AMA with Jai Mansukhani, PM at Careem

Jai Mansukhani’s experience managing products at OYO and Careem offers a rare window into the realities of product management in emerging markets. His work spans critical operational tools and consumer-facing platforms, both of which serve as lifelines for their users — hotel managers relying on OYO’s booking system and drivers depending on Careem’s app for income.

This lesson grounds you in the operational and strategic challenges that come with managing products that support real-world businesses across multiple markets. You will learn how to balance competing stakeholder demands, adapt to local complexities, and lead with customer focus in fast-moving startups.

Product management is about operations, not just features

Jai’s role at OYO was managing the hotel booking system used daily by hotel managers. This is not a consumer app designed for end customers; it’s an internal tool that powers operations. The stakes are high: any downtime or confusing interface directly affects hotel managers’ ability to run their business, which in turn impacts guest satisfaction and revenue.

At Careem, Jai manages the driver app in the UAE — a consumer product, but also a platform serving thousands of drivers. The app must deliver real-time trip information, navigation, and earnings details. The trust drivers place in the app is fundamental to their livelihood.

The actual job is not just adding new features. It is ensuring the product works seamlessly within the context of the user’s daily workflow and constraints. Reliability, speed, and simplicity are often more important than flashy additions.

Multi-market complexity demands local adaptation, not one-size-fits-all

Both OYO and Careem operate in multiple cities and countries, each with distinct regulations, customer behaviors, and infrastructure challenges.

Jai explains that product decisions cannot be uniform across markets. For example, driver behavior in Dubai differs from other cities. Hotel management workflows vary by location as well.

Localization, compliance, and adaptability are core parts of the product strategy — not afterthoughts.

Indian PMs moving from single-city startups to regional or global companies often underestimate this complexity. They must learn to build products flexible enough to handle diverse market realities.

Stakeholder demands are competing, your job is to prioritize based on customer impact

Jai shared how operations, engineering, marketing, and external partners often push conflicting priorities.

The trap is trying to please everyone. Jai’s advice is to prioritize relentlessly by focusing on customer impact and business value, not on who shouts the loudest.

For example, when operations want a quick fix for a booking glitch but engineering warns of accruing technical debt, the PM must make the call and explain the trade-offs.

Making tough prioritization decisions and owning their consequences is the core of product management.

Consumer-facing apps and platform/internal tools require different PM approaches

Jai’s experience spans both consumer products and platform tools.

• The Careem driver app is a consumer product but also a platform supporting drivers — a two-sided marketplace. It must balance driver needs with ride matching efficiency and customer satisfaction.

• The OYO hotel booking system is primarily a platform product designed for internal users with specific operational workflows.

These require distinct approaches:

• Consumer apps focus on engagement, retention, and seamless user experience.

• Platform/internal products emphasize reliability, workflow efficiency, and stakeholder collaboration.

Many Indian PMs start with consumer apps but must develop skills to manage platform complexity as they grow.

Emerging markets share infrastructure, behavior, and regulatory challenges

Jai highlighted common challenges in India and UAE:

• Infrastructure variability: Network quality, device diversity, and payment methods differ widely.

• User behavior: Cash payments, informal workflows, and multilingual contexts require flexible design.

• Regulatory environment: Compliance and data privacy rules are evolving rapidly.

These factors force PMs to balance speed with caution and build adaptable, resilient products.

Pragmatic advice from Jai Mansukhani for aspiring PMs

• Understand your user deeply. Spend time with real users — hotel managers, drivers, or customers — to see how they actually use your product.

• Communicate clearly. Bridge the gap between technical teams and business stakeholders. Translate complex trade-offs into simple language.

• Own the outcome. Be accountable for what ships and what doesn’t. Don’t hide behind “it’s an engineering issue” or “marketing wanted it this way.”

• Learn from failures. Products serving operational users often lack glamorous launches but have higher impact. Measure success by how smoothly the user’s day goes.

Supporting media

Test yourself: Prioritizing feature requests in a multi-stakeholder environment

Where to go next

• If you want to master stakeholder management: Stakeholder Management for PMs
• If you want to deepen product strategy skills: Product Vision and Strategy
• If you want to learn about multi-market product challenges: Designing for India and Emerging Markets
• If you want to prepare for PM interviews in mobility and platform sectors: PM Interview Preparation