WHAT MIXBOOK VALUES

For Product Manager Igor Putina, scrappy people follow one mantra: Real artists ship. But that doesn't mean cutting corners. Instead, it means starting simple and building on that until the product meets expectations — and doing whatever needs to be done to make that happen. Putina’s team runs frequent experiments on quick prototypes, iterating based on those results and innovating to keep their process lean and efficient. To facilitate collaboration between multiple teams as Mixbook redesigned its physical product, he moved to the Bay Area for two months — and his scrappiness led to success.

One of Mixbook'’s strategic anchors is a “magic creation experience,” and it’s an anchor Allison Yates takes seriously. “It means doing work in a way that any user of your product feels like they’re working with magic,” said Yates. For her, the value of craftsmanship — continuous improvement and pride in one’s work — is meant to produce Mixbook's spellbinding product. Yates takes advantage of the company’s continuous education budget and available workshops for herself and communicates her vision of the product’s future to inspire her team and encourage them to value their own craftsmanship.