When software engineer Irene Yu founded Skiplevel, an education company helping product managers become more technical, she faced a common startup challenge: how to reach and engage her target audience. Her solution? Embracing a personal approach to content creation.
In this interview, Irene shares her journey from reluctant social media novice to confident thought leader, offering valuable insights for founders looking to leverage their expertise and build trust with their audience.
Editor's note: We've lightly edited this interview for clarity and readability.
Tim: Can you give a quick pitch of your company, your product, and yourself?
Irene: I'm Irene Yu, a software engineer with about ten years of experience. I started in design and then moved to software engineering. In 2020, I quit my job and went full-time on Skiplevel, which I had been working on the side.
Skiplevel is an education company focused on helping product managers become more technical without learning how to code. We aim to help them feel more confident in their jobs and work better with their engineering teams. It's a technical literacy company for product managers, though we'll eventually expand to all non-engineering roles in tech.
What happened when you started sharing content on social media?
A couple of things happened when I got on social media. I realized that the problem my company is trying to solve resonates with many people. The content resonated better coming from me, a software engineer who has worked with product managers, rather than from a regular brand online.
People responded because they saw that I understood the problem intimately. As a software engineer who worked with both technical and non-technical product managers, I could speak to the communication gap that exists.
For example, if an engineer says they're building an API that will take two weeks, a non-technical product manager might not understand what an API is, what it looks like, or what it takes to build one. This makes communication difficult.
Because I have this experience, I can confidently say how a product manager should work with engineers. People saw that I had this experience, and it was coming from me directly, which built more trust.
Can you remember your first post? When did you start posting?
I launched in mid-May 2021. I remember when I first started posting. Everything was built — the company, the product, the website. Then I had this moment of "Oh my God, how do I get people to buy this?" I decided to launch it, even though I had never been on social media and was scared.
I don't remember my first post exactly, but I do remember the first tweet that got a lot of likes. It was addressing product managers who aren't technical, saying that if you want to be technical, the least efficient way is to take a coding class. Instead, I suggested finding the architectural diagram your engineering team already has and discussing it with them, asking open-ended questions.
What are other posts that stand out in your history?
There are two others. One is about communicating well with engineers by using diagrams instead of walls of text in requirements documents. The other is a list of technical concepts product managers should learn instead of coding, like APIs, architecture styles, microservices, monoliths, the software development lifecycle, databases, and compiling.
How do you come up with these tips? What's your process?
I dedicate Mondays and Tuesdays to creating posts, which is the first thing I do in the morning. I often get inspiration from other posts I see, not by copying them, but by thinking about how I feel about the topic based on my industry experience.
I do a combination of technical posts where I'm teaching actual technical concepts and broader tweets with tips on working better with engineers or being more technical. Sometimes, I'll also take content from my course.
A lot of it comes from my experience as a software engineer. I think back to times when I was working with and mentoring product managers. I draw on my understanding of software and what product managers need to know because engineers need to know these things.
What channels do you use for content distribution?
I use Twitter, LinkedIn, a newsletter, and blog posts that also go on Medium. I will be starting a YouTube channel soon. We also have a free email course and a quiz that I sometimes post on social media, which brings traffic as well.
What is hard about creating content? How has your perspective changed over time?
It was very scary at the beginning, and I didn't want to do it because it was not something that I had been trained to do. But now I feel very comfortable with it. Actually, now it feels much more natural.
I have all this experience, and I love talking about this topic. It's something that I'm very passionate about, actually helping people feel more confident in their technical skills because I've seen firsthand what a long way that can go for people's careers.
And so now when I have something to say, it's coming from a place of knowing I have a lot to share that I think is really valuable. And I'm very excited to share all of that. So there's not really any fear around it anymore. It feels much more comfortable now.
The challenge is that it takes a lot of time. It takes an immense amount of time. Sometimes, I could be writing a social post for an hour and a half, and then you write it for LinkedIn, and you have to write it for Twitter, and Twitter has certain character counts that you have to fit it in.
I do also write posts in advance. So, all of that has to be scheduled through some sort of tool. And that also takes a lot of management. So overall, content really does take a ton of time, like a ton of time and a ton of management and a ton of mental energy.
How much of your time goes into creating content?
About 30-35%.
How do you know it's working?
When students sign up for my course, they fill out a questionnaire asking how they heard about us and what made them decide to enroll. Many say they heard about us through Twitter, signed up for the newsletter, and built trust over time. I also use Google Analytics to track traffic sources, but ultimately, I hear directly from the students about conversions.
What would you say to founders who are at the start, thinking about creating content but feeling scared or overwhelmed?
I think, from my experience, one of the really big things at the beginning was putting myself out there. So there is this fear of people coming out and saying your content sucks, or who are you? What right do you have to say all of this stuff? Do you know what you're talking about? So I think for a lot of people, when they start putting content out there, there's that fear of being rejected.
But what I always tell them is if you have experience in something, and you can share from that experience, that is incredibly valuable. Because if you have that personal experience, it means that other people have that same personal experience. And people love hearing about others' personal experiences, and there's always something to learn from them.
So, if you feel like you have something to share and something to teach, come at it from that perspective of feeling like your personal experience is valuable and something that other people would want to hear about. And if it's your personal experience, it's your truth, and no one can say your truth is not good or not right. Coming from that place, I think, helps make it feel a little bit less like you're going to be judged for what you put out there.
Follow Irene on Twitter and LinkedIn for more insights on bridging the gap between product and engineering.
Learn how Skiplevel is empowering product managers at skiplevel.co.
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