.Akshat Khanna.

👋 Hey product hiring managers! You may have noticed dozens of people now with a new certificate from the Alberta Product Leadership Program. If you manage or are prospectively seeking a new PM to join your team, you should know that: 1) The program is selective. You can't just sign-up. Since it's inception, the program has sought to upskill professionals that have shown their motivation for growth and desire to hone their product management craft. 2) The graduates get broader exposure to practices and industries beyond their resume. Our sessions are interactive and facilitate sharing of perspectives and ways of working across multiple organizations - from grassroots startups to FAANG giants. 3) There's more to it than training. During the course of the program, many participants gain mentorship, build a supportive peer group, and get out of their comfort zone. The program is refreshed every year by hiring managers just like you to optimize for the skills we need to hire and promote for. So if you see the APL certificate with a candidate profile, know that candidate choose to do more than your average course. #abtech #yyctech #yegtech #productmanagement

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Want to crash and burn in Product Management? 🚀🔥 Follow this surefire guide: 1. Treat user feedback like background noise. 🙉 2. Micromanagement is your best friend. 👥 3. Why make things clear when ambiguity reigns supreme? ❓ 4. Blame shifts faster than strategy. 🔄 5. Mini CEO? More like major disconnect. 🔌 6. Dive deep into the weeds, then deeper. 🌱 7. Strategy is overrated; keep 'em guessing. 🤷‍♂️ 8. Your designers are mere executors of your grand vision. 👩‍🎨 9. Believe in your infallibility. 🦸‍♂️ 10. Worship at the altar of flawed metrics. 📊 11. JTBD and value proposition? Sounds like jargon. 🗣️ 12. Chase executive applause, not product success. 👏 13. Hold the reins tight, because trust is overrated. 🤝 14. Speed trumps quality, every time. ⏩ 15. We have no competition - keep saying it until it's true. 🗣️ 16. Subscribers over users - because numbers trump experience. 🔢 17. Launch ads without a clue of your user's journey. 🚀 18. Build huge teams with unclear priorities and road map 19. Dont care about cash burn and PMF, care about valuation and fundraising 20. Lastly over hire and over Fire Missed a step? Probably. However, following even a few steps ensures a spectacular failure in product management. ⚠️ Hi, I am @asheeshchatterjee, a CA, CMA (India & UK) and an alumnus of Kellogg School of Management, I love talking about building blocks for the next level of growth and excellence.

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So, you want the product team to accelerate key initiatives and deliver outcomes earlier for customers and the business. Stop giving orders. Give intent. Intent builds trust and motivation, inspires creativity, and encourages critical-thinking and informed decision-making. It brings out the greatness lurking in all of us. Constantly giving orders does the opposite. People get demoralized into following commands. Caveat: Obviously, some orders do need to be faithfully followed and executed. If you make the why and the what crystal clear and help people with the technical skills that they need to be successful, you will see better speed of execution based on better decisions and better outcomes, earlier. Inspired by David Marquet. #productleaders #productmanagement

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Who Killed Product Management in India? 🔎 This was the title of of a recent article by Praveen Gopal Krishnan on The Ken, he puts forth some interesting points (link the comments). One key point that stood out was someone saying - 90% of Product Manager roles have become redundant. Engineers, designers, and business professionals can now take on tasks once exclusive to PMs. Harsh? Maybe. True? To some extent. So, what does the future hold for PMs? I believe the future lies in the rise of the Full Stack Product Management and in everyone gaining a strong product sense. Let’s dive into details below. Article Insights: Product Management has shifted from a creative, intuitive role to a bureaucratic, data-driven one. Instead of creating innovative products, PMs are bogged down with frameworks, PRDs, and justifying decisions to stakeholders. AI is also automating many PM tasks, further pushing PMs toward obsolescence. Companies like Airbnb have even removed traditional PM roles, showing how product development can happen without them. Know thy Product: The core issue, in my view, is that we don’t truly understand what their product is. Too often, the "product" is mistaken for the app or the website—the enablers—rather than the value delivered to the customer. -> What’s the Real Product? Flipkart/Amazon: Not the app, but the goods they deliver 📦 Netflix: Not the platform, but the content 🎬 Zomato/Swiggy: It’s the food 🍔 Gmail/WhatsApp: The network effect they create 📱 The actual product is the core value, and whoever is owning it is the one owning the customer too. There are spaces where PMs can own the product, like in B2C tech (Gmail, YouTube) or B2B SaaS Applications; but in industries like e-commerce or D2C, the product isn't the app; it's the actual goods experience or service. Everyone Needs Product Sense: It’s not just PMs who need to get this. Whether you’re in business, ops, engineering, analytics, or business ops, having a product mindset is crucial to understanding the end value delivered to customers. Companies should encourage leaders and ICs alike to gain product exposure. Product sense helps you understand users, business impact, and how to solve real problems. Whats the moat for some wanting to be a PM or who is a PM: Enter the Full Stack Product Manager The future of PMs is Full Stack, blending creativity, data, and technical skills. The Full Stack PM can: Identify customer problems, Conduct discovery, Prototype and build solutions, Collaborate with engineers to build scalable products, Market and sell the product, Iterate based on feedback. AI and no-code tools are enabling this shift, allowing PMs to own the entire product lifecycle. What do you think of this? Share your views in the comments below and follow me (Vellanki Sriharsha) for more such insights. #ProductManagement #FullStackPM #AI #ProductLeadership #FutureOfWork

