I try to judge my actions by the question "Is it effective?".
Or more specifically: Do my priorities, communication style, actions, reactions, personal narrative, personal brand, location, media consumption, things I focus on etc, get me to an outcome that is moving my life (and the life of the people I love) up and to the right with as little thrash and delay as possible?
When you encounter people who are regularly badmouthing others and constantly surrounded by drama that “isn’t their fault” - you can usually be rest assured that they are the source of the problems in their life.
It’s pretty easy to tell how they operate, though, because as part of their bad mouthing, they are typically reflecting their worst traits onto others. Just listen. Whatever they’re blaming others for is exactly what they themselves have done.
Historically the small tech community has hesitated to call these kind of people out because we don’t want blow back. But many of us know who they are. I think it would help a lot of founders if we collectively made a stand against these people more swiftly.
Sometimes it’s extra hard because these people, at times, appear to add a lot of value. But really it’s like an abusive relationship. As a friend of mine once said, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
Check the availability of the other guests before sending the invite (Unless sending it as a tentative hold)
Be sure to invite everyone directly by adding them to the calendar event so they can see changes that might occur (i.e. don't forward invite emails)
Unless there's a good reason, make the event editable by guests so they can add details or move it in a pinch
Try to include any related materials/instructions in the notes field so that everyone has the resources they need to participate
Make sure you accurately update your RSVP status to any events you're attending/invited to
If you indicated that you're going to make it, show up on time
If you can't make it, try to give maximum notice via email and update your RSVP status
If you're running the meeting: If you can, try to end the meeting on time, because attendees likely have other meetings scheduled straight after that one
When there's someone you know (first-degree connection) that knows someone you WANT to know (new contact)...
Talk to/pitch the first-degree connection - get them interested (or better, excited).
If they express enthusiasm, let them know you'd like to an intro to the person you're trying to reach and ask them if they'd be open to receiving a forwardable email request for an intro.
Email them a short thank you for the meeting with some key bullets recapping your conversation, asking for the intro to the person you’re trying to reach.
They should reply to you, copying in the person you’re trying to reach with a short intro for each of you.
Reply all, move the first-degree connection to BCC and start your email with “Thanks [first degree’s first name], moving you to bcc to save your inbox. Great to meet you [new contact's name]”. Proceed with your email asking for whatever consideration you need (keep it short).
In this way a) you have some credibly with the new contact bestowed by your contact b) your contact knows you’ve picked up the ball but is not inundated with a continuing conversation they don’t want to see c) your contact will get some social capital if the intro generates value.
The new connection will hopefully reply/continue the discussion without flooding your mutual connections inbox with the rest of the chain
I just got two questions via email. Here are my very quick answers
Question: In the early days of a startup balance the needs of the business with what a small engineering team can complete?"
Answer: Break the needs of the business down into small, discrete product moves (i often call these minimum viable product iterations) and get them done one after the other as fast and well as possible.
Question: What's the best way to prioritize features and break them up with data that can sometimes be statistically insignificant?
Answer: Talk to customers directly (or ideally you are the customer) and extrapolate good generalizations from concrete pain points. How? With experience and instinct. That's why good advisors are very helpful.
For every clever saying, there's an opposite, equally profound sounding quote. Wisdom is knowing which piece of sage advice to take in which circumstance/context.
You can read all the blogs and books, but unless you've deeply internalized the advice through hands-on experience it can be difficult to know what to apply to what situation.
Should you "do the unscalable thing first" or "scale at all costs"? Should you "focus on growth" or does "revenue cure all ills"? Should you "undercut the competition thanks to software efficiencies" or "charge a premium"?
These decisions depend on many variables and need to form part of a cohesive strategy.
This is one of the reasons why good advisors are priceless.
Be careful, though, Many "advisors" are career advisors. All they do is talk and teach. Find people who've been in the trenches building real things at real scale. They should help you know which piece of sage advice to apply at any given time and as part of a holistic business and product strategy.
As a product manager, your PRD is your source of power. You need to train the other stakeholders that if it’s not in the PRD it’s not happening.
The most important emotions to create with your app are friendship, excitement/competitiveness (dopamine) and nostalgia. They fulfill deep human needs and drive habit forming behavior.
Articulate the vision for the overall product strategy
Determine the high-level KPIs/Goals for the org/business
Collaborate with all fellow VPs/Execs (eng, design, ceo, impact etc) to determine the business priorities
Review the roadmaps from their PMs and push for additional clarity or ambition
Review PM KPIs/Goals and push for additional clarity and ambition
Hold PMs accountable for their results against the KPIs/Goals
Act as a point of escalation and conflict resolution when their PMs are not getting what they need from other functions
Rinse and repeat
Articulate the problem
Understand the customer (through research etc)
Determine the KPIs/Goals for the product/problem area
Collaborate with all stakeholders (execs, eng, design, customers, partners, product marketing etc) to determine the priorities
Articulate a compelling vision and drive alignment across all stakeholders towards that vision
Develop and evangelize a roadmap to all key stakeholders
Drive the design and feature specs for each iteration
Work with the craftspeople (designers, engineers, data scientists etc) to turn concept into reality through a regular cadence of checkins, reviews, and other project management techniques
Work with Product Marketing/Sales/BizDev to announce and drive adoption
Measure the results against the KPIs/Goals
Rinse and repeat
See responsibilities of a Group Product Manager/VP of Product/CPO Here
Here are some thoughts...
Earning investment from an Investor is a lot like dating and/or forming any kind of relationship. Therefore...
Ideally, you're meeting an investor for the first time BEFORE you are raising capital.
