Q&A with Products By Women Founder Naimeesha Murthy

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May 4

When Naimeesha Murthy first entered the product industry, she was in search of mentorship that could help support and guide her through the transition. But when she realized that there was a lack of support systems for women in tech, Murthy decided that she would create her own.

What started as some small in-person gatherings that Murthy organized to meet other women in the tech field quickly grew into Products by Women, a global community that aims to reduce the gender inequalities in the tech industry by democratizing tech education and providing skills-based mentorship to women.

We sat down with Murthy over Zoom to talk about her journey with Products by Women, mentorship, and more.

Disclaimer: Murthy’s answers have been lightly edited for grammar, clarity, and length.

How has Products by Women changed since the COVID-19 pandemic started?

Since we started in late 2019, we hosted in-real-life events like mixers. We had workshops in person. And then when COVID hit, we pivoted, and we moved everything online almost immediately. And that's when we started seeing people join us from all over the world.

What I see are some incredible conversations between people here in the US and people in Europe talking about global mobility and job movements. And that's so intriguing and so interesting to see that we're able to facilitate those kinds of conversations.

Also like a huge piece of it is that COVID-19 has really disrupted the way women work. It's really taken women back many years and it's had some huge economic impacts on women, especially those who've been directly impacted by COVID-19. I think that's a huge piece for us: how we can re-engage women back into the workforce. And right now, what we're trying to do is understand the needs of our community, our partners and everybody else so we can serve them better.

Products by Women has members from 90 plus countries. Did you see this community growing to this scale when you first started?

No, actually. Not at all. I think I was just looking for more opportunities for myself. It was as simple as that. And I really didn't think that the first meet up would have any show-ups. To be honest, I was begging my coworkers and saying “Hey, do you wanna just come with me? Because no one's gonna turn up at this thing.”

But we had a great turn out the first time, and the second time, the bar was full. And then our events really kind of took off and our community really grew.

I really didn’t see this kind of growth into what it is today. Clearly there’s a need. You know, the other day I was talking to someone and we were talking about how we have kind of found a product market fit even before the product exists.

We don't have a product. Our product is our community at this point.

Products By Women is centered around mentorship. What does mentorship look like to you?

I look at mentorship with a very different lens. You can be mentored by anybody. It really does not matter if it's somebody who's extremely experienced. What really matters is the skill.

I think I've been to enough meetings or I've had conversations and left that meeting feeling that I really didn't learn anything.

So, I think you know our goal is to say, “Okay, fine. Samantha has amazing writing skills. How can I hop on a call and learn from Samantha?” That’s really what we’re advocating for.

What advice do you have for getting the most out of a mentorship relationship?

Setting goals and outcomes when you're going into a meeting or identifying your mentors is really important. Aligning yourself to what their goals are and what your goals are is important and spend time understanding if they're a right fit for you. And you know, sometimes it does not work. And that's totally okay as well.

Definitely invest some amount of time working with someone identifying what your gaps are, where you can improve, what you're currently doing, where you’re at, where you are going, and how can this person really enable that.

Why is it important to have women in product development?

I think it's imperative to have diversity and inclusion in building any product. If you don't see that, you're not serving 50% of the general population and their needs. I kind of keep going back to this one example, which is the Apple Watch. Until recently, it didn't have a period tracking functionality. That kind of explains itself.

Women do make up 50% of the population, so I think it's important for women to be represented in tech fields. Products by Women is advocating for that. Some of our goals for this year is to see how we can have more representation in tech and reduce gender inequality that exists in tech and reduce pay gaps that exist.

What’s it like being a mom while working?

I feel like something switched in me after having a baby. I was never this productive before having a child, and I think I've been most productive after having a child. It's wild, to be honest. I just feel more purposeful and you know, a lot of times people think it is limiting to have a kid. And I think it's the other way around. I think your opportunities are endless after having a kid.

You have a day job and then at night, you work on Products by Women. And on top of all that, you’re getting ready to launch another endeavor, Full Ritual. What’s it like to juggle all these different roles?

I'm super passionate about anything I touch, and to be honest, it is a lot of work. But it drives me. I'm extremely committed to kind of working towards all of this.

Products for Women is a passion project. I do have a day job that I'm really passionate about because I build products for immigrants and refugees and products for good. And then Full Ritual is something that is completely not related to tech and it's my creative outlet.

So, I think all of these things really keep me balanced in a way, and I do drive a lot of energy out of the work that I do. My philosophy is that you spend so much time working and it has to count. I have to be learning something that is adding to my learning curve or building products that are impacting people or focus on things that are interesting to me.

Written by Sam Nguyen