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Few truths on career success as a Product Manager: 1. Your career's growth is a function of impact you create 2. Your impact is a function of your competence  3. Your competence is a function of your knowledge and actions Hence in order to grow PMs need to consistently show high agency, do a lot of hard work and have a consistent learning routine for up-skilling. #productmanagement

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I recently took Shreyas Doshi's product sense course where we learned the secret to building winning products: There are no secrets Most of us are doing it wrong :D But you can get much, much better at it than you realized If you learn to think correctly The course was dense, intense, and I learned more in 30 hours than in many years of doing product. Fundamentally it taught me what it means to treat making correct product decisions as an actual skill. But you have to jump in the pool and swim - there's no framework that can do it for you. Perfect for product people, founders (there were several great ones in my cohort) and senior Engineers https://lnkd.in/e8KDhv5c

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Once, there was an ambitious product manager named Raj. Raj worked for a popular e-commerce company in India. One fine day, Raj decided it was time to launch a new feature: a personalized shopping experience that would recommend items based on each user’s shopping history. It was going to be big – or so he thought. Raj planned a grand launch presentation and invited all the stakeholders – Sales, Marketing, Finance, IT, and even HR (because why not). The CEO showed up too, which made Raj a little nervous, but he confidently began presenting the new feature. “So,” Raj announced, “this feature will learn from what our users purchase, and it’ll recommend the best products for them. Imagine, a customer who buys winter jackets won’t have to scroll past beach shorts every summer sale!” The room went silent for a moment, and then the Head of Sales raised his hand. “Raj, great idea, but can you add an option so customers can choose which recommendations they get?” Raj thought about it. “But… wouldn’t that defeat the point of personalized recommendations?” The Head of Sales shrugged. “Yeah, but some customers may not want recommendations based on what they bought. They should have the right to choose!” Raj reluctantly noted it down. Just as he resumed, the Head of Marketing spoke up. “Raj, if you’re adding choices, can we also include an option for trending products?” “Trending products? But this is supposed to be personalized,” Raj replied, confused. “Yes,” Marketing explained, “but our competitors are showing ‘trending’ items. We don’t want to fall behind!” Raj scribbled down another note, and before he could finish, the CEO himself chimed in. “Raj, this is good, but are we including local language support? You know, some of our customers in Punjab might prefer Punjabi recommendations, while others in Chennai will want Tamil. I mean, why recommend a Punjabi jutti to someone in Chennai?” Raj sighed, “Okay, I’ll add language options too.” Finally, Finance spoke up, “If we’re doing recommendations, could we add a filter for high-margin items? We want our top customers to see premium products first.” Raj was now feeling dizzy. “Sure,” he muttered, his feature starting to look less like personalized recommendations and more like a complicated filter list. A month later, the feature launched. Customers logged in, expecting to see recommended items tailored just for them – only to be met with a complex system that asked for their language, trending preferences, high-margin filters, and what they wanted to see. Most customers got tired just filling out the options. The personalized feature? Lost in a sea of choices. Raj learned a valuable lesson that day: in India, product management isn’t about what’s best for the user. It’s about what’s best for every single department… and their distant relatives. #ProductManagement #IndianMarket #StartupLife #StakeholderManagement #FeatureOverload #EcommerceIndia #UserExperience #TechHumor #DigitalIndia #CorporateHumor

