folks land at places like Amazon, Zoom, Pfizer, Pendo, IBM, Bandwidth, & more.

I specialize in helping non-technical professionals land roles in the tech industry. Non-technical roles include product management, program management, project management, customer success, strategy, business operations, marketing, sales, and more. When we work together, you'll be heavily guided on:

· How to craft a resume that gets noticed
· How to craft the perfect linkedin presence w/o the cringe
· How to build important relationships w/o the awkwardness
· How to abolish imposter syndrome and interview confidently
· How to perfect your story and pass any recruiter screen
· How to SHOW your work and beat other candidates
· How to negotiate for 45% more money

Ultimately, there is no such thing as a dream job. As we learn and grow, the "dream job: changes. I coach people to find a "dream fit" based on skills, passions, and what the market values that allows for future optionality and growth.

Varun Balsara

Nova Technologies Group

Built a venture backed, AI native platform that enables SMEs to grow through marketing. 

I mainly focused on growth and product.

Scaled it to over £2M+ revenue in under 3 years.

Co-Founder

The Human Entrepreneur

Built an Apple Top 20 Podcast in under 2 years. 

While building ConnectUs, I noticed that no one was talking about the real struggles of entrepreneurship—the pain, challenges, and hard work behind success. 

So, when I exited ConnectUs I made it my mission to share these stories.

I started a podcast that struck a chord, making it to Apple's Top 20 charts. With a team of five, we grew our audience and impact.

On the back of this, we created a community of over 300 young entrepreneurs, connecting them with opportunities, resources, and each other.

Co-Founder and Host

Warwick Enterprise (University of Warwick)

The OSCAs recognise and celebrate the outstanding contributions of Warwick's students. They not only excel academically, but also find the time to campaign for good causes, fundraise, start small businesses, and work with local charities.

I received mine for my startup ConnectUs and my Apple Top 20 Podcast: The Human Entrepreneur.

Outstanding Student Contribution Award 2021

University of Warwick

- Successfully ideated and executed an in conversation with series- a talk show that interviewed various successful academics and entrepreneurs on a range of entrepreneurial topics. 
- Organised a space for all student entrepreneurship societies to organise themselves and collaborate with each other on various on-campus and online events. 
- Mentored student entrepreneurs, promoted opportunities for entrepreneurship and creative activities on campus to foster a sense of creativity and entrepreneurship on campus.

Innovation Fellow

ConnectUs

Exited. My startup is now part of Warwick University (via Enactus Warwick). 

I was the CEO of ConnectUs. We were a university technology startup project that was tackling student loneliness on campus by matching like-minded students using our own psychology-backed algorithm. 

With a team of 7 we:
- Built an algorithm that had a 83% match efficiency
- Impact over 500 students through our services 
- Collaborated with other university stakeholders to help students. Departments included: Warwick Students Union, Warwick Sports, and Warwick Enactus. 
- Raised over £4,000 via university grants from Warwick University

Founder and CEO

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited

I led the end-to-end digital strategy for one of Mahindra Holidays programmes, GoZest- a flexible vacation ownership package targeting millennials. 

Reported directly to the Chief Strategy Officer and CEO. 

The role heavily revolved around product management, business development, and cross-functional collaborations between Marketing, Finance, IT, Sales team and external vendors to develop products and boost customer acquisition.

Product Owner

Warwick Entrepreneurs

- Served as the events teams executive.
- Involved in planning and running interactive events designed to give students the skills needed to succeed in entrepreneurship.
- Tasked with networking and inviting different speakers to teach the fundamentals of entrepreneurship

Junior Director for Events 

TrepCamp

- Received a full scholarship by the University of Warwick to attend a 3-week entrepreneurial simulator. 
- Garnered a deep understanding of entrepreneurship through lectures and application of theory into practice.
- Served as the team leader for the final demo day, where I led a team of 5 student entrepreneurs.
- Networked with high net worth individuals and forged meaningful relationships with them.

Team Leader

Citi

• Selected from over 100 students to virtually consult Citibank via online collaboration with a team of 5 international students in identifying key digital trends that would enable them to successfully hire future-ready staff with the correct skillset.

• Led research on the applications of AI and Blockchain technology for hire which was presented to the management team.

