Each month we feature a different Hiya employee in our blog series Voices of Hiya. This month we hear from one of our Director of Product Management Jonathan Nelson. For years, Jonathan has served as product manager for Hiya’s consumer inbound spam protection product Hiya Protect and more recently have expanded into other product opportunities around reputation for enterprises.
Read on to learn more about his job, what makes him tick, and what he does when he’s not working.
How did you get into this role at Hiya?
I joined Hiya before we were Hiya, back in January 2014 prior to the spin-off from Whitepages, and not too long after Whitepages had acquired Mr. Number. Whitepages was focused on caller identity for both enterprises as well as individuals (in what would eventually become Connect). At that time, we didn’t have a spam protection project yet, and I was just a contractor product manager working on the consumer mobile apps. I put my hand up to be the product manager for a new project to turn some of the Mr. Number work into a spam detection service, and since at the time there really wasn’t anyone with prior experience in that area, I was hired full-time to fill that role!
How has working at Hiya helped you grow?
Thanks to Hiya, I’ve been able to grow my skills in communication and relationship management while working with giants like AT&T and Samsung. The stakes at Hiya can be very high, which is a real proving ground to refine your skills as a manager.
What advice would you give to someone new joining our team?
Listen and absorb. Hiya has a lot of ideas, a lot of data, a lot of history, and a lot of opportunities. Someone new should immerse themselves in everything that Hiya has, because their new eyes can probably spot opportunities the rest of us have been missing.
What does a typical day look like for you?
I’m communicating a lot throughout most days. I usually start by catching up on Slack to see what happened in our London and Budapest offices while us Seattle folk slept. Then it’s off to meetings, as there’s always many projects that need planning and shepherding towards completion.
What do you like most about working at Hiya?
Hiya is very unique in that while we have a startup mentality (with the flexibility and excitement that comes with it), we also are providing services to some of the largest companies in the world. This means I have tremendous flexibility in the work we do, but also get to see the results of that work affecting literally hundreds of millions of people.
How do you see our industry evolving in the next few years? How is Hiya evolving for those changes?
The simple phone call has always been at risk of becoming obsolete, in favor of other ways to communicate. But the fact remains that honest voice communication is a huge part of how we humans interact, we just need the phone call to evolve beyond the shrill, demanding ring of a call today. Hiya is in a great position to lead some of that evolution with concepts like a digital assistant so calls work for the recipient too, not just the caller.
What are the qualities of a perfect teammate?
Someone who is excited to collaborate around a whiteboard and tackle a problem together as a team, who can keep the big picture and the small problem in mind at the same time, and then can capture and run with the fruits of discovery.
What do you like to do outside of work?
I love building things. I have casual experience in construction and I’m currently remodeling a log cabin in my evenings and weekends. It is a nice change from the tech world, because the fruits of my labor are far more tangible. They can be seen and touched.
How do you unwind after a busy day?
After a particularly long or rough day, I enjoy meeting up with friends when I’m in Seattle. We have a long-running tradition of meeting up Thursday evenings to compare notes about our weeks, and to make sure we stay in touch.
What is your favorite home cooked meal?
The favorite that I’ve been making lately is a slow-cooked beef stew. It’s such a rich and warming bowl of goodness.
Where is home for you?
Going way back, I’d say that Montana is my home because it’s where I grew up. But right now, my home is also in the middle of nowhere, in Ephrata, Washington, where I work remotely and am remodeling a cabin on 40 acres of land.
When was the last time you took a moment to enjoy nature? What did you do?
Earlier this year I took a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii with friends, and for the first time I went up to the summit of Mauna Kea. It was the highest mountain I’ve ever been to the summit, and looking down on this force of nature was impressive.
What’s your dream trip? Or, what’s the next place you want to visit?
Recently, I’ve started making a point to take my parents somewhere new every year, if possible. Up until our last trip over a year ago, they hadn’t ever left North America. So right now we’re planning a trip to Iceland. As nature and geology lovers, they are going to have a great time.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
“You’re not the smartest person in the room, but also your ideas and thoughts matter.” So if I’m in a discussion and something just isn’t making sense, I open myself up to discovering if I’m wrong, but respect my own opinion enough to want to find out. Sometimes I learn something new, sometimes I help others see a new perspective.
Who do you look up to?
My brother, a full-time high school teacher who has successfully become that teacher many students would say is their favorite. He cares a lot about what he does.
What’s one item on your bucket list?
I want to take an extended road trip around the United States. There’s so much more to be seen in the backroads than there is in the downtowns, and the diversity of the American landscape is remarkable.
Stay tuned for next month’s Voices of Hiya, where we will highlight another team member who makes up our wonderful organization.
If you want to add your voice to the Hiya team, check out our careers page to explore open opportunities.
