Building Bridges, Not Islands: Sarvesh Regmi on Product Management at GetYourGuide

A Product Manager serves as the critical bridge between customer needs, business goals, and technical solutions. Here at GetYourGuide, Product Managers define their product vision while driving cross-functional teams to bring that vision to life. 

Our teams must balance the fine line between strategic planning and hands-on execution while keeping an eye on market trends and user feedback. When our company's mission is to bring unforgettable experiences to users all over the globe, it has to start with incredible products.

We interviewed our Director of Product Management, Sarvesh Regmi, to learn how his teams work together, what key qualities make a great Product Manager, and lots more. Read on for his insights.

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Hey, Sarvesh! What’s your background, and how did you come to work at GetYourGuide?

“I grew up in California, working in Silicon Valley. When a role came up at GetYourGuide’s product team, I decided to take a leap of faith and relocate to Berlin with my family, drawn by the opportunity to explore and work in Europe. The impressive lineup of founders and execs made it an attractive career move. Not long after arriving, I realized that the culture reflects the same innovative spirit of Silicon Valley, making me feel right at home in my new role.

This company presented an excellent opportunity to be at the forefront of shaping the experiences industry. At GetYourGuide, we’re constantly working to revolutionize how people discover and enjoy travel experiences. Today many travelers still book experiences offline, which means they have to do all of the research themselves. They might miss out on incredible experiences and they’re often stuck waiting in long lines waiting to get into attractions. We make it simple for customers to discover the best things to do on their next vacation; easily narrow down and compare their options; and book experiences with the confidence that they’re getting excellent value and quality. It’s exciting to be part of a company not just participating in the industry, but actively defining its future.”

Can you tell us some of the key responsibilities and challenges for Product Managers?

“As Product Managers in the Traveler team, our primary focus is on crafting an exceptional consumer experience for travelers. We work to ensure that our users can effortlessly find and book the perfect experiences for their trips. 

But we can’t do it alone. We collaborate with various product and business teams to deliver the best experience for every user. This challenging yet rewarding role requires us to balance user needs, business goals, and technological capabilities to create a seamless journey for our travelers.”

What product methodologies do teams within GetYourGuide use?

“We’ve found that a collaborative culture always wins over rigid methodologies. While we follow an agile product development process, we find that it’s most important to empower teams to make tradeoffs and decisions. We believe in making quick iterations and staying customer-centric, which allows for quick adaptability when dealing with new information and market changes.

Rather than mandating specific methodologies, I always encourage my teams to define the processes that work best for them and their stakeholders. This constantly changing landscape keeps our minds fresh and our ideas current.”

What roles make up an effective mission team? And how do they work together?

“Our mission teams typically consist of a Product Manager, designer, engineering manager, full-stack and app engineers, analyst, user researcher, and copywriter. Some roles are shared between teams based on need, and this diversity allows us to see through the entire lifecycle of our products—from ideation to implementation to analysis.

We balance short-term optimizations, long-term "seed bets" for new capabilities, tech investments, and quality improvements to create a great user experience. Taking an ‘all-angles’ approach ensures we keep pushing boundaries while maintaining the quality our customers expect.”

What do you look for when hiring Product Managers? And what makes this role exciting?

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“We look for individuals who can thrive in an environment of high responsibility. People who can craft a compelling vision and strategy for their product area, collaborate effectively to gain buy-in, and execute to bring products to life.

Good candidates can demonstrate how they provide clarity in complex situations and grow their influence beyond their immediate team. GetYourGuide values leaders who can dive into details, understand customer pain points, marry them with data, and grasp the execution trade-offs within their teams. 

In a nutshell, we’re after well-rounded product thinkers who can lead, collaborate, and execute. As a Product Manager, your ideas and decisions can influence how millions experience the world.”

Do you have any advice for a Senior Product Manager looking to become a people manager?

I hear this question often, and it usually requires a shift in how we view career progression for Product Managers. Growth in product management isn’t measured by managing people—it’s about increasing your ability to drive impact across the organization. By focusing on impact, you’ll naturally take on more responsibility and scope that requires multiple work streams to align, which usually leads to people management. 

Senior and Lead PM roles actually enable you to develop many of the same skills as a people manager. For example, as you take on more responsibility and scope, you will spend more time developing a strategic perspective and communicating this with your leaders and stakeholders. Similarly, being a good people manager requires building relationships with your team, bringing out the best in them, and keeping them motivated. You can continue to build this muscle even before becoming an official people manager.

Focus instead on broadening your experience by seeking environments with ambitious peers and leaders who will challenge you to grow, such as GetYourGuide. 

And finally, which GetYourGuide Guiding Principle resonates with you the most?

“My favorite GetYourGuide Guiding Principle is "We build bridges, not islands." It filters into so much of our day-to-day, especially for all the Traveler teams!

Our success hinges on company-wide collaboration to deliver the best user experience possible. Simultaneously, these teams rely on us to build products that support company-wide goals. So this principle really encapsulates the spirit of cooperation and shared success that drives our work at GetYourGuide.”

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Think you’ve got what it takes to shape the future of travel experiences? Check out our open roles here. Want to learn more about the career path for PMs at GetYourGuide? Stay tuned for our next blog post.