Technology Consultant Intern 

University of Warwick - Warwick Business School

Served as the course representative for Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the year 2018-19. 
The role included:
- Attending focus groups and regular meetings on behalf of the Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship course for first-year students each term
- Acting as the 'student voice' on behalf of my cohort and served as the lead communicator between students and academic staff, which included providing feedback to the Warwick Business School academic staff.

Course Representative- Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC)

Enabling coaches and industry experts to build impactful coaching businesses | CoFounder Let’s Level up

👋 I’m V. and here’s my story: 

As a young immigrant entrepreneur, I battled dyslexia and neurodiversity, facing hurdles most wouldn’t understand. But that didn’t stop me. Instead, it fueled my journey. 

I started by launching The Human Entrepreneur podcast, which hit Apple’s Top 20. That success led me to teaching others how to grow, but the coaching world felt overwhelming - too many tools, too many agencies, too much noise. 

So, I built a solution. 

The Nova platform, a venture-backed platform that helps small business owners scale their impact and income predictably. We simplify Client Acquisition Systems so you can focus on growth, not admin headaches. 

Before this, I built a startup at uni tackling student isolation, which was acquired by Warwick University. 

Being neurodiverse has been my strength, not my weakness. It gave me the grit to push through, to find solutions where others saw problems, and to create systems that simplify, not complicate. 

Want to get in touch with me? 
DMs are open

We are an intelligent platform that enables coaches and industry experts to build their profitable learning communities at scale. 

Find out more at: www.letslevelup.io 

To get priority access, DM me.

If I were starting a startup from zero today, I wouldn’t build a product first. I would begin by testing demand.

Most founders start by building. They write code, design features, and spend months shaping a product before they know whether anyone actually cares enough to use it.

I would start by framing an offer around a painful, measurable problem that already exists for the buyer.

Examples:

1) Add 20 qualified demos a month without hiring SDRs
2) Reduce CAC by 30% in 60 days
 3) Reduce churn by 20% before it quietly slows growth

Each promise focuses on a clear outcome within a defined timeframe. When the problem is real and already costing the buyer money, the value becomes obvious immediately.

Next, I would create 3–5 variations of the offer and run small tests using ads on Meta Platforms.

The goal at this stage is not scale. The goal is learning which problem people actually react to.

Three early signals usually tell you a lot:

1) Click-through rate (shows whether the problem and promise resonate enough for people to engage)
2) Cost per click (how strongly the platform algorithm believes the audience cares about the message)
3) Comments and DMs (signals that people recognise the problem and want to learn more)

Very quickly the market starts to reveal which problem has genuine urgency behind it.

Once an angle begins to gain traction, I would send the traffic to a simple landing page that clearly states the promise and allows people to book a call.

Those calls are mainly about learning.

Pay attention to how buyers describe the problem, what they have already tried, what the issue is costing them, and what outcome would make the solution an obvious decision.

Then comes the step many founders avoid.

Ask for payment early.

This could take the form of a paid pilot, a founding member offer, a pre-sale, or even delivering the solution manually before building software.

Early payment changes the entire dynamic because validation, feedback, and revenue appear before the product even exists.

Instead of building in isolation, the product begins to take shape around customers who have already committed.

Demand comes first.

The product follows the signal from the market.

AI GTM | Leveraging AI to help businesses go to market and grow

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Most people treat networking like a numbers game.

More events.
More connections.
More messages.

Then they wonder why their network rarely leads to anything.

The issue is usually simpler.

They are forgettable.

They meet someone once.
Send a LinkedIn request.
Then disappear.

Months later they return with a favour to ask.

From the other side, there was never a relationship. Only a one way request.

Strong networks grow through small signals repeated over time.

Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

1) A short note when someone shares an interesting idea.
2) Acknowledging a milestone their company just announced.
3) Introducing two people who would benefit from knowing each other.

These actions take minutes.

Yet they build recognition And recognition builds trust.

Trust builds the kind of network that actually opens doors.

A lot of people chase attention online.

Views.
Likes.
Followers.

The people with strong networks focus on something else.

Reputation.

A simple way to build it:

Spend a few minutes each day engaging with someone’s work in a thoughtful way.

Leave a comment that adds something useful.
Send a quick note about an idea that stuck with you.

Over time people start recognising your name for the right reasons.

And in business, that tends to travel much further than a large contact list.

Around 5M+ people on LinkedIn call themselves a Founder.

But calling yourself a Founder doesn’t make you one.

Anyone can add the title to their profile.

What matters is what the business actually does.

Are customers staying?
Is revenue growing?
Are you solving a real problem?

Because building a company rarely looks the way people imagine.

Most days look like this:

Reviewing processes.
Chasing deals.
Making decisions with very little information.
Trying to solve problem proactively.

Most of the work is silent.
Just showing up and figuring things out.

Ultimately, what matters is whether the business works.

That’s what actually matters.

And it comes down to a few things: 

Keep your customers happy.
Talk to customers often. 
Find ways to reach more people. 
Protect your cash.

Ultimately, the Founder title is easy to claim. 
But, very few people build something that earns it.

Most agencies think growth stalls because of leads.

Usually, it’s the founder.

In the early days, everything runs through them.

The founder sells the work.
Ensures the services are delivered.
Makes the key decisions.

Clients trust the founder.

So the agency grows.

But every new client adds:

More conversations.
More decisions.
More things that consume the founder’s time.

The business keeps moving only as fast as the founder can.

This usually means their working hours spiral.

Growth will only change when the work stops living in the founder’s head and the agency defines the exact result it delivers.

Then turns that into a clear process the team can follow:

How the work starts.
How it’s delivered.
How success is measured.

Once that exists, the founder stops being required in every decision.

Until then, the agency isn’t really scaling.

It’s just selling more of the founder’s time.

DoorDash. Zappos. Fireflies.
What do these billion dollar companies have in common?

They all started by delivering the service before building the software.

1. DoorDash. In the early days there was no logistics platform. The founders launched a simple website listing local restaurants. When an order came in, they called the restaurant, picked up the food, and delivered it themselves. It helped them prove people would actually pay for delivery.


2. Zappos. Before warehouses and inventory systems existed, the founder tested the idea by photographing shoes in local stores and listing them online. When someone placed an order, he went back to the store, bought the shoes, and shipped them himself. This proved people were willing to buy shoes online.


3. Fireflies. Early on the team spent a lot of time joining meetings and testing summaries manually to understand which notes people actually cared about and what information was useful after a call.

Starting this way does something important.

It proves people value the outcome before you spend months building software.
It also lets you get paid while testing the idea.
And going through the workflow shows you where the real friction is.

Once that becomes clear, building the software becomes much easier.

You’re no longer guessing what the product should do, just building around behaviour you’ve already observed.

Many successful software companies started by delivering the result manually and only automated it later.

Selling the service first will teach you more than months of building software.

Most people are using ChatGPT wrong.

They treat it like a search bar.

Type a question.
Read the answer.
Move on.

That usually produces average outputs.

The real leverage sits in how you write the prompt.
A small change can completely change the result.

Here are 3 prompts I use often:

1. Stress-test an idea

Most people ask AI to improve their ideas. It is often more useful to challenge them first.

Prompt:
“Act as a sceptical expert with deep experience in this field. Critically evaluate the idea below and identify weak assumptions, hidden risks, logical gaps, and reasons the idea might fail. Then suggest practical improvements that would strengthen it. Structure the response in three sections: key weaknesses, major risks or blind spots, and recommended improvements.”

2. Turn rough writing into clear communication

Prompt:
“You are an experienced editor. Rewrite the text below to improve clarity, readability, and flow. Remove unnecessary words, simplify complex sentences, keep the original meaning, and use clear language. Return the improved version followed by a short list of the key edits you made.”

3. Turn messy notes into structured thinking

Prompt:
“You are a strategy consultant helping organise raw notes. Review the notes below and convert them into a clear structure. Group related ideas together, identify the main themes, remove repetition, and organise the result into clear sections with bullet points. End with a short summary of the key insights.”

Bonus prompt: Getting better answers

Prompt:
“Before answering the question below, ask me the key clarifying questions you need in order to provide a precise and useful response. Once I answer them, produce the final answer.”

Most people think the magic is in the model.

Often it is simply in how you ask the question.

taplio

The Battle

Andrew Bowker

Varun Balsara

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taplio

The Battle

Andrew Bowker

Varun Balsara

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Varun Balsara's LinkedIn Performance

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