Being a product manager at an early stage startup requires a different set of skill sets than being a product manager in a global giant. In an early stage startup, you mostly wear multiple hats of being a marketing guy, a project manager, a design guy, a strategist, a data analyst, and of course a product manager. You take challenges and full weight of the business on you. You are essentially the CEO of the product. It’s the most interesting role because you own the product through it’s entire life cycle. You conceptualise the idea, convert it into a real product, release it into the market, observe user behavior, get customer feedback and loop the understanding back in product, release a new version and repeat.
Sharing my experience on stints at early stage startups –
- This was an e-commerce company(www.whitepuppie.com) based out of India catering to handmade products. I had to conceptualise the idea, determine the minimum viable product, design the user interface of the overall site, draft data model, draft Product requirement document and get the product developed from developers. I had to evaluate the server hosting options. I had to work on evaluating payment gateway, Logistic service partner and then working on the commercials and the integration piece. I had to do regression testing of the site before launch. I have some decent skills in photography and picture editing. So, I got to setup a small photo studio and photographed more than 110 products in different angles . Once MVP was launched, I had to design the site banners, email templates to be sent to prospective sellers to get them onboard. I had to ensure user experience in terms of page load performance and responsiveness across mobile devices.
- This was an entertainment news website(thebinnews.com — No longer existing, https://www.facebook.com/TheBinNews). I was involved in setting up a wordpress site including installation on the server. Had to write some PHP code and linux commands to get it up and running. I owned the marketing strategy driving traffic to the site through various social media channels. This was more of a product marketing manager role.
- This was a travel community site(hippiewalks.com) connecting travelers to locals who wish to showcase their land and culture to travelers. I got the MVP up and running on wordpress in 5 days. I was involved in conceptualising the product, building launch strategy, marketing site to onboard hosts. Got 21 hosts registered running 25 tours from 19 different countries. I prepared a presentation deck for pitching to investors.
- This was a B2B e-commerce site for electrical products. I was involved in doing an industry and competition analysis. Then I designed the user interface for all the key pages.
As you see, there is a gamut of activities I did as a PM. In early stage startups, the role is not really confined to specific responsibilities.
I then made a career jump into the established world. Working as a Product manager for eBay required me to work on a defined strategic goals. Here I had to work with multiple stakeholders — Operations head, Customer Care executives/managers, Engineering/QA team, Program management and operational readiness team. Here, it was all about collaborating on ideas and working as one team to release the product. I had to write Product requirement documents, prioritize requirements and ensure features launched deliver results they were made for. Challenges you face in big organisation as a Product manager are more on sticking to the roadmap and questioning the business decisions to withhold impulsive business requirements.
No matter the size of the company, these are some of the skill sets a product manager needs –
A PM needs clear understanding of business, design and technology and know how to speak these languages effectively.
One very critical skill PM needs is asking questions, and that too right ones. Most of the business decisions that require an enhancement to product can be killed right away if right set of questions are asked comprehensively. This requires knowing how to uncover people’s behavior and motivation behind the business decisions. At any given time, a ton of product enhancement requests from different stakeholders get thrown in your way. It’s very important to remain focused and prioritise the requirements balancing business goals and available resources.
A PM has to always look forward to solving business problems as efficiently as possible.
Other critical skills a PM need, is to be extremely focused, organised and clear with communication. An ability to see the larger picture while being obsessed with the finer details, and being unafraid of mistakes by running small experiments.
Lastly, one should be an approachable and empathetic person. Someone who can work with different people of varying skills and viewpoints.
About Uday Singh
Uday is a Product manager with 10+ years of overall experience. He has been involved in building several world class products with teams globally, with expertise in product management, new product launches, customer acquisition and digital marketing.