Over the last 10 years, the product management role has stepped into the limelight and gained traction as a profession. But what exactly is a product manager and what do they do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kevin Lee, Founder of Product Manager HQ<\/a> and Venture Investor at Pear VC, gave us this definition: “A product manager helps to guide a team in discovering and developing the right product for users.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Product managers are considered to be the linchpin that holds product teams together. They take ownership for the success or failure of the product development process. Managing the product and filling the product management <\/a> role is of great importance, especially for early-stage startups that are trying to scale beyond Product Market Fit (PMF).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In scaling a product, and building a team post-PMF, founders will face some of the following product challenges and vital transitions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To understand how the PM role takes shape at a startup, we first need to understand the core functions and responsibilities of a product manager. In an exclusive interview with Arc’s Codementor brand, Kevin Lee offered some insights on how startup founders can approach the product management role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking for top talent fast? See how <\/em>Arc<\/a> can help you:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u26a1\ufe0f Find developers, designers, marketers, and more Hire top talent with Arc risk-free \u2192<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n First, let\u2019s look at what a product manager is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A PM is not the CEO of anything<\/strong>. Popularized in an old blog post<\/a> by Ben Horowitz, the phrase \u201ca product manager is the CEO of the product\u201d has been tossed around quite a bit. Are PMs really like the CEO? Kevin doesn\u2019t believe so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During our chat, Kevin pointed out that, ultimately, the buck stops with the CEO. The CEO is responsible to investors and for the success or failure of the company. \u201cThe CEO has extreme ownership,\u201d says Kevin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few more ways a PM differs from a CEO:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA good product manager embraces the fact that they do not have authority and instead must lead through influence,\u201d Kevin told us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For Kevin, being a good product manager is like being the coach of a sports team: \u201cEven if you\u2019re the coach of the team, you\u2019re not the boss of the team.\u201d You lead the team, but you don\u2019t pay the team, and it is not within your authority to provide the team with the resources they need, so you need to lead in a different way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re the coach, you\u2019re just trying to make sure that your team has the proper skills and experience, and everyone knows the overall goal or vision. And then the coach gets out of the way and lets the team do what they do best.<\/p>Kevin Lee<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Kevin reminds us that \u201ca good product manager is only as good as their team.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of leading with authority, product managers lead \u201cthrough their influence, communication, and collaboration across cross-functional teams to bring people together to move the product forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n At a traditional enterprise with established product(s), the PM will likely be charged with making sure everything continues to run smoothly, the product team is focused, and the users are still satisfied. Large companies tend to have dedicated teams for each function (like a dedicated user research team or dedicated business intelligence team) of the product development process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, a PM at a startup probably won\u2019t have an established product or even a user base. \u201cIn the early days, your primary goal is to ship something so valuable people will actually use it,\u201d Kevin said. This means the PM has to ship a product from the ground up, build up a customer base, retain users, and demonstrate growth over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou\u2019re really just trying to build fast, measure fast, ship fast, and repeat,\u201d advised Kevin. While managing a product at a startup, you\u2019re constantly scrambling to find any early signs of product market fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf your initial product isn\u2019t resonating with a core user group, minor adjustments won\u2019t always cut it. You\u2019ve got to keep digging into your user\u2019s needs and take bigger risks, or else you face hitting a local maximum on the value you can bring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once your startup starts to realize some signs of product market fit, you\u2019ve got to figure out how to make your product and the operations surrounding it scalable. Much more so than at a large company, at a startup, this means experimentation. \u201c[The PM] will have to act as a jack-of-all-trades. You\u2019ll find yourself covering the responsibilities of multiple roles and leveraging any kind of resources you can get,\u201d Kevin told us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kevin also pointed out that the small and fast nature of startups means that product managers are necessarily taking more individual initiative and responsibility. In all likelihood, there is only one layer of management they need to obtain approval from, which is often the CEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read More<\/strong>: 10 Ways to Avoid Failed Software Projects & Why They Fail to Begin With<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are an early-stage startup founder, you have probably been directly overseeing product development. After all, until a founder can prove traction and market demand, he or she doesn\u2019t really have a product to build a company around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Initially, it is necessary for the founder to spend time directly with their user base and be hands-on with product development to optimize for product market fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a company grows, new features create a series of new complexities. These complexities all end up creating derivative issues that need to be prioritized and resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When a company passes a certain size (one ballpark figure is 20-40 team members), it is likely that the product complexity has advanced to the point that it will be difficult for the founder\/CEO to manage in concert with all of their other responsibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, if product management is not given the proper attention, the product could derail, putting the entire company at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that in mind, it\u2019s important that founders recognize when it\u2019s time to relinquish some control and bring on a dedicated product manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read More<\/strong>: How to Write a Product Requirements Document (PRD) Devs Understand<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some indicators Kevin provided that founders can use to judge whether or not they have reached a growth point that requires a dedicated product manager:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read More<\/strong>: How to Be an Engineering Manager Your Company & Team Respects<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Okay, as founder, you\u2019ve determined you could benefit from bringing on a product manager \u2014 but before you hire, you need to be sure that A) this is the best option to better manage the product, and B) there is room for a new person to come in and take ownership in this role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kevin suggests founders consider these things before committing to hiring an external PM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can I make an internal promotion instead of a new hire?<\/strong> Is there room for a new PM hire to take ownership?<\/strong> Are you, as CEO, ready to trust a PM with product decisions?<\/strong> Read More<\/strong>: 9+ Project Management Tools for Managing & Working With Developers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to relinquishing some authority, founders also need to become more formalized in their communication and process as they build their team. Kevin explained, “Formalization of product feedback helps build trust in growing teams.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, when a founder wants to give feedback to the product team, they shouldn\u2019t just run into a product meeting and say, \u201cHey, I think x, y, and z, and this is what we need to build next.\u201d Instead, there should be an established cadence at which the CEO will attend product review meetings and provide feedback and guidance on product direction. They should then strive to provide feedback in written form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kevin made the case that this is a good exercise for both the founder\/CEO and the product team. \u201cWhen you write things down, you are forced to clarify a certain direction you are looking to take the product, and you may also realize your initial thought was not actually the right way to do things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon distributing these written product thoughts, a CEO should encourage a culture that will allow other relevant team members to openly provide comments, input, and feedback in order to create an idea meritocracy around product development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This type of formalization helps to avoid a situation where the founder loses the team\u2019s trust and instead creates an environment for the founder to provide valuable product guidance without micromanaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read More<\/strong>: Managing a Distributed Software Development Team: 5 Lessons Learned<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the early days, the founder will be best positioned to lead product development and define the pain point the product has to solve for users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the company scales, the user base will grow, designers and developers will join the team, and the product will become more complex. The long-term survival of the company will almost certainly require a dedicated product manager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout our interview, Kevin provided some valuable tips for founders scaling a product beyond product-market fit<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lastly, even as a founder delegates more product responsibilities to a product manager, they should continue to hold themselves, their team, and their product to a higher standard. The CEO is the last quality check\u2026 as such, the first question on their mind should always be, \u201cHow can we do better?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also try <\/em>Arc<\/a>, your<\/em> shortcut to the world’s best remote talent:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u26a1\ufe0f Access 450,000 top developers, designers, and marketers <\/a>Try Arc and hire top talent now \u2192<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" How can founders effectively manage the product and perform all of their other duties? Here are best practices to keep in mind from Kevin Lee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1235,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-management"],"yoast_head":"\n
\u26a1\ufe0f Freelance or full-time remote + fully vetted<\/em>
\u26a1\ufe0f Save up to 80% with global hires<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nDefining The Product Management Role<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What a PM Is Not<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
What A PM Is<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The PM Role at a Startup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Hiring Your First Product Manager as a Founder<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Indicators It\u2019s Time to Hire a PM<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Things to Ask Yourself Before Hiring<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
You may want to first look internally and see if any current team members are best positioned to take on the role\u2019s responsibilities. For example, an engineering lead knows the product inside and out, and a customer success person knows the users\u2019 needs better than anyone. Maybe someone on your team has consistently provided good insight on product development and is ready to step up. Another reason to go this route is that you already have a working relationship with this person and you know you can communicate with him or her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In order for a new PM to succeed and take on product management responsibilities, there needs to be room for them to do so. Kevin warns that \u201cyou don\u2019t want the team to feel like there is another layer of middle management that\u2019s slowing down the team\u2019s ability to ship.\u201d If you bring on an outside hire, they should eventually understand your product, clients, and industry just as well, or better, than your current team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t bring on a PM if you are unable to stop playing the role yourself. The CEO holds ultimate authority over the company and product, and needs to continue driving the company\u2019s vision. However, the product manager needs to be empowered as a leader to make individual product decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFormalize Product Feedback and Decision Making<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u26a1\ufe0f Vetted and ready to interview<\/em>
\u26a1\ufe0f Freelance or full-time<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n