Being a successful product manager at a startup

Ivar Pruijn // January 2015

3Things I learned

that help mebe successful

A bit of history

For years weve treated startups like they are just smaller versions of a large company. However, we now know that a startup is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable

and scalable business model. 1Steve Blank

1 http://steveblank.com/2012/03/05/search-versus-execute/

Data is your best friend

21

In a startup everything is new and uncertain. Youre in uncharted territory.

Without a map, without a compass, where do you go?

Make sure you have data from day one! Really. Stop what youre doing and go get it.

analytics.track('Ate after midnight', { name: Gizmo, type: Mogwai,});

A feature is not done until it has analytics

Back in 2012...

Back in 2012...

Back in 2013...

function startExperiment(experiment) { $('#optimizely_toggle_running').text('Starting...'); optly.put('experiments/' + experiment.id, {'status': 'Running'}, function(response) { // Running $('#optimizely_toggle_running').text('Click to pause'); });}

function createExperiment() { experiment = {} experiment.description = "Feed after 12am; optly.post('projects/1/experiments', experiment);}

function createVariation(experiment, index, newTitle, weight) { // Generate variation code var variationTemplate = '$(".post-$POST_ID .entry-title a").text("$NEW_TITLE");'; var code = variationTemplate .replace(/\$OLD_TITLE/g, originalTitle) .replace(/\$NEW_TITLE/g, newTitle) .replace(/\$POST_ID/g, postId);

// Request data var variation = { "description": newTitle, "js_component": code, "weight": weight }

optly.put('variations/' + experiment.variation_ids[1], variation, onVariationCreated); }}

Test all your assumptions

& learn which things work

What we know we know

What we know we dont know

What we dont know we know

Knowns & unknowns

What there is to know

Wha

t we

com

preh

end

Unknown

Known

Known Unknown

What we dont know we dont

know

experiment test all your assumptions

learn about your business

reduce uncertainty use data as a compass

get data its your best friend

Traction / Growthis really all that matters

12

Find your business modelbefore you run out of money

Empathy

Stickiness

Virality

Revenue

Scale

Gro

wth

Rat

e

I've found a real, poorly-met need a reachable market faces

LEAN ANALYTICS STAGE

"GATE" NEEDED TO MOVE FORWARD

I've figured out how to solve the problem in a way they will adopt

and pay for

I've built the right product / features / functionality that keeps

users around

The users and features fuel growth organically and artificially

I've found a sustainable, scalable business with the right margins in

a healthy ecosystem

I can achieve a successful exit for the right terms

GROWTH

EMPATHYInterviews

Surveys

Segmentation

Hypotheses and experiments

Data analysis

Kano surveys

Onboarding UX

Lifecycle emails

Support

STICKINESS

CRO

Cont

ent

Mkt

ing

FB A

ds

Dis

play

Mob

ile

Behavioral Psychology

Branding, Positioning, Storytelling

Copywriting

ACQUISITION/VIRALITY

Brian K BalfourVP Growth @ HubSpot, Formerly EIR @ Trinity Ventures, Growth advisor

Vira

lStatistics Programming Product Design & UX Principles

A/B Testing DB Querying Excel Modeling Funnel Marketing

Emai

l

PPC SEO

Soci

al

PR Sale

s

Part

ner-

sh

ips

Analytics

Base knowledge

Marketing Foundation

Channel Expertise

We are a public entity, and management made the decision that we would not

purchase any cloud subscriptions for this year. So, once we have budgeting come back around in October, maybe we can revisit our

needs then - an email from one of our customers last week

Budgets are for losers

steal tactics

lie about features

beg for feedback

grow before the money is gone

Focusdont get caught up in day-to-day affairs

33

Settle on the best plan,Exploit the dynamic within,

Develop it without - Sun Tzu, The Art of War

zoom in on short-term tactics

zoom out on long-term strategy

reflect on your vision

focus on your real goals

Wrapping up

1 2 3Data Growth Focus

Thank you!