Do some research into what they care about - both personally and professionally. But don't be a stalker.
Get a warm intro through their network.
Get them excited about your company through a combination of voice and vision. Show your passion and explain why this is a big idea with big potential to make the world a better place.
It's likely that you don't have much built yet - so they will essentially be investing in YOU, not your idea or company. You need to convey a sense of personal credibility and conviction while still demonstrating that you are coachable and collaborative. This means you should be able to...
a) Be clear and straightforward about what you know, your hypothesis and what you're still yet to figure out. It's ok that you haven’t figured certain things out yet - but its important to know and admit it.
b) Avoid absolutist language and scarcity thinking
c) Both eagerly hear and digest ideas/criticism while also defending key decisions or beliefs you have - all without being defensive.
d) Earnestly ask for and capture feedback and advice. In particular, ask what the investor would need to get conviction about your company when you come back while raising a round
e) Compensate for any weakness in your background or skillset by having pulled together a great advisory and operations team, a strong pitch deck with a clear narrative, and a beautiful product. Or better: Lots of traction!
Set good expectations about what you're going to do next with the company - including responding to or acting on their advice and requirements to invest - and be prepared to come back having delivered on those things (or have good information about why those things were no longer relevant).
Focus on finding a fit instead of convincing them of something. After all - you have to live with them as a partner in your business. You need to like each other!
Relax
Building an innovation culture inside a medium to large, legacy business is hard work across multiple dimensions. Sometimes the challenge can actually be insurmountable with too many intractable forces working against change.
In some cases, it can be better to spin out a separate company with a new culture, mission and team composition. In these cases the legacy business provides the “seed” capital and takes a meaningful ownership stake.
The new company(s) should be free to aggressively pursue an innovation agenda - even if that means cannibalizing or even disrupting the legacy business.
This has many, many advantages (and, of course, some disadvantages). Amongst the advantages is that it allows outside investors to come in (reducing risk) and the development of an ESOP (employee share option pool). Both of these factors increase the chances of attracting top talent from Silicon Valley style companies who tend to be looking for high growth equity opportunities.
A related area to explore is setting up a strategic venture fund to invest in existing companies innovating in the areas you believe in. But that’s for another post.
So if you’re inside a large company fighting to drive disruption and new thinking, consider getting buy-in for a clean new entity with a different kind of structure, mission and people.
For Product Managers, Platform Products are extra complicated to lead because there are more internal and external stakeholders to align and collaborate with.
Internally, the critical functions of your product development team expands from just designers, engineers, data scientists, and product marketing to also include Business Development and Partner Engineering.
Externally, you're no longer just creating interaction surfaces for your end-users - you must also create a user experience for your implementing partner; one that guides them, engages them and helps them be successful. Further, your end-user experience is heavily influenced (if not outright controlled) by the implementing partner.
As a result driving alignment, getting predictable timelines, measuring outcomes and iterating are all exponentially more complicated.
You have to be very, very good at communication, narratives, sync meetings, templates, guides, reviews and other alignment tricks to try to manage through the complexity.
In short; you have to be the very best Product Manager you can be.
It's often deeply underestimated just how complicated building a great platform is and how much unique pressure a Product Manager in that position is.
You may have heard the saying "You don't find a Technical Co-founder, you earn them"
But what does that mean exactly?
It means you think of them like you would an investor. So you should...
Build your startup as far as you can without them. Pitch decks, designs, partners, investors, advisors, prototypes using freelancers, in-market product using yet more freelancers etc. Make your business worth investing in.
Have a process. Execute it well. That includes...
a) Find the senior engineers at the companies you admire who seem to have a background in the kind of work you're doing
b) Reach out to them (LinkedIn is great for this) with a message that is highly tailored and extremely leaned in (remember that they are being bombarded by recruiters all day long - make sure to point out you're the CEO). Don't be coy, don't be dry. Explain why you think they might change the trajectory of your company and why its a MASSIVE opportunity for them. Ask for just 15 minutes of their time to explain the rest on a call
c) Offer them a meaningful piece of the business with a 4-year vesting schedule and a 1-year cliff.
Tips for prioritizing a backlog
Annotate each item with what problem it solves (e.g. usability problem, new user acquisition, performance issues, content/Inventory issue etc)
Group them by theme
Ask yourself "What is the number 1 reason more people are not being more successful with my product this week"
Do the items that address that reason first, second, third
Being clear and well understood is more important than appearing clever by using flowery, sophisticated language.
When presenting your product/business to customers or investors for the first time, It’s not necessary to explain every technical detail. Listing three strong bullets is better than 10 technically accurate but extremely dense bits of information.
The rest can go in the appendix in case somebody asks.
The all-important details can be part of a second, “deep dive” meeting.
For all of history, we have been grouped and defined our sovereignty by where we are physically located in the world. In the last decade, in the online world, we are increasingly grouped and define our sovereignty by interest and intent.
It’s a common mistake to get 80% done and never fully deliver value to the market.
“Done” means tested, stable, shipped into production, listed on the website, documented, promoted on the blog, shared via mailing lists etc
[Side note: The only thing better than “Done” is “Successful”. The only definition of success that matters is: adopted by a large and growing number of active customers. Media, pilots, academic studies, government grants etc don’t count]
This doesn’t just apply to software. This also applies to partnerships, operations etc etc.
To achieve this you need to align expectations across teams and partners about the definition of “done” and make sure you finish the things you start before chasing the next shiny object. Said another way - FOCUS.
To do otherwise is one of the biggest possible mistakes in business - spending resources and not achieving any return on that investment.