The Ultimate Product Strategy to Deliver Billions - Sara Hicks, Mailchimp
Developing a product strategy starts with understanding the customer problems that your business can solve well, which in turn, creates a durable competitive advantage. A compelling product strategy then prioritizes the key initiatives that will have the biggest impact on customers and the business–all while navigating unknowns, team velocity, and other constraints. In this session, Mailchimp's CPO Sara Hicks walks through the framework for a successful strategy diving into business goals, technical and operational needs, customer feedback, and competitive differentiators. Specifically, Sara covers: - Key elements to creating a compelling product strategy in 2022 - How to define and articulate your customer problems - How to identify and prioritize initiatives and capabilities - How to align roadmap and projects to longer-term goals and strategic bets - How to set up people, processes, and technology to get more accomplished - How to organize cross-functional teams to win and hit goals - How she built and sold her company by focusing on product strategy from the outset - How to build a winning product organization: roles, qualities, timing, finding talent - How to balance product innovation with maintenance - How to leverage your customers and community to drive consistent and helpful feedback As Chief Product Officer, Sara Hicks is responsible for leading and shaping Mailchimp’s product strategy and oversees product execution and innovation to help small businesses start and grow. She joined Mailchimp as the Co-founder and CEO of Reaction Commerce, which she successfully led from founding to acquisition by Mailchimp in April 2020. She’s also a startup advisor, executive leadership coach, and former product and design leader at Etsy, Media Temple, Yahoo!, and GeoCities, among other global technology companies.
