Neel Dalal

I joined Amazon as a 21 year old L3 Transaction Risk Investigator. A team of 30 people in Product Quality that eventually became 300-500 or maybe a thousand I honestly did not know or keep a track. Graveyard shifts — 9pm to 6am. Music blasting to keep us going. It felt like an extension of college honestly. Same age group, first salary, just enjoying the work. No grand plan. No career roadmap. Just showing up. Here’s what actually took me from L3 to L6 Senior Program Manager over 10 years. And it wasn’t what I expected. Common sense is underrated. I’d look at a problem and think — surely I’m not the only one seeing this. Then I’d look around and realise no one was doing anything about it. So I’d just… go solve it. Or simplify it. Not genius. Just — seeing something broken, assuming someone else would fix it, realising they wouldn’t, and deciding to go ahead anyway. Seniors are not as scary as you think. Every manager I looked up to had sat exactly where I was sitting. Most of them were waiting for someone to walk up with a fresh perspective. I just stopped being afraid to be that person. The shift that changed everything. Then I started managing a team. And I realised — everyone around me was already seeing problems. They just needed someone to help them trust what they were seeing, shape their thinking, and back them to go solve it themselves. That shift — from being the person who solves things to being the person who helps others believe they can — is what according to me a manager is. No one tells you that explicitly. And the one thing I’d tell my 21 year old self? Honestly — enjoy it even more than you already are. It was a good time. Full stop. If you’re early in your Amazon journey — or any journey — the path up isn’t as mysterious as it looks from the bottom. See the problem. Don’t wait for permission. Make it simpler. That’s mostly it. #Amazon #CareerGrowth #Leadership #ProgramManagement #AmazonCareers #OperationalExcellence #CareerAdvice #Simplicity

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We were losing lakhs a month to returns at Escaro Royale. Fixed it by doing less, not more. The problem: 15% return rate on handmade luxury shoes. Every return = ₹10K-15K back in inventory, plus reverse logistics, QC re-check, customer refund processing. The obvious solution everyone pushed: Better product descriptions. More photos. Size guides. We tried all of it. Return rate stayed the same. Then we noticed the pattern in return reasons: "Leather darker than expected" — 31% "Stitching looked different" — 24% "Shoe felt heavier than I thought" — 19% Not quality issues. Expectation mismatches. Here's what we changed: We stopped trying to show everything perfectly. Added a section: "What to expect with handmade shoes" → Leather color varies by hide → Stitching won't be machine-uniform (that's the craft) → Weight is 340g (heavier than mass-produced because of construction) Basically: here's what makes this different, and why those differences aren't defects. Return rate dropped to less than 10% in 8 weeks. Lakhs in monthly savings. Same product. Same photos. Different framing. The insight: Premium customers don't need perfect information. They need the right expectations. They're not buying mass-produced consistency. They're buying craft. But if they expect mass-market uniformity, they'll return it thinking it's a mistake. We spent time trying to hide variability. Should've been celebrating it upfront.

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I am opening 4-6 PM interview prep slots for the Oct-Nov time frame. As I come close to finishing up with the August - September cohort of aspiring PMs who signed up with me, I'm feeling energized and motivated to engage with a few more before this year ends! The best frameworks, skills, tools have all been shared a million times on LinkedIn. I wont repeat the same again, but I will make you aware of your blindspots if I see any. Here's what we'll focus on through our sessions: • Instilling genuine confidence, the kind interviewers can feel • Helping you stand apart using your own strengths and unique skills • Sharpening (or introducing) product thinking, metrics-based execution, and product strategizing • Behavioral preparation that sounds like you, not a script • Real examples from real PM careers, not textbook frameworks If you're an aspiring or early-career PM getting ready for interviews this fall, my DMs are open. #ProductManagement #PMInterviews #CareerCoaching Update: I may be unable to respond to connection requests if we have not met previously. Best way to have an intro is to use my calendar link to connect. You can also email me at kos@epkstay.com as an option, but fastest way to schedule is right here. https://lnkd.in/gu8VaadQ

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