Sethu Chandra, ‘28, said she entered college believing she had to choose between pursuing finance or consulting.
This year, Chandra said she realized that following her interest in technology and product development mattered more than a preconceived decision. While pursuing her passion, she noticed a lack of clubs for Lehigh students interested in product management.
In fall 2024, Chandra met Geo Kim, ‘26, at an entrepreneurship club event and bonded over their shared interest in product management.
After the event, Kim said he reached out to Chandra about starting a Product Society club. At first Chandra said she was hesitant because she was focused on pursuing investment banking. However, after discovering her love in technology and product development, she said she decided to reconnect with Kim a year later.
Their renewed conversations ultimately led to the creation of the Lehigh Product Society Club, a student organization aimed at preparing students for careers in product management.
“Product management is a career in tech,” Chandra said. “In tech, there are many careers, broadly speaking. People go into software engineering, product management or tech consulting, but not a lot of people at Lehigh specifically know about product management.”
She said she wanted to create a space for students interested in pursuing a career in tech and for those who enjoy building for companies, themselves or the community. Whether it’s 20 people or 200, the club is focused on delivering value through the principle of quality over quantity.
Justin Fermin, ‘27, another founder of the club, said the group is focusing on working with digital products and building application features rather than building physical products.
Fermin said his goal is to make Lehigh a pipeline for companies to hire product management talent.
“You could have a product management team anywhere there’s a technical team,” Fermin said. “In any industry, if a company has a software development team, there’s a product manager that’s in charge of relaying the business vision to the engineering team.”
Chandra said another main goal of the club is to build a community of people who are as dedicated and passionate as she is.
Similarly, Kim said he wants to offer students the freedom to build whatever they want — either solving a real problem or creating a product from scratch — while fostering a community where mentors and alumni can give feedback on projects.
Kim said he wants the club to emphasize hands-on, experiential learning through group projects, which is important because product management emphasizes collaboration and networking.
“Hopefully when I graduate, there will be a cohort of people to stay connected with and I can provide opportunities, advice and mentorship for Lehigh students down the road interested in product management,” Kim said.
While the club isn’t yet formally recognized by Lehigh, Chandra said she wanted to use this spring semester to lay its foundation. The founders plan to pitch the club to the Student Senate next semester.
Another goal of Chandra’s is to launch the Lehigh Product Fellowship Program, an eight-week intensive where students will learn the fundamentals of product development while working on a project, ending with presentations to alumni.
Both Chandra and Kim emphasized the value of Lehigh alumni in career networking.
Chandra said she first contacted Dean Kroker, ‘16, director of product at Microsoft, in fall 2024, but he was unavailable at the time.
Last December, she reached out again regarding the creation of the Lehigh Product Society and asked if he would be interested in speaking at a club event.
The club’s first event was held on Feb. 25. About 40 students attended to present ideas for the applications they’re developing, and Kroker provided feedback.
Chandra said the club received positive feedback from attendees and plans to host more guest speakers. She said she draws inspiration from Product Society clubs at other technology-focused universities including the California Institute of Technology, UCLA and Carnegie Mellon University.
“Every university is very different in how they operate, but we’re trying to create something very specific to Lehigh and students at Lehigh,” Chandra said.
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