My name is Samuel Breck, you can call me Sam. I’m currently a product manager here at Valon for the Delinquency team.

My name is Samuel Breck, you can call me Sam. I’m currently a product manager here at Valon for the Delinquency team.

‍And what does your day-to-day look like? 

So, because I’m a product manager, my day-to-day is full of lots of meetings. At Valon, product managers alternate between both an operational mindset and a product mindset.

A lot of it is checking in with our operations center in Arizona on day-to-day activities as well as doing various meetings on the product side. So that’s how I kind of like to segment my day-to-day, plugging any gaps I can fill between ops and engineering.

‍How long have you been with Valon? 

I’ve been at Valon since January. Before, I was working at Microsoft as a PM as well. I was definitely looking for a change.

At larger tech companies you learn a lot. You get exposed to different concepts. But I think there’s a lot of hand-holding and not a lot of “getting thrown into the deep end,” so to speak. The life cycles for projects are a lot longer, so you do not get as much experience shipping projects quickly. I was very much looking for a place where I could tackle more multidimensional, ambiguous problems. And I had a real interest in real estate, particularly fintech.

‍What were your first 90 days at Valon like? 

I started off remote for three months, and then I moved to New York. I would say it was very intense. After working at a big firm, you sort of have to reset, get attuned to how Valon does things. It was great. From day one, my responsibilities allowed me to go through an entire product creation cycle: initiation, doing user research, writing the PRD, and validating design. It was all very hands-on. It’s exactly what I was looking for.

‍What made you want to come to New York? 

I did an internship here in 2018. And, well, I think being an intern in New York is very different from living here full-time. But I was kind of romanticizing New York even as an intern. I had a blast. There’s so much history and so much culture. I always told myself I’d come back here in my twenties.

‍How do you think you’ve changed since you joined Valon in January?

I’ve become a better product manager for sure. I’ve learned a lot on the operations side as well. I think there are general product manager skills that you can take away from any job. And Valon has a really core group of good PMs who can teach you those fundamental skill sets.

On top of that, in a uniquely Valon way, I’ve learned more about running an operations business. It’s a great feeling. I’m intrigued, I’m genuinely invested in coming to work every day because there are interesting problems to solve.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to do what you do?

Do your due diligence on the company. I think I got lucky with Valon. Obviously, I did a lot of research on the people and the space, but I couldn’t have predicted how great of a fit it would be. With a startup, there’s a lot of risk involved. Ask yourself if you’re ready to take on that risk first.

Do you think it’s like the right step for your career? For your life? Then find the right company. That’s the hard part. There are a lot of things about the company that you need to lock in on.

To me, the most important factor is the people. If you respect the people and believe in them, the business model may as well be secondary. Ultimately, the people are the ones that are driving the business, and businesses change all the time.

‍And how’d you end up in the product manager role specifically?

I studied computer science in college, but always had a penchant for working on small projects on the side. Launching my own side businesses, acting like a mini CEO.

I also did software engineering for two summer internships. Wasn’t for me. I like talking to people, I like interacting with people.

In terms of breaking into the PM world, there are lots of ways you can do it. Having a technical background helps, because you can get into certain programs straight out of college like I did.

But I would say the biggest thing about being a PM is really making sure you have the right projects under your belt. For me that was really going through a full product development life cycle for a project in college.

Learn how to think from your user’s perspective. Learn to translate the user’s perspective into a product that solves a problem. And finally, communicate your experiences in interviews.

‍What’s your favorite part about Valon’s culture, outside of the work that you do? 

We have this value of “owners taking out the trash.” You know, we have a culture of accountability and responsibility across the board. We take homeowner interactions extremely seriously. And we’re genuinely asking ourselves, how do we reconcile these issues? How do we make this homeowner’s experience better? Everyone here cares very deeply about our homeowners and the system we’re building for them. That’s really nice to be a part of.

‍What’s a challenge that you’ve faced in your role?

Well, I think what we deal with at our company is a balance between efficiency and homeowner experience, right? This is the constant battle that makes mortgage servicing a difficult problem to solve. At the end of the day, we’re a business comprised of empathetic individuals, but still a business.

I’m in charge of collections calls. They’re a very sensitive area, and it can be difficult to work with them. It can even feel invasive—you’re calling someone and telling them you’d like to collect a debt from them.

We need to make these calls because the more calls we make, the more people are reminded to make their payments, and the less downstream effect it has on our operations. It’s also good for the homeowners. In theory, no one wants to fall behind on their payments on purpose. Nonetheless, the calls can be received poorly, and, of course, we never want that.

Delinquency is difficult. Homeowners go through struggles. And the greatest challenge of my job has been providing them with a positive experience regardless of their situation. It’s in our best interest to help everyone with their financial future. The challenge is communicating that and then executing it.

Delinquency is difficult. Homeowners go through struggles. And the greatest challenge of my job has been providing them with a positive experience regardless of their situation. It’s in our best interest to help everyone with their financial future. The challenge is communicating that and then executing it.

‍Thanks so much for your time, Sam. Lastly, what are you streaming right now? 

I recently finished The Sopranos and, frankly, it has changed my life.

‍It was a pleasure speaking with Sam. If you’re interested in joining our team at Valon, we have plenty of open opportunities at valon.com/careers.