Prow Conference is one of the main events dedicated to digital products and technology in Eastern Europe. This year, PROW focused on an essential subject for Romania: how to build digital products that matter, technology that can scale and a growing community that makes a difference in the global software market. This year's edition attracted over 650 digital product professionals from Romania and Europe.

PROW 2025 speakers

For our second round, we got the chance to talk to:

Raul Geană is known for his visionary leadership, strategic thinking, and operational insight.

With more than 16 years of experience in the tech industry, Raul began his career as a Backend Software Engineer in the start-up business, and currently, he is the Managing Director at Haufe Group Romania. Over the past five years, Raul has been responsible for the company's strategic direction and has successfully created innovative products, and a collaborative work environment that drives sustainable growth. His dedication to excellence is evident in the company's performance and ability to adapt to the ever-changing industry landscape.

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Raul is passionate about technology and loves inspiring and mentoring professionals at various events. Aside from coding, Raul enjoys playing tennis, driving, and caring for his cats.

The speakers we interviewed backstage all had to answers the same question sheet:

  1. What is a good product for today's world (what kind of digital solution can make this world a proud place to be in)?
  2. What do founders/ product developers got completely wrong about building great digital solutions and you wish to see fixed in the near future?
  3. What do you believe changed the most in the world of developing products since the AI age?
  4. What is your own definition of AI?
  5. A good product is a product everyone knows about or only a few selected groups know about?

Products that make life enjoyable

Raul believes that most problems have already been solved, so instead of just looking for products that address specific issues, we should look for ones that help people spend their time in a meaningful, pleasant, and productive way. The key is to create products that people genuinely want to use and that improve their lives in some way.

A common mistake throughout the founders and product developers is mainly getting bogged down with building teams, seeking investments, and worrying about sustainability before even starting to build.

”Looking back two years ago, the focus was on building. So this changed throughout the last two to three years already, but it's still far away from where we want to be. So when a founder thinks about the product, he doesn't need to set up the team and think about investments and think about how he can sustain it financially. But they should actually start building. A founder has an idea and they say, okay, this weekend, I'm building it. And if it has traction, then start investing in it. People start investing in and then sometime, at some point, they drain their resources, being it relationships, being it time, being it money, being it engineers or whatever. And then we focus too much on the journey, but we should focus on the goal.”

In terms of AI, a major change in the development of digital products is that there’s less need for large engineering teams. AI and automation tools have made it possible for individuals or small groups to take on roles that once required more people, marking a real paradigm shift, as Raul sees it.

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He also shares with us his definition of AI: AI is just a term we use whenever a machine behaves intelligently or in a human-like way, and this definition has evolved over decades as different kinds of smart tools have emerged—from calculators to fingerprint scanners to personal recommendations on streaming services.

On the topic of whether good products should be for everyone or a specific group, Raul thinks that specialized products that address unique, deep needs within smaller audiences are usually more successful. Even though big generalist platforms like Facebook have become massive, their success often started with a very narrow, specialized audience. People with very specific needs are also often more willing to pay for solutions that truly make a difference for them, compared to more generic products that aren’t as essential.

For this, Raul gives us a personal example:

”There are a ton of sleep apps. But what I noticed is that for me, it doesn't matter how long I sleep, but how much sleep depth I have. As long as I decrease that sleep depth about sleeping less than six hours or seven hours, I feel good. So I'm a specific target and I'm willing to pay a subscription that's for me, ridiculously expensive for such an app, just to have a number every day, how my sleep depth declined. And that's where you gain out the money. Because as long as you have a specific need of a person that is really rooted in their existence, and you address that, that person is willing to pay how much they can, regardless of amount, to get it solved. If you address it to everyone, it becomes, maybe I want it, maybe I don't, I can live without it because I don't feel the pain. Find the people that have that pain.”