Why Every Startup Needs Product Management
(Original post can be found on Medium.com, published June 08, 2020.)
Startups are often chaotic; they need Product Management support to stay focused on the big picture and on what truly matters for growth and success.
During my time as a startup founder and CEO, I often felt exhausted from wearing multiple hats—much like any other early-stage founder. What I didn’t realize was that I was also taking on the role of a Product Manager, along with everything else—bookkeeping, marketing, sales, design, legal, and recruiting. I soon discovered that Product Management was the aspect of my new business that excited me the most.
As I began winding down my startup and exploring my next venture, I noticed many similarities between Product Management and my previous role as a CEO, and I felt naturally drawn to it. Product Managers are often called mini-CEOs because they are responsible for every aspect of a product and are generally a jack-of-all-trades.
The more I work with startups, the more I see this role being overlooked and how much startups miss out when they don’t prioritize Product Management. I am writing this article to help startup founders understand the importance of Product Management and what it can mean for the success of their businesses. By learning more about Product Management, you will become a stronger founder and leader.
Let’s dive in!
What is Product Management?
Product Management is a multidisciplinary field often defined as, “The intersection between business, technology, and user experience.” — Martin Eriksson. Although I have a strong UX background, I prefer to see Product Management as the intersection of business, tech, and people.
I say “people” instead of “UX” because a Product Manager should have excellent interpersonal skills and understand all the different players connected to the product and business. This includes external stakeholders like customers, users, vendors, and partners, as well as internal stakeholders like the product team, other department teams, and leadership.
At a startup, the Product Manager’s primary goals include achieving or improving product-market fit, uncovering market opportunities, and helping the company grow. While they have many responsibilities, I believe the best Product Managers have the following qualities: they are great generalists, excellent communicators, and extremely candid.
Although Product Management is broad and includes a wide range of activities, I will list the most important ones below. Remember, as in any other discipline, the activities for a project should be chosen based on timeframe, budget, and goals.
What “People” Means in Product Management
Just like startup founders, Product Managers should deeply understand anyone connected to the business and its product/service—including the product team, other department teams, and stakeholders. Most importantly, the Product Manager must have a great understanding of their customers. Product Managers are the bridge between the company’s departments, including development, design, marketing, business development, business intelligence, and customer support.
Between these activities and areas of understanding, a Product Manager should have insights into:
Customer development
Surveys
User research
Target audience and personas
UX/UI design
A/B testing
Team alignment and collaboration
Marketing and sales
What “Business” Means in Product Management
The second aspect of Product Management is Business. A Product Manager should focus on optimizing the product and maximizing business value. This aspect has the most direct relationship with a startup founder and leader, but some crucial elements are often overlooked.
A Product Manager should, for example, know the business’s history, what has been tried before, who the competitors are, and how big the market is. Fundamentally, a Product Manager should:
Own the product vision and strategy
Create and maintain the product roadmap
Understand the market and competitors
Help set and track OKRs (objective key results)
Manage KPIs (key performance indicators)
Maximize ROIs (returns on investment)
Establish a pricing strategy
What “Tech” Means in Product Management
The third aspect of Product Management is Technology. There are generally two types of Product Managers: a more technical manager and a more generalist manager. The technical manager comes from an engineering background, while the generalist can come from design, business, or another area. In general, a Product Manager should have knowledge of the different tech stacks available, the latest tech trends, and an understanding of the differences between software engineering, data science, backend developers, and QA testers.
Since a Product Manager is responsible for product delivery, they should work closely with the CTO, defining technical feasibility and constraints while managing the following activities:
Product launch and release planning
Backlog and prioritization
Agile and Lean methodologies planning
KPIs
Product team management
In early-stage startups, Product Managers often also play the role of Project Manager, responsible for:
Project timeline
Monitoring task completion
Running daily standups
Team allocation and management
QA tracking
Product Management Resources
If you want to learn more about Product Management, here are some organizations with events, workshops, and job opportunities:
- Mind the Product: A global product management community with a presence in over 180 cities. They hold meetups, workshops, and conferences, primarily geared toward the European market but with strong presence in NY and San Francisco.
- Women In Product: A non-profit organization connecting women in product management through online platforms and live events. They have 32 worldwide chapters, 19K members, and 95+ annual events globally. Their Slack group is full of tips and resources.
- PMA.LA: A Product Management Association focused in the Los Angeles area. They organize networking and learning events for the local community. Their Slack channel is very active, and they offer daily notifications on job opportunities through producthired.com.
(For some history about Product Management and how this role evolved from P&G’s “Brand Men” to Agile Manifesto and finally the Lean Methodology, see The Role of Product Management by Neal Cabage.)
Conclusion
In summary, if you want your startup to achieve or improve product-market fit, reach the next milestone, and scale, make sure to consider a Product Manager in your team. After all, startups are like children; it takes a village to raise one.
In early-stage startups, the village is usually a very small founding team focused on development and the pitch deck. You can make your village much stronger with a Product Manager on your team. Hire a Product Manager, a consultant, or become one.
If you choose to play the role of Product Manager yourself, go back to the activities listed above; highlight the most important ones for your company, and start working on them. You don’t need to do every single activity listed in this article. Some of these are probably already in your mind, like your target audience or roadmap.
If you have any questions or want to discuss reaching product-market fit, building exceptional product teams, and creating outstanding products, I’d love to hear from you. Feel free to get in touch!