Better Product Managers, and Product Management

Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management

May 6th, 2010

So you want to start a company?

Great.  From day 1, you’ll need to:

  • understand your market and what problem you’re solving
  • differentiate yourself
  • validate that customers are willing to use / pay for your solution
  • ruthlessly prioritize features
  • balance long-term vision with short-term development

These are all product management skills.  This does not, of course, mean you need to hire a full-time product manager from day 1.  This role can be played by the founder, or a part-time consultant (one who works with startups – “big-company PM” skills are VERY different and largely useless to an early-stage company).

“But I can do this on my own…” Probably.  But if you’re trying to raise money or put together partnerships, realistically, you’re going to neglect the product stuff.

“But it’s my vision…” Yes.  And hiring a product manager greatly increases the chances of turning that “vision” into “shipped product.”  (Also, any startup product manager worth their salt will tell you when your vision is off-kilter and bring you the data to back that up.)

“I’ve never worked with a product manager who did anything useful...” If you really think this, there are 3 possibilities: a) you’ve been unlucky, b) you’ve worked with big-company PMs in a small company = bad skillset mismatch, or c) you’re a jerk.

OK, fine, so how do I hire a product manager?

Start with a good job description. Don’t copy from some other site or throw together a list of bullet points.  A sloppy job description is pretty much guaranteed to scare away the best people and attract the desperate and unemployed in droves.

As with any product or feature, you will not get this right the first time.  Draft a description, then show it to some friends and ask for feedback.

Read more at http://www.cindyalvarez.com/best-practices/attracting-talent-the-job-description

Ask good questions. And no, I don’t mean logic puzzles – I mean questions that actually address the candidate’s ability to do the job.  At a startup, negotiation, communication skills, and the amount of “process” that a person requires to do their job are all critical factors.

“Your company uses a customer feedback tool where users can submit product enhancement ideas and vote on them.  There is a specific feature that is by far the most popular idea among your users – but it doesn’t align with your long-term product strategy.  How do you respond to the users?”

Read about this and 7 more questions at http://www.cindyalvarez.com/psychology/8-non-useless-interview-questions-for-product-managers

Ask them to sell themselves. You wouldn’t hire a startup PM who needed to be told what to do, right?  So you probably ought to test out their ability to figure out what needs to be done and do it.

My current role at KISSmetrics started out exactly that way.  “We should work together – why don’t you suggest a project that you can do for us?”

This allowed me to:

  • ask questions about the current product functionality and target market
  • prioritize an appropriate project that would have the highest ‘bang for the buck’
  • figure out what and when I was going to deliver
  • explain how those deliverables would/should be used to most benefit the product

By the time I was done, I was really excited to join the company, because I’d seen that “you’ll own product” was not just lip-service.

I also really like these articles about startup hiring:

Popularity: 2% [?]


Popularity: 2% [?]
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  • http://twitter.com/aprildunford April Dunford

    Great post. I want to pick up on the comment you made about big company PM skills being very different (and largely useless) at a startup. I think startups really underestimate that gap. I've seen folks from bigger companies flounder at a PM job in a smaller company because they aren't used to working with such constrained resources and in an environment where things change quickly and move quickly.
    A startup I worked with recently told me a story of how they hired a head of product management and marketing from a larger company only to fire him 3 months later because he simply hadn't delivered anything. The exec was completely shocked when he was let go – he thought everything was going just great!
    April

  • jraedisch

    What about those startups dont having any money to spare and not suited to apply for vc yet? (How) Can one recruit people with just an idea and a share of future prospects? Those are the most important questions for me, and probably lots of other starters (with a student background) out there.

  • http://twitter.com/vishalbathija vishal bathija

    How soon should you hire a PM? As the early hires in a bootstrapped startup are usually technical.

  • http://www.cindyalvarez.com cindyalvarez

    That's why I say “product management” doesn't need to be done by a Product Manager – those tasks can be done by a founder, or a technical person who can also be client-facing.

    But I'd also question the focus on all early hires being technical – with most web 2.0 apps and even a growing number of enterprise apps, the value-add is NOT the engineering. It's solving the right problem for the right people.

  • http://twitter.com/philosophygeek Mark Johnson

    Great post, as always!

    Though PMs look like they *cost* money, the biggest reason for hiring one is so you don't *waste* money on frivolous/useless/tangential/etc. projects. A PM should be able to streamline the work on your team and optimize the work for things that your customers actually care about. I don't think you can afford *not* to hire a PM, for just that reason.

    To the CEO who think she can do it herself, unless she has direct product experience, I think that she should hire a consultant: product management is a skill that can be learned (especially by a smart CEO), but that needs a bit of coaching.

  • http://twitter.com/vishalbathija vishal bathija

    Thanks for the great advise Cindy! I'm new to product management and I find your blog to be very useful.

  • http://www.yourversion.com Dan Olsen

    Cindy,

    Great post. Couldn't agree with you more!

    As another support point: “Lean Startup” concepts are very hot right now, but one question the talks often leave unanswered is “Ok, so WHO is going to validate that we have product-market fit ?”
    Answer: Product Management

    I just gave a talk on “Lean Product Management” at the Web 2.0 Expo that your readers may find interesting: http://bit.ly/leanPM
    I'm also giving an all-day workshop for startups trying to figure out Product Management: http://toolbox.eventbrite.com

    I agree with you on the difference in big-company PM skills vs. startup PM skills. I think the bottom line is that the startup PM has to be more scrappy & self-sufficient and willing to roll up her/his sleeves to learn about adjacent areas: UI design, usability testing, analytics, and marketing. Startup PMs gotta run with the ball because there's noone else to pitch it to :-)

    Thanks for the great post!

    Dan Olsen
    CEO, YourVersion

  • http://www.firstthought.com Katie Albers

    I think there's actually a 4th option for the issue of the usefulness of PMs: The extent of the work of a really great PM often disappears into the general thinking so completely that it becomes invisible. At least that's been my experience.

  • http://www.cindyalvarez.com cindyalvarez

    Great point. When I worked at Yodlee, nothing made me happier than an engineer or designer coming to me and saying “I think I should probably do X and Y” and have X and Y be exactly what I would've suggested. Infecting that thinking – how can we make the customer happiest? how can we best meet our business goals? throughout the company — is when you really see the payoff.

  • http://twitter.com/michaelrlitt Michael Litt

    I've recently built a startup after a few years of “Big-Company” PM experience. I couldn't agree more, Big-Company PM is a world apart from it's startup counterpart.

    The Big-Company mentality is that bad-decisions or poor research can hide behind an entire department or product's failure. Depending on the size of the company, you'll still sleep at night.

    If every PM at “corporate behemoth X” (where I used to work) had that mentality, we'd see both, more effective consumer electronics and supporting software tools.

  • http://twitter.com/cindyalvarez cindyalvarez

    Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/juliangay juliangay

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/lauraklein lauraklein

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/bibinex bibinex

    +fav RT @cindyalvarez Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/bdoctor bdoctor

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2 #prodmgmt

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/kenyarmosh kenyarmosh

    As usual, Cindy nails it. RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management – http://bit.ly/9vsVLd

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/stempm stempm

    Amen! RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2 #w2e

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  • http://twitter.com/mikeskinner mikeskinner

    Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://tinyurl.com/34vtxyc

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/rolandblanton rolandblanton

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2 (via @lauraklein)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/jjsalama jjsalama

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/_iamfm _iamfm

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2 #w2e

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/ndintenfass ndintenfass

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/sjohnson717 sjohnson717

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/sjohnson717 sjohnson717

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without #prodmgmt. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/MJM_PM MJM_PM

    Yes, yes! RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without #prodmgmt. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/MJM_PM MJM_PM

    Yes, yes! And I can help with that! RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without #prodmgmt. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/jabrenn jabrenn

    RT @aprildunford: Commented on – Startups shouldn’t START without #prodmgmt from @cindyalvarez http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/wkmyrhang wkmyrhang

    Nice — RT @sjohnson717: RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without #prodmgmt. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/flowchainsensei flowchainsensei

    RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management. New blog post: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/venkatesh_iyer venkatesh_iyer

    RT @MJM_PM: Yes, yes! And I can help with that! RT @cindyalvarez: Startups shouldn’t START without #prodmgmt. New blog post: http://bit …

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/giffconstable giffconstable

    .@cindyalvarez continues to write great blog posts (this 1 on product managers) http://bit.ly/aVaC3d

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/dlifson dlifson

    RT @giffconstable: .@cindyalvarez continues to write great blog posts (this 1 on product managers) http://bit.ly/aVaC3d

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/leanbot leanbot

    @giffconstable: .@cindyalvarez continues to write great blog posts (this 1 on product managers) http://bit.ly/aVaC3d

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/ericnsantos ericnsantos

    Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management: http://bit.ly/dyY9Wp (by @cindyalvarez)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/hnshah hnshah

    Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/dhana dhana

    RT @hnshah: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/MichaelBeaton MichaelBeaton

    RT @hnshah: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/marionogueira marionogueira

    RT @hnshah: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/kirilnyc kirilnyc

    .@hnshah: counterpoint: if you can’t do this yourself, don’t found. (Re: Startups/Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/fujiubear fujiubear

    RT @hnshah: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/hannal hannal

    RT @hnshah: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/jraedisch jraedisch

    A product manager would be nice. But so would a decent interaction designer, or a backend developer. And money to pay. http://bit.ly/bk4VJh

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/johnprendergast johnprendergast

    Ideally founder/CEO has this DNA – RT @hnshah: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

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  • http://twitter.com/ikongsgf ikongsgf

    RT @hnshah: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/philosophygeek philosophygeek

    Great post from @cindyalvarez about why startups should START with a PM on staff: http://bit.ly/9HUxX2

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/markitecht markitecht

    Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez /via @hnshah #yaheard?

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/RSSirteubal RSSirteubal

    » Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management The Experience is the Product | Better product management an… http://bit.ly/9CQ2uC

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/RSSirteubal RSSirteubal

    » Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management The Experience is the Product | Better product management and… http://ow.ly/17kCbC

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/PittVenture PittVenture

    RT @hnshah Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

  • http://twitter.com/dsshah dsshah

    RT @hnshah: Startups shouldn’t START without Product Management http://klck.me/Ald /by @cindyalvarez

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