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You will see very few successful “product first” software companies serving enterprises but you will see a LOT of successful “sales first” software companies. You can build a world class product but it wont succeed if you dont understand GTM. As product managers , while we need a lot of focus building great products , we need give equal attention to GTM and NO it is not the only responsibility of sales and marketing. I wrote an article a while back explaining how we can do our part in ensuring our product is successful. Even if you have a dedicated product function responsible for this you as product managers should understand distribution if you want to become a successful product leader! Bonus: The article gives you a checklist! If you also love checklist to organize yourselves then do read it!! https://lnkd.in/dqbSEWZ #productmanagement #productstrategy #gotomarket #saas #checklists

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This post from Vaibhav Domkundwar beautifully shows how surviving long enough can position a startup to take advantage of an eventual tailwind. When we invested in Yulu, no one had a clue that Quick Commerce will become the next commerce phenomenon in the country after payments. Because Yulu intelligently survived, kept improving the product and is capital-efficient enough to be agile to market needs, it’s now befitting from QC tailwinds. Reminds me of what the Rippling founder once said - as a startup, just survive 10 years and the odds are that you will end up succeeding.

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🚀 Exciting News! 🚀 I'm thrilled to announce that my friend Ishita Agarwal (Product Manager) and I are launching a brand-new podcast! 🎙️ Introducing: Product Panda On The Run! - join us as we share the best of Product Thinking and the Product Mindset, co-creating a space with our audience where we can all share and learn from our adventures. Our first series is a meta-adventure: "The Podcast about Creating a Podcast with a Product Mindset." 🎧 In this series, we'll walk you through our journey, sharing insights and lessons learned from our combined experiences in product development and management. Check out a sneak peek of our pilot episode below! ⬇️ Don't be shy and drop a Panda emoji 🐼 and your thoughts in the comments! 😉 Whether you're a product manager, an entrepreneur, or simply curious about the product world, this podcast is for you. Join us as we dive deep into the process, challenges, and triumphs of creating something new. 👉 Follow us for updates, and don’t miss out on our upcoming episodes! #PodcastLaunch #ProductMindset #ProductThinking #NewPodcast #BehindTheScenes #ProductManagement #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #productmanagement #podcastlaunch #productpandaontherun #productpanda

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ChatGPT as a Companion to PM Interviews and Real-Work I was going to start writing about Product Sense after covering market sizing and guesstimates in the last few posts. But analytical seems like a topic that’s a natural extension of market sizing and guesstimates. Analytical skills aren’t just important for PMs. They are also quite important in adjacent roles — business or product analyst, data scientists, consulting, program management, etc. Every one of these people have to work with data to figure out insights. But the burden of using data to create insights, and translating that insight into the impact lies with product teams. To do that, product team needs to have a deeper understanding of: 1) Defining the metrics : Product dashboards, and defining various levels of metrics in the dashboards; NSMs (north star metrics); Success metrics for a product launch, and guardrail metrics 2) Merging user research and data merge to create powerful insights 3) Root cause analysis of a problem using data, like a metric going down (or up) 4) Creating a plan to move a metric The above skills are in the increasing order of complexity. For example, item #4 (moving a metric) is something that is the hardest to do among all the others. While PMs require all the skills listed above on the job, when it comes to the interviews, it’s hard to display #2 (merging research and data to create insights). So those questions don’t appear in the interviews. Further, the type of skill tested also changes with levels. At an APM/PM level, you would get more questions around defining metrics (success metrics, NSM, dashboards) and RCA, whereas at an SPM/GPM level, you start getting problems of creating a product strategy to move a metric. We are going to cover these items in the next set of essays. But one of the more interesting things that has happened in the past 1.5 years is large language models (LLMs). And one of the notions I had around analytics is — Analytics is also lot more structured and objective than product sense or strategy interviews, the response of LLMs might be pretty effective here just as it happens in coding. In other words, can we start using these LLMs as a product companion when it comes to analytics? Since ChatGPT is available at your service 24x7, it’s an amazing companion to have. If the answer to the first question is yes, to what extent should we be using them? Should we using them for Interview Prep or Real-work or both? If all these questions excite you, do give a read to today's edition of the newsletter - https://lnkd.in/gd36NcrN

