My Name Is Randy Ayers — This Is Why I Joined Aha!
My compass is always pointing towards the next goal. Self-learning web development as a kid, becoming the first college graduate in my family, my passion today for mountaineering — I never stop exploring. There is always a more challenging summit to reach, so I like to push myself further and further in all aspects of life.
My career track has been a story of personal progression — being able to focus and motivate a team with clear goals and criteria for success.
After graduating from college, my professional career kicked off when I joined a multinational financial services software company in a quality assurance role. It wasn’t long before I transitioned into software engineering. Over the next few years, I worked as a developer at business information and SaaS companies. Soon, I was leading engineering teams.
In 2009, I joined a software company focused on healthcare solutions. A leader there suggested I consider transitioning from engineering lead to a technical product manager role. My strong desire to build meaningful products and achieve success as a team was a natural fit for product management.
I fell in love with product management — spending time with customers, learning about their problems, and crafting a technical roadmap that led to delivering real value for customers.
As a technical product manager, I was inward-facing and focused on the details. I led product launches and worked closely with the engineering team. Fortunately, I did well and was asked to move into a more outward- and forward-looking product management role for the company’s highest growth product, which accounted for more than 40 percent of revenue.
Over the next five years, I searched nonstop for opportunities to learn more about the entire discipline. I joined product management groups on LinkedIn and devoured articles, including many from the Aha! blog.
Austin Merritt, a former colleague, had recently joined Aha! and I became curious about what it would be like to work for the company, knowing that it was being used broadly by product managers around the world. As I read about the company history, I became extremely interested. It was in absolute alignment with how I wanted to operate!
Moving into a Customer Success role at Aha! felt like a smooth transition because it combines what I love most: directly helping customers solve problems with software solutions and product management.
Since joining the Aha! team, I have been consistently impressed with the team and the approach to organically and profitably building the business. The employee-first orientation is a breath of fresh air and the support that I have received from the entire team has been remarkable.
I love having the opportunity to learn how different product teams operate and make recommendations about how Aha! can improve efficiencies within their company. It is inspiring to be in an organization full of incredibly intelligent individuals who also challenge each other to keep pushing — to never stop exploring.
That is why I joined Aha! — and why you should too.
