Q&A with Dimiter Georgiev, Alluvial's Product Manager

Dimiter discusses his background, learning about the complexity of trading workflows, effective product management, advice for those interested in making a move to crypto, and more.

Hi Dimiter! What's your professional background, and can you tell us a little about yourself?

I graduated from Grinnell College in Iowa with a BA in computer science. I started my professional career as a software engineer at a startup that had recently been acquired by PWC, developing systems as a service for managing the healthcare and defined benefits open enrollment process for clients.

This is where I developed appreciation for architecting and developing complex systems using the C programming language. From there I jumped into the banking world. For a number of years I worked at a few top-tier banks, mostly developing trading systems in both equities and FICC. Working in front office at top-tier banks taught me a lot about the complexity of trading workflows, and how to build performant systems to automate and complement trading in a very fast paced environment.

At the latter stages of my engineering career I held managerial roles, which helped me prepare for future roles in Product. As a manager of technology teams I spent a lot of time evolving our prioritization process and meeting with end users to understand requirements and to come up with appropriate solutions. I officially jumped from Engineering to Product at my last employer, Symphony.

Symphony is a compliant collaboration platform for TradFi. I was responsible for building workflow automation solutions on top of Symphony's collaboration platform. I love working in Product because I think it gives me a more holistic view of where the product is going, but at the same time it is close enough to the technology stack that underlies the success of the product.

Outside of my professional career I enjoy travel, especially road trips, which offer the flexibility to take unexpected turns along the way. I also enjoy mixing electronic music, (which was second to crypto for quite some time).

“I love working in Product because I think it gives me a more holistic view of where the product is going, but at the same time it is close enough to the technology stack that underlies the success of the product.”

—Dimiter Georgiev, Product Manager, Alluvial

What impact does effective Product Management have, particularly in a fast-paced industry?

A couple of things stand out in my mind. First, Product Managers align the product roadmap with the overall business strategy. They understand market trends, customer needs, and the competitive landscape to prioritize features and functionalities that bring the most value. This alignment enables companies to seize opportunities and stay ahead in fast-paced markets.

Second, fast-paced industries often involve multiple teams working together. Product Managers act as a bridge between Engineering, Design, Marketing, and other teams, fostering collaboration and ensuring clear communication. By facilitating cross-functional alignment, they promote efficient development processes and accelerate time-to-market.

How did you first learn about DeFi and crypto, and what drew you to the technology?

I'm not sure exactly when I learned about crypto and DeFi, but I really started paying attention during the 2017 bull market. Too many people around me were talking about Bitcoin and so I wanted to figure out what was behind the craze. As I was reading about Bitcoin and blockchain technology in general I came across Ethereum, and that's when I really got hooked on crypto and DeFi.

I developed great appreciation for the technology and the roadmap behind the Ethereum network. My technical background allowed me to take a closer look at Ethereum's client and protocol implementations. I quickly realized that the potential was enormous, and never looked back.

When did you decide to make the leap to work full-time in the web3 industry?

I've thought about it on and off for a while, but really made the decision in the second half of 2022. I kept spending a lot of time researching and playing with different aspects of DeFi and blockchain technology in general but wanted to find the right opportunity. Luckily I came across Alluvial at the perfect time. The rest is history :)

“Product Managers act as a bridge between engineering, design, marketing, and other teams, fostering collaboration and ensuring clear communication. By facilitating cross-functional alignment, they promote efficient development processes and accelerate time-to-market.”

—Dimiter Georgiev, Product Manager, Alluvial

What are some of the unique challenges of working as a Product Manager in the liquid staking space?

I think the biggest challenge right now is related to adoption, as we are in the early stages of the Liquid Collective protocol. From a Product Management point of view the challenge is how to structure or prioritize the product roadmap—when we have so many things to do—to make sure that the teams are working on the most impactful aspects, in order to realize value and utility for our clients and to make the protocol sticky.

How does your experience in the financial sector impact the way you evaluate the user experience of Alluvial's blockchain software products?

Traders have insane workflows. They usually rely on many applications and many sets of data to make important decisions throughout the day. A lot of thought goes into building new systems to make sure that the end user has an optimized, context-driven workflow. Context switching is very wasteful, but quite common, in the financial industry due to many legacy layers still in place.

Workflow optimization and proper API abstraction applies to blockchain products as well. We need to strive to build well-thought-out APIs and services that make it as easy as possible for our clients and partners to integrate and extract value from the protocol. At some point, if we decide to offer UI components on top of the protocol, we need to spend time to understand end user workflows to make sure we can offer intuitive UI components that can fit naturally into existing UIs and user workflows.

Given the rapidly evolving nature of the web3 world, how do you stay ahead of the latest trends and changes?

It really helps to be a part of a great team working on a great product within the space. There is a lot of learning happening just by having conversations within the team.

Another way I try to keep up is by following people in the space on Twitter, reading blog posts and newsletters, and listening to podcasts. Some of my favorites include the Week in Ethereum newsletter, and the Bankless and Bell Curve podcasts. There is really a lot going on in this space, so in time you need to learn to be selective about what to read and who to follow.

Finally, what advice would you give to someone from a traditional finance background who is interested in making a move to crypto or blockchain-based product management?

Just do it!! The space is revolutionary...

Thank you Dimiter!

Interview by Melissa Nelson