My Story - Pradip Khakhar

Hi, 👋 I’m Pradip Khakhar, a dad and a product manger w/ a sales background. This is my Buy and Use Products story.

Helping companies build and sell digital experiences that make users successful. (AKA Buy and Use Products)

When I’m not watching cricket or traveling you can find me planning my next podcast episode.

I also teach in the paralegal program at Long Island University, if you are a student you can find the class materials here.

My story (Long version)

Getting my first PC: I remember very clearly driving with my dad and uncle to Brighton/Hove area to buy my first computer. It was a PC loaded with Windows 95 and I loved it. As soon as I got home, I started taking it apart to see how it worked. A few years later, I custom-built my next PC, I think I was 17(ish). I researched online to find “cheap” deals, I put my credit card in and hoped the parts would show up (and they did, my first online shopping experience). This was the start of my love for digital and tech

My first real job

My first *real* job was as an engineer. At 17 I was building Full Flight Simulators and flying (trying) around in A330/340 and 777 simulators. This was the start of my love for flying and traveling.

(above: My friend Owen and I as we started our engineering careers together).

What I like to do in my spare time

As far back as I can remember, my favorite hobby is Cricket, it started off with playing with my dad in the front garden. Then playing for my middle school and secondary school. Cricket has been part of my DNA as far as I can remember. So has listening to the weekly top 40 on the BBC Asian Network.

(above: My dad and I on our way home after watching the England v. India test match at Lords – the home of Cricket 1996.

My love of travel and exploring new places led me to move to New York City.

Moving and living in NYC

The early years were interesting adapting to the culture and trying to find a new career (simulation engineering doesn’t exist in NYC). I tried a number of different job/careers. The most enjoyable was freelancing, starting off with building websites. I thought about working in Finance, Law, and Wall Street. In 2012 I graduated from Fordham University with an MBA, and I did end up working in different verticals for the experience.

Thinking behind Buy and Use Products

Business and products need sales to stay alive, it’s as simple as that. Users will try products, however, unless the product makes them successful they will look for other competing Products. Solving the problem isn’t enough anymore.

Starting The Product Angle

In 2018 I decided to start a podcast, it was an amazing story you can read over at The Product Angle, meeting some fantastic people and learning so much. I even held my first IRL event about Podcasting.

Over the years I have learned so much, experienced many failures and success stories. I wish I had started writing and sharing learnings and experiences earlier. If you are reading this and are on the fence about creating a digital home – my advice is to do it sooner than later. I have started to write here

Why Buy and Use Products

As a product manager, one of the hats I have to wear is that of advocating for the user and working with Sales. Sales is often seen as the career nobody wants to do, people just happen to fall into it. Having worked on a sales team, I can say it was one of the best professional experiences I’ve had.

Love to chat

I love chatting about building things and sales. If you’d like to chat/ collab on a project get in touch.