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Are you pricing your product right? Unsure, you don't wanna miss this post. "You don't just need Product Market fit, you need Product Market Price Fit." is my key learning from a recent session I got an opportunity to attend. The session was Accel in India's (Accel's India Arm) Panel discussion on Pricing Strategy for B2B SaaS Firms in age of GenAI and it was very very insightful. Ever wondered - When and how should one go about Pricing their products? What are different possible pricing models? Should pricing models evolve? What pricing models to be used and when? How to bundle features together for a price point? Don't worry I have got you covered. (short on time? save the post for later) Want to give a huge shoutout to #AccelTeam, Shekhar Kirani, Madhavan Ramanujam, Krish Subramanian (founder of Chargebee) for sharing insights. I am attaching the deck with all the insights from the session, so that everyone could benefit from this. If you are like me, you would also agree that having price validation conversations are tough, while the panel didn’t delve deeper into how, in the book “Monetizing innovation” chapter 4 covers as highlighted by Gautam, I am going to read it for sure and share the insights with you all later. Share your product pricing stories in the comments below and follow me (Vellanki Sriharsha) for more insights. #B2B #Pricing #PMF #SaaS #Startup #GenAI #AI

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I recently completed Shreyas Doshi's "Improving Your Product Sense" course. The course offers deep insights into Motivation Theory, Product Strategy, Cognitive Empathy, Simulation, and Creativity. Courses interactive format along with super candid AMAs, active Zoom sessions, and Slack discussions, creates an enriching learning environment with valuable peer contributions. Couple of key takeaways from the course are 1) commitment to continuous learning, 2) building metacognition, and 3) improving product taste through everyday interactions. For Product Leaders committed to advancing their careers and building exceptional products, I highly recommend this course. Course - https://lnkd.in/e-e8_GyD If undecided, explore Shreyas's content on LinkedIn, X and Youtube to assess if his teaching style resonates with you. LinkedIn - https://lnkd.in/eA_Y9SQD X - https://x.com/shreyas YouTube - https://lnkd.in/eZJCjXnB Happy Learning!

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The a16z podcast on product-market sales fit with Jyoti Bansal, Peter Levine, Satish Talluri and Sonal Chokshi is a goldmine of lessons for founders and product leaders of startups at different stages. Here are a few key takeaways from my perspective: 1: There is no market without the user.  In the early phases of a company, when you're still pre-product-market-fit, obsesses over the user, not the technology. It is crucial at this early stage that you are able to define what metric you will use to measure user adoption, and optimize for it accordingly. 2: Integrate the go-to-market model into your product thinking. Who you sell the product to, and how you intend to sell and support your product is just as important as the functional & technical requirements of the product. The features of the product should reflect aspects of the go-to-market strategy. 3: Solving an existing problem? Do it 10x better. If you want to introduce a product in an already established market, make it 10x better - 10x easier, or 10x cheaper or 10x more scalable. 4: Bridge the gap between engineers and customers. Who said engineers don’t need to understand the customers? While this may be especially relevant to technical products, I’d argue this applies across the board. Engineers hold the keys to innovative solutions, but to fully equip them, it's necessary they possess a robust understanding of both the business and its customers. 5: if your users are getting adoption and are happy with the product, the money will come.  Lower margins for the first year with a platform + services deal is still okay, if it significantly increases your chances of renewal. 6. Follow the two-thirds, one-third rule Dedicate two-thirds of your engineering resources to sustaining current customers and penetrating existing markets further. Assign one-third of your engineering resources to broadening your TAM (new markets/new users). 7. Display creativity with your product, but maintain simplicity in pricing. Keep it straightforward for your sales team to explain your pricing structure. Price your product in a format that your customer is familiar with. Understand the ROI, the value your product adds to the business, and their budget constraints. Use these factors as pricing guidelines. Once you know this, it's better to price higher; you can always offer discounts later. 8. Concentrate on the aspect you must learn the most to reach the next milestone. Excel at it and then proceed to worry about the subsequent milestone when you get there P.S. I've put the link in the comments below" 👇 #brand30 #productmanagement

