Product Managers and Startups

PMs and Startups

Travis JensenMost of my career at small companiesStarted as a developerFirst PM experience was an enterprisesoftware companyCurrently PM at ClickLock, a very small startupHave moonlighted with several other startupsas a PM

AgendaWhats Different about PMing at Startups?Customer DevelopmentPM HabitsGetting Stuff Done

Types of Startups RiskCustomer Technology Web ConsumerSoftware Electronics Enterprise Biotech Software

Types of Startups Risk Customer Technology Web ConsumerSoftware Electronics Enterprise Biotech Software

Argue with Founders

Argue with Founders Design Product

Argue with Founders Design Product QA

Argue with Founders Design Product QAMinimum Viable

Argue with Founders Design ProductMake QA Minimum Viable

Argue with Customer FoundersDevelopment Design ProductMake QA Minimum Viable

Customer Development CustomersDiscovery Validation Creation Release Develop Small Planning ment Releases Product

http://steveblank.ﬁles.wordpress.com/2010/02/customer-discovery-for-the-enterprise.jpg

Verifying HypothesesQuestion: Who is my buyer? Experiment Hypothesis 1 2 3 Tal Talk to 10 Talk to 10 Bank CSO bank CSOs bank CMOs insu CS Talk to 10 Talk to 10 TalHospital Administrator hospital office doc admins managers

Good HabitsGetting out of the buildingCustomer validationPrioritizationDecisions by dataManaging chaos

Good Habits Gone BadReturn on investmentStrategic directionBig, important releasesChasing competitors and being marketdriven

New HabitsR&D: Rip Off and DesignSharpen the AngleChasing customers and being marketdriversTeaching product management to the team

Its a Science Experiment!

Common traps

Common trapsConﬁrmation bias

Common trapsConﬁrmation bias Misaligned motivations

Common trapsConﬁrmation bias Misaligned motivations Overconﬁdence

Common trapsConﬁrmation bias Misaligned motivations Overconﬁdence Familiarity

Common trapsConﬁrmation bias Misaligned motivations Overconﬁdence Familiarity Solution Develop an attitude of learning!

A/B Testing

A/B TestingStart with an actionablequestion!Build a hypothesisDevise your testMaintain a control!

ProcessKeep it SIMPLEAgile is YOURfriend!Its about movingquickly: thats youradvantage

WireframingUnderstand interactionsquicklyAllows faster handoffsKeeps ideas ﬂowingEnables early customerfeedback

Other Tools I Use DropBox Skype BalsamiqSurvey Monkey 99 Designs MailChimp Elance Google Docs

What Else?

Founders!

Bill Campbell on the First Hire:I know that sounds like a strange answer, ProductMarketing, some people call it Product Management,but somebody who can really understand thedynamics of what goes on in a marketplace, applytechnology to that marketplace, see how thetechnology can work, and continue to advise brilliantscientists so they can adapt their products to makesure customers are happy.

Questions

Thank You! Travis Jensen travis.jensen@gmail.com http://thesoftwaremaven.com/ http://twitter.com/SoftwareMavenhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/travisjensen

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Product Managers and Startups

by SoftwareMaven on Sep 14, 2011

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Product Managers and Startups — Presentation Transcript