Jennifer Yang-Wong is a product leader who formerly worked at Uber, before moving into the rarified heights of Venture Capital. But, not as an investor but as the VP of Product for a tech-led VC firm. We spoke about why a VC firm needs a VP of Product as well as numerous reflections on the trouble that we can have when trying to apply product thinking and move beyond founder-led decision-making.
Episode highlights:1. There's no one way to do product management, and no one's doing it "right".
There's no one way to do product management, and no one's doing it "right". It all depends on what you need for your stage of company, and whether you're sales-y, ops-y, or product-y in mindset.
2. There's no "number" or formula you can apply to decide whether to blow up your roadmap.In a sales-led organisation, it's common for big deals to torpedo the best-laid plans. Your appetite to do this work will vary, but it's not as simple as saying "X% of revenue and we do it!" But, whatever the number is, it should be really, really high.
3. It can be tricky to know when to bring on the first product hire and move away from founder-led product managementOne of the founders is generally the de facto "head of product", often with no specific product training. They do many of the same things that the product team would do, but not necessarily in the same way, and with less process. This can cause clashes when the first PM comes in.
4. Getting a super process-oriented PM in as the first PM might exacerbate the issueYou do need some rigour from the PM you bring in, otherwise, what's the point of bringing them in? But, if you bring someone in who is too dogmatic or has worked for much larger organisations, you may find a cultural mismatch and inevitable clash when everything they do seems to slow you down.
5. In some companies, it might be the second "first product manager" that succeedsFounders may mis-hire if they don't have a strong understanding of what product managers bring to the table, or how they want to work. It's unpleasant to think of, but sometimes the first PM takes the hits, moves on and is replaced by a second PM who can start to make progress since the founders have a better idea of what they'll get the second time around.
Contact JenniferYou can connect with Jennifer on Twitter or on LinkedIn.
Aligning your Positioning & the Myth of Product Market Fit (with April Dunford, Positioning Consultant & Author "Obviously Awesome")
Design Thinking & Finding the Time for Design Sprints (with Yoav Farbey, Senior Product Manager @ PARK NOW)
Building Your Product Muscles & Developing Strong Product Teams (with Petra Wille, Product Coach and Author "Strong Product People")
Practical Product Management & Demonstrating Product Thinking (with Büşra Coşkuner, Product Consultant & Coach)
The Need for Diverse Perspectives in Product Development (with Candice Poon, Program Manager @ Microsoft)
Effective Hiring for Product Managers & Building Diverse Teams (with Kate Leto, Product Consultant & Author "Hiring Product Managers")
From Management Consultant to Product Manager (with Deepti Tadala, Technical Product Manager @ Synacor)
Building a Culture of Continuous Discovery (with Cindy Alvarez, Author "Lean Customer Development" & Director Customer Research @ GitHub)
Lifelong Learning for Product Managers (with Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia, Founder & CEO @ Product School)
Product Management Lessons from a PM Turned Teacher Turned PM (with Melanie McKay, Head of Consumer Product @ Rightmove)
Data-driven Product Delivery & Story Points on Everything (with James Rooney, Delivery Manager @ Discovery Inc.)
How to Build an Effective Product Organisation (with Marty Cagan, author of Inspired & Empowered)
Scaling your Product Team with Product Operations (with Christine Itwaru, Senior Director of Product Operations @ Pendo)
How to Crack your Product Management Career (with Jackie Bavaro, co-author of Cracking the PM Interview & Cracking the PM Career)
Redefining Product-Led Growth (with Heather James, Founder @ Product-Led Alliance)
Product Management in Lockdown & the Perils of Hustle Culture (with Jack Stevens, Senior PM @ Publicis Sapient)
Product Marketing & the Importance of Pirate Metrics (with Abby Hehemann, Senior Product Marketing Manager @ GetResponse)
Empathy, Mentorship and the Importance of Diversity & Inclusion (with Ana Kresina, PM @ Redbubble)
Getting to Product/Market Fit and Building Effective Product Teams (with Harpal Singh, Product Consultant & Interim CPO)
Transforming companies & instilling a product mindset (with Dave Martin, founder of Right To Left)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Commercial Edge: Unleash the Power of People
The emPOWERed Half Hour
Aligned Money Show
Gorse Culture PODcast : The H.R. Detective Agency!
HCI Leadership Revolution
The Ramsey Show
Planet Money