AWIP turned a product-management community into a recruiting network

When Advancing Women in Product (AWIP) launched in early 2017, its problem was not a lack of interest but a lack of access: women and other prospective product managers needed routes into a field dominated by tech-company hiring networks. Co-founders Nancy Wang and Deepika Yerragunta built the organization around practical access rather than advocacy alone.

The key decision was to make the community an ecosystem: resume reviews with recruiters, executive mentorship, skills training, panels, summits, and corporate partnerships. AWIP also planned formal city chapters and partnered with Wharton, Yelp, Pinterest, Workday, WeWork, and Facebook.

The model had early evidence of traction. AWIP reported more than 3,000 members, including about 2,000 women; 11 women had accepted roles at major tech companies, more than 45 had been helped through resume review, and more than 500 had attended workshops. Sponsors had supplied about $20,000 in cash or in-kind support.

AWIP grew past 3,000 members, helped 11 women accept major-tech roles, doubled resume-review recruiter contacts, and secured about $20,000 in sponsorships.

Members needed direct paths to product roles, not just discussion or networking.

Recruiter resume reviews and executive mentorship converted community participation into hiring signals.

Corporate and in-kind sponsors funded events and services for the member community.

Formal chapters gave a Bay Area-heavy network a repeatable way to expand into cities with enough members.

A professional community becomes durable when it connects members to concrete hiring channels—recruiters, mentors, and sponsors—instead of stopping at events.

AWIP was targeting chapters in Seattle, New York, and Paris, with Chicago, Boston, and Toronto also in its plans, plus a 2018 Executive Summit and Female Founders Program. The result was an early shift from a founder-led network to a repeatable placement and sponsorship model; the material reports planned expansion, not proof that every planned chapter opened.