Chris Riley

There are many ways to measure product-market fit (retention, usage, expansion, etc.) but one of the best is when former customers bring you into their new company. It’s a strong signal that you’re solving a real business problem with evidence to show ROI and impact to justify the investment in your solution. It also inspires other customers to learn more about best practices and methods to get the most value from your product. And helps identify who could be an important member of your customer advisory board someday. NRR, MAU's, etc. are all great to measure, but finding product advocates creates the momentum to help drive true product-market fit.

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Listening to customer feedback and acting on customer feedback are 2 different things. Let me explain: Your customers are going to tell you “what” they want – a new feature, bug fix, etc. But it’s your job to figure out “why” they want it – the root problem they’re trying to solve. Because you want to build a feature that’s not just useful to that customer, but 𝘢𝘭𝘭 customers. Don't just build features, solve problems.

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Are you giving your customers what they want or what they actually need? This will trip up even the most experienced product teams. David Fano talked with me about using the 'Jobs-to-be-Done' framework. He’s implemented his own version that works for him and his team. It’s an intersection of Bob Moesta and Clayton Christensen’s idea that: — “People buy products to make their lives better in some way.” But when we ask customers what they want, their answers tend to only scratch the surface. "I want better control of the margins." Is that really what they need? Or is it just a means to an end? Dave compared it to giving your kid french fries instead of broccoli. Sure, they WANT the fries, but they NEED the broccoli to grow up big and strong. Product teams need to find ways to sneak the broccoli into the fries. How can we give users what they want while still helping them make real progress? The secret is to dig deeper and figure out what they're really trying to achieve. When we do this, we can come up with solutions that give them what they want AND what they need. — How do you balance giving users what they want vs. what they need? Check out the full episode at the link in my profile, and follow me (Elliott Poppel) for more daily posts like this.

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Positioning is everything for job seekers right now. > The Product Manager who owns the roadmap... vs. the one who's turned user research into a competitive advantage > The Partnerships Manager who "has a deep rolodex" vs. the one who knows how to monetize > The Eng Director who's led teams of 30 vs. the one who's brought revenue-generating products to market with speed and efficiency Same people. Two different ways of talking about their experience. One makes them sound like everybody. The other lands interviews. Do you know what your competitive advantage is?

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Your PMM team isn't your launch checklist handler. Stop treating PMM as your go-to-market assembly line. They're your secret weapon for building products people actually want. 💡 Think PMMs just "package" your decisions? Think again. They're your market reality check - and they've got deeper user insights than most PMs realize. ⏰ When to Bring in PMMs: ❌ "6 weeks before launch" ❌ "After the product is built" ❌ "When we need sales materials" ✅ BEFORE YOU WRITE A SINGLE USER STORY 🚀 What happens when PMMs are true partners: - They catch market misalignment early - They spot competitive gaps you missed - They turn "meh" features into must-haves 💼 What Real PMM Collaboration Looks Like: - They're shaping product strategy - They're in customer discovery sessions - They're bringing voice-of-market insights - They're saving your product from irrelevance 💪 The Real Benefits: - Better feature prioritization - Products that actually sell - Market-driven decisions - Fewer pivot moments - Stronger positioning If you think PMMs are just there to "tell the story," you're missing the whole plot. 👇 When was the last time your PMM saved you from a market mistake? Share below! 👋 Found this helpful? Follow me for more #ProductManagement #ProductMarketing #Leadership #Marketing

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Here is one easy way to make your entire company aligned with your customers Easy to understand, but harder to get buy-in from execs that aren't all in Make everyone in the company have a KPI/OKR on RETENTION Product teams will listen to the customer requests more when their performance is tied to it Dev teams will be more responsive to support tickets and long-standing issues Sales teams will sell more Ideal Customer deals Marketing will help produce more customer facing helpful content I saw this implemented by a very forward-thinking CEO a few years ago, and the changes in these other departments were incredible. Previously development heads would tell me "I wish I could fix this bug, but that is not what I am bonused for." Suddenly the bugs were getting closed faster, and not just the high severity one. Internal NPS and Glassdoor ratings will go up. Most importantly, your customers will be happier. #customersuccess #startup

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Honestly, I don't think there's a clear-cut "right" answer... In my experience, whether you choose to measure RPU (revenue-per-user) or RPS (revenue-per-session), you'll most likely arrive at fairly similar results when assessing the impact of your CRO initiatives. My #1 piece of advice? Pick one metric and stick with it. If you decide RPU is your go-to, use that across all your tests and analyses. But don't get halfway through and suddenly switch to RPS. We all know that consistency is key when we want to see results. Both RPU and RPS can give you valuable insights into how your CRO efforts are paying off. The important thing is getting your team aligned on a single metric so you're all speaking the same language. So don't stress too much about finding the "perfect" metric. Focus on running high-quality tests, implementing winning variations, and driving revenue growth - how you measure it is up to you. At the end of the day, increasing your revenue sustainably is what matters most. -- Agreed? Or not?

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I think it's right that there is a dip in manager comp -- it reinforces the right behaviors if you say "managers" are different from "ICs" not better. I'm assuming there are more than 3 ICs levels (Lenny Rachitsky?) What I'm seeing more and more of, and what we advocate for is more pay parity between the IC and Manager paths, up to Sr. Director level. That's putting your money where your mouth is in terms of "there are two tracks" -- if individuals can make as much as managers all the way up until exec track, then there are actually two tracks. Love the data Lenny, thanks for sharing. It's good that Sr. IC is on pay parity to somewhere between Sr. Manager/Director level, but fully aligned would be my vote!

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The unsealed indictment against the founder of AI edtech company AllHere is some kind of legal thriller. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice but if you tell investors you have $3.7M in ARR from 92 customers when it's only $11K from 31, and then you wire transfer their investment to your personal accounts ... you might be going to jail. The part where the investor asks an accountant for an audit and the CEO tries to IMPERSONATE the accountant ... six-episode Netflix adaