Meet Mr. Versatile of LogiNext, Kanishk Jain
When the going gets tough, the tough get going!
This quote came into mainstream in the 1950s from American Football and nothing describes Kanishk Jain better. Growing up in the capital on India, Kanishk epitomizes the spirit of young India with global aspirations. An engineer from IIT Roorkee, Kanishk took on the startup world head on straight away as he joined LogiNext and started his career in the exciting world of Enterprise SaaS. Closing in on six years with LogiNext, Kanishk has donned several hats and has earned the moniker of ‘problem solver’ in the team. Here, we speak to Kanishk to learn about his journey and share it with you.
LN:Â Hello Kanishk! Tell us about yourself and your role at LogiNext.
KJ: Thanks for having me here. Based out of our New Delhi office, I am excited to be sharing my journey. I had no clue what I was in for while I joined LogiNext as a fresher! It’s been an incredible journey. Previously, I was a Pre-Sales and Solutions Manager at LogiNext but recently, I moved on to join the Product Excellence team as a Product Manager building SaaS based Logistics automation platform for our global clientele.
Kanishk Jain (2nd from left) along with the Delhi Team
LN: You’ve had an interesting career transition within the organization, tell us about it.
KJ: As we know “Change is the only constant!” I’d like to describe myself as a problem solver. After starting as an Operation Manager at LogiNext, and a short stint of working with drivers and QSR clients, I moved to pre-sales and solutions where I had worked with clients across multiple industries and geographies, helping them solve their operational challenges and make logistics much organized, efficient and automated with our platform.
During this journey of solving logistics across industries and geographies, I was fascinated with the product we were building and the team’s approach towards solving these problem holistically. This desire to solve and learn more led me towards product management.
The management has shown immense support and confidence in me and I’m grateful to the founders for the opportunity!
LN: What is the best thing you like about Product Management?
KJ: Taking a vision and turning it to reality. Product Management allows you to take a problem, create a vision for the solution and then turning that vision into a feature complementing the entire ecosystem. Product management allows you to solve problems in the best way possible and this is what really excited me about the role. (what it takes to be a great product manager?)
LN: Any tips for aspiring product managers? What helped you in the journey?
KJ: Communication! For a product manager, it is really important to communicate – with customers, developers, management, designers. It’s important to understand what is the requirement, as there is no point in building a feature which doesn’t solve the actual problem. And it’s the responsibility of the Product manager to ensure everyone involved understands exactly what the requirement is.
For me, trusting the process has helped. A detailed documentation is always helpful which clearly states the problem statement and solution. Along with feature grooming and regular touchpoint with the stakeholders.
Secondly, working with bias: As a Product Manager, there will always be a bias towards certain features. It is important for a product manager to be receptive of the customer feedbacks and data to be aware of these biases while working on the product feature roadmap.
To avoid bias, it helps to validate the approach with customers, use of data – tickets, feedback received, surveys etc. Basically, spending more time with customers.
LN: What’s your motivation and drive? What keeps you going?
KJ: Well to me it’s just enjoying what you are doing. What drives me is the ‘aha’ moment that you get once you solve something, and that moment gives a sense of satisfaction. I just strive to get that moment in life and work.
LN: Tell us something about the space you work in? How has logistics automation evolved over time?
KJ: Logistics automation is one of the fastest evolving industries.
Though the logistics industry has changed a lot in last 5 years, I believe that the mainstream adoption is just about happening. From same day delivery of items ordered online, to 10 min grocery delivery, booking a cab from anywhere without second thought, or getting your favourite food /emergency medicine delivered within no time- these changes wouldn’t have taken place unless logistics operation are any less efficient.
And I can only imagine it getting even better with improvement in mapping, weather and forecasts, improved IOT and mobile hardware capabilities. Exciting times to be living in!
LN: Who are your role models within the organization and outside?Â
KJ: I’ve learned quite a lot from people within the organization such as
Dhruvil Sanghvi– Impeccable clarity of thoughts and leadership!
Dinesh Dixit – He’s a great mentor with a people first approach to achieve business goals.
Pushkar Soni – Empowering and encouraging everyone around.
Outside of LogiNext, I look up to Elon Musk. Professionally, he is a visionary at identifying and solving large scale problem in the most innovative ways.
During LogiNext Workation in Maldives
LN: What are your interests outside of work?
KJ: In my free time you might find me playing football, watching comics (DC over Marvel), following e-sports (Dota 2) or just being fascinated by new tech!
Connect with Kanishk on LinkedIn. And we’re hiring, join the team!
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