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Why do some tech companies scale effortlessly? It’s all about understanding platforms. One of the biggest areas of confusion in tech is the difference between products and platforms. 🤔 Think about LinkedIn, ChatGPT, Slack, and Google. These are not just products; they are platforms. But what makes them different? Here’s the key: A product is a standalone offering that solves a specific customer need. For example, a weight loss app on iOS is a product. It’s used as is, with no additional value created by the user. A platform, on the other hand, is a system that enables multiple products, services, or users to interact and create value. This interaction and value creation are what set platforms apart. Here’s why this matters: 1. **Value Creation**: Platforms allow users to create and exchange value. Think of Airbnb or AWS. They enable transactions and innovations that wouldn’t be possible with a simple product. 2. **Scalability**: Platforms scale effortlessly because they leverage the contributions of their users. More users mean more value created, leading to exponential growth. 3. **Ecosystem Development**: Platforms thrive on ecosystems. Developers, partners, and users all contribute to the platform’s success, creating a self-sustaining cycle of growth. Understanding these differences is crucial for anyone in tech, especially product managers and engineers. It’s not just about building a product; it’s about fostering an ecosystem that drives value and growth. Have you worked with platforms before? How did it change your approach to product management? #ProductManagement #PlatformStrategy #TechEcosystems

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I have stopped asking PMs to add a "priority" column in their roadmaps and this is why: 1. Priority is often an outcome of business pressure, CEO asks, impact on business, importance in product improvement, etc. And it results multiple features having equal priorities, usually P0. 2. Engineers can only pick work one after another and seldom multiple items at once, unless you have a large engineering team. If you can release only 2 P0s out of 5 P0s, then the remaining P0s that did not make the cut were actually not P0s. 🤷‍♂️ 3. For stakeholders, "priority" is considered as a signal of importance. But as a PM, you also have a dimension of "urgent" in addition to "important". Wrong signalling may impart incorrect message. 🎇 Solution Get a stakeholder meeting and just stack rank all the features in the list based on their expected outcome. Your stakeholders will develop more empathy and communication will be easier. 🚀 Remember "Sequencing is better than prioritization." #productmanagement #roadmap

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The product lifecycle is like a Bollywood movie: Starts with a bang, full of drama in the middle (bugs!), and ends with everyone wondering if there will be a sequel (new version) or if it's just a one-hit wonder. #productmanagerlife #productmanagement #productmanager #agile #productowner #officehumor #worklifebalance #softwareengineeringhumor #uxhumor #customercentric #productlifecycle #productlaunch #bugs #productdevelopment #newversion #bollywood #softwareengineeringhumor #productmanagerlife

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Product management is like being a Bollywood director. You gotta write the script, pick the perfect cast, and make sure the movie leaves everyone saying 'Paisa vasool!' Product gets the box office success, the actors get the fame...well, maybe next film! #productmanagement #productmanager #productstrategy #madeinindia #indianstartups #marketingchai #uxindia #productfun #pmlife #humor #productmemes

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Why do most product managers drown in a daily whirlpool of triaged tasks and constant firefighting? I've observed product managers often put Strategic initiatives that could actually propel their company and advance their careers on the back burner. Yet, instead of reclaiming their time, most PMs keep piling more onto their overflowing plate. Why? Because they're told that being a selfless servant is the PM job description, immediately answering any Slack pings or unblocking every minor engineering ask is supposedly what "good" PMs do. But that's bullshit advice that slowly grinds you down. My clients don't drown in a deluge of reactive tasks. They reserve dedicated blocks of uninterrupted time to drive strategic, high-impact work - even while managing large teams. How? By taking complete control of their roles instead of obediently jumping through hoops whenever someone lobs an idea their way. By fortifying their mindset and mustering the courage to say "no" to endless demands on their time and attention. By coaching their teams to embrace more autonomy and distributing ownership over the many micro-decisions that don't actually require a PM's input. You have limited hours in the day. You can keep spending them putting out fires, replying to emails, and sitting through useless meetings. Or you can commit to maximizing your impact. Look, I get it - tips and tactics for improving processes are exciting. But this mental overhaul is vital. Without reframing how you assert control over your time and priorities, no PM hack will work. It's time to run your job before it runs you into the ground. --- Thanks for reading, and if you enjoyed this: 1. Save it 2. Repost it to share with others 3. Comment with your favorite takeaway Then hit follow → Shobhit Chugh for more posts on product management.

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