Get to know Matt, a superstar PM who has seen Blacklane through many phases of growth and challenges alike.
What made you want to join Blacklane?
I remember interviewing with Frank, one of the founders and the CTO at the time, he was really strong about building an organization focused firstly on people. I remember feeling really connected to his vision and what he wanted to achieve with Blacklane.
How has Blacklane helped you with your career?
Blacklane really rewards taking initiative, and I’ve always felt I could forge my own career and create opportunities to grow. I started as an Agile Coach thinking about how to cultivate high performing teams, worked into organization-wide topics — like OKRs, and moved into a product management role, and developed my product skills across a number of products now. I feel like I’ve always been able to keep developing my role here.
How has your experience with Blacklane evolved over time?
I’ve been at Blacklane now for almost five years. We’ve lived through a couple of different stages in that time. When I got here we were going through really strong growth and working through growing pains. We’ve lived through a pretty harsh business environment with the pandemic and working through really tight constraints. And now we are starting to emerge stronger than ever and going through a big growth stage.
Can you tell me about a project that you’ve been excited to work on?
I feel really lucky, in a way, to have been in the travel industry with such a big disruption as the pandemic has been. There was a lot of uncertainty, a lot of changes, and a lot of constraints. It made for a really exciting, creative environment and we were able to launch many new initiatives and learn a lot about our customers and what is really important to them.
What is the one thing you like most about working with your colleagues?
Blacklane is a really warm environment. I feel really comfortable to be open with my colleagues and we support each other.
What would you like people to know about Blacklane?
Blacklane gives a lot of trust and autonomy to its people. I think to succeed best at Blacklane you need to take initiative.
Do you have any tips for someone applying to join the team?
It’s always best to be open and honest to see whether there is a good match in both directions. Be prepared, think about your own experience and what you could bring Blacklane. And lastly, listen to the interviewer, try to understand what they are asking first before you jump to any answer.
What do you like about living and working in Berlin compared to Australia?
I love how many different nationalities you work and get to know in Berlin. At Blacklane we have people from all over the world and it’s really eye opening spending time, getting to know people with such different backgrounds and cultures.
Want to work with Matt? Check out our job listings, we’d love to have you join the crew.
