The document discusses the role and value of product management from the perspective of a venture capitalist (VC) and product management expert. It argues that as startups grow and their markets become more complex, they may need someone to guide product development and strategy in the role of a product manager. Specifically, it suggests product managers can help communicate across teams, champion products, prevent innovation from being stifled, and ensure the right products are built for the market. The VC speaker also notes that they expect to see a product management function in place as startups reach growth and late stages with revenues and profitability.

1. Product Management – who cares?! A VC speaks Alex van Someren General Partner Amadeus & Angels Seed Fund

2. Alex van Someren – My product history Acorn Computer (1980-1984) BBC Micro, Acorn Electron Capricorn Consulting (1984-1989) Publishing ERP system Autocue Teleprompters Direct-drive laser printer interfaces Aleph One Ltd. (1989-1992) ARM3 CPU upgrades Three generations Intel PC virtualisation products 286, 286SX, 386SL and 486DX ANT Limited (1992-1996) Ethernet NICs Fresco Web Browser Marcel email client Oracle NC Network Computer nCipherplc(1996-2007) nFast: Cryptographic accelerator nForce: Hardware Security Module nShield: Secure Execution Engine netHSM: Network Security Device

3. In the beginning…

4. Start-ups: More Product, Less Management In the beginning, it’s about a Vision The Founders believe they have a Solution to a Problem Customers with the Problem buy into the Vision The Product is an instance of the Vision If the Product is Good, then the Customers will come, and they will buy it

5. Start-ups: More Product, Less Management More Product variants are demanded The Market shifts The Product may, or may not, remain market-ready This is where a Product Manager is good...

6. More customers, more problems! For each Product  p and, given a number of Customers C, the number of Opinions about the product’s features will be O, where: O ≥ C + 1 the number of demands for product Variants will be V, where: V = P * O and the number of potential support Problems with the product will be P, where: P = p * V C It’s not real maths – be cool

7. Start-ups don’t usually have PMs What are the signs that you might need to add someone/something ? Market complexity Understanding and communicating segmentation “Controlling” Engineering Harnessing and directing IP “Controlling” Sales Taking a strategic view beyond the next sales quarter

8. Product management & product marketing

9. Product development: the Official Version* Identifying new product candidates Gathering the Voice of customer Defining product requirements Determine business-case and feasibility Scoping and defining new products at high level Evangelizing new products within the company Building product roadmaps, particularly Technology roadmaps Developing all products on schedule, working to a critical path Ensuring products are within optimal price margins and up to specifications * This means I got it off WikiPedia

10. Product marketing - the Official Version Product Life Cycle considerations Product differentiation Product naming and branding 7 functions of marketing Product positioning and outbound messaging Promoting the product externally with press, customers, and partners Conduct customer feedback and enabling (pre-production, beta software) Launching new products to market Monitoring the competition

11. Ncipher product story

12. Building value through product evolution Solution delivery + Application security Application security + + Key management Key management Key management + + + Performance Performance Performance Performance SPEED SECURITY FLEXIBILITY SOLUTIONS 1996 2004+ Company lifetime

13. nCipher product portfolio NETWORK OEMs SSL WEB SERVERS DIGITAL IDENTITY (PKI & AUTHORIZATION) nFast netHSM nShield nForce Cryptographic Accelerators Hardware Security Modules Secure Web product range Network-attached hardware security module Increases throughput of encryption and digital signatures Offloads processing from host computer Provides scalable, high-availability operation Multiple devices can load-balance; fail-over capability “Plug & Play” support from Microsoft, Netscape, Apache Network-attached HSM Validated to FIPS140-2 Level 3 standard Capable of hosting application software Secure, shareable, scalable, interoperable Reduced deployment costs Centralised administration Secures crypto keys, accelerates crypto processing Validated to FIPS140-2 Level 3 standard nCipher Security World™ has potentially infinite storage capacity Support for multi-user activation (e.g. “safety deposit box”) Optional SEE for custom application delivery Secures keys and speeds cryptographic processing for web servers Supports up to 1600 SSL sessions per second Security validated to US FIPS140-2 Level 2 standard Approved for US Government use Industry de facto standard for banks

14. Nine year product roadmap * March 03 First FIPS 104-2 cert * April 01 CodeSafe /SEE July 08 Thales Acquisition * Nov 00 nFastnForce nShield Branding * Dec 06 miniHSM * Oct 03 netHSM * Aug 05 nForce Ultra (Britestream) * Oct 01 nFast800 (BRCM) * Feb 07 PCIe 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

15. A product manager speaks

16. The value of PM Ed Wood, Thales e-Security* says PMs: Make decisions Provide transparent logic: e.g. because this, we’ll do that next Communicate across boundaries Engineering from Mars, Sales is from Venus Champion the Product There’s value in someone actually giving a damn about the thing ‘Passion’ is a cliché, but I contend every successful product has someone who ‘cared’ somewhere whether called PM or not * The views are Ed Wood’s, not Thales’, and he wants to keep his job please KTHXBI

17. PMs prevent innovationbeing stifled Good PM is about nurturing innovation in a business, wherever it might come from PM could stifle it, but it should support it irrespective of source, internally or externally

18. PMs get in the way of “just building stuff” The Product or Service needs to be created, and actually delivered to the market. When the proposition is simple and the need unambiguous this is ‘easy’ When you need to refine & focus, when Version n+1 of ‘stuff’ is not immediately obvious, you may need someone to specifically consider issues So PM should help build the rightstuff

19. A VC SPEAKS

20. Licence, spin out, divest Internal technology base Internal/external venture handling External technology insourcing External technology base Open Innovation – the modern view Other firm´s market Our new market Our current market Stolen with pride from Prof Henry Chesbrough UC Berkeley, Open Innovation: Renewing Growth from Industrial R&D, 10th Annual Innovation Convergence, Minneapolis Sept 27, 2004

21. What a VC looks for… Seed (pre-Product) not expecting any PM at all, only passionate Founders Early-stage (pre-revenue) some PM function might have been added Growth-stage (revenues) PM function definitely in place Late-stage (profitable) Mature PM across the organisation

22. THANK yOU Alex van Someren (with the hard work courtesy of Ed Wood)