Anna-Mi Widman
Describe your role and what it is that you do overall and on a day-to-day basis.
I’m a Director of Product at Ubiety Technologies, a Chicago based Series A tech startup. I lead product strategy, roadmap development and product delivery for our platform. My day-to-day consists of working with cross-functional teams of designers, engineers, data scientists and QA to deliver value to our business, our partners, and our customers through new product features. I engage in both long-term strategic planning with C-suite as well as medium to short-term tactical work and execution against quarterly OKRs. We follow agile and scrum frameworks and state of the art product development processes with continuous discovery and data driven prioritization.
What interested you about the field/company/role you are currently in? What does Ubiety do?
Ubiety develops advanced AI technology, software, and hardware solutions to detect and understand people’s physical presence via wireless devices. Our first vertical is the residential security space where we partner with OEMs, security dealers and monitoring stations to help improve home security. Our technology provides context about who is in the home during an alarm event which can help homeowners make more informed decisions, thereby lowering the overall false alarm rate. In order to do that, we have created a first of its kind proprietary dataset of RF signals from devices market wide that we use to classify and determine presence. Our founder had a first hand experience of the frictions that consumers face in the home security space, which was the catalyst for the business idea. I love to work with founders who are trying to create something entirely new, that nobody else has done before. I get to think big, the stakes are high, and I gain exposure to a wide range of people and problems to solve.
What is most exciting about your work at the moment? Where do you think your role/field is going in the next 5-10 years?
First, we all carry devices around with us wherever we go, whether it’s mobile devices, wearables, or laptops. The signals that these devices constantly emit creates data, and that data is largely unexplored to date. Second, our ability to analyze and utilize this data at scale is stronger than ever before, because of the advancement in AI. These two trends present opportunities to solve presence related problems in entirely novel ways. Product Management requires a multifaceted skillset, because you work across multiple disciplines and need to be both creative, analytical, structured, flexible, and be able to lead through influence. In the coming years, Product Managers will need to know how to leverage Generative AI tools to faster produce higher quality product discovery such as competitor analysis, market research, copywriting, and validate assumptions, in order to remain competitive.
What has it been like to work in Chicago/the US? What are the differences of working abroad versus in Sweden, if any?
Tech companies in Sweden and the U.S. work in very similar ways. The same software programs and processes are used, even the culture is similar. Although the scale of startups in the U.S. tend to be larger in terms of company size, funding, and growth rate. The Product Management experience I had from Stockholm was completely transferrable to my job in Chicago. When job searching, I found that in the U.S. you have to pitch yourself to employers in a much more confident way. You have to know what is unique about you and why you are the best fit for the job you’re applying to. For me, every interview became a learning opportunity to practice my pitch and to understand what made me stand out from other candidates.
As a woman working in tech, what would you say to young girls to encourage them to pursue a career in technology? What would more women in the field bring to the tech sector?
My advice is to find a network of women in tech that you can socialize with and learn from. When I moved to Chicago, I joined the Women in Product community here and went to events to learn and network. I met women there who held product leadership positions at companies like Venmo, Glassdoor, Google and many successful Chicago startups. It was very inspiring. I found many role models there, and they all had unique backgrounds and experiences. This made me more confident in my career choice and helped me find the right path. Today, I lead the Women In Product Chicago Chapter with 1000 local community members and more than 30K global members. It’s a non profit organization that I commit time to outside work because it feels meaningful to mentor and foster local talent. If women had a higher representation in tech, it would lead to less bias in the product development process which could impact the way products are designed and ultimately how we use them.
How did your time/education at SSE help guide you to the career journey you have embarked on?
My degree from SSE has been a solid foundation for a career in product management. Especially, an understanding of statistics and data modeling as well as broader business strategy and marketing knowledge. Before my time at SSE, I embarked on a career as a professional ballerina with The English National Ballet in London. In my mid-20s I decided to do a career pivot, and that’s when I applied to SSE. I had no idea what career I wanted to pursue next, but SSE gave me a lot of opportunities to explore different paths. Aside from the regular curriculum, I was engaged in the Student Association as a founder of the Art Division to bring my passion for the arts into the educational environment. I also participated in a partnership program with Stockholm School of Entrepreneurship where I drove an interdisciplinary art research project. I did my MSc in Economics and a dual degree with Sciences Po where I got to spend a year in Paris. During my last semester at SSE, I worked as a Research Assistant at IFN where I wrote my Master thesis. There, they did a lot of research about technology-driven economic growth and startups. I became interested in the tech sector and I felt that I wanted to be a part of the evolution, not just study it. So, I networked and got an interview with a startup in Stockholm where I worked with some amazing people and started learning about Product Management.
Following your time studying, do you have any words of wisdom or advice you would like to share with our current/prospective students?
Follow your passion and do what is interesting to you. A career is not linear, you start in one place and you may end up somewhere completely different. Don’t be afraid to go against the mainstream in the search for what truly motivates you and brings you energy in your professional life. A degree from SSE is a foundation for the rest of your career - for me it gave me the confidence to explore a career within tech and to excel in a leadership role in the U.S. market just a few years after my graduation.
What are three words that sum up your time at SSE?
Curiosity. Data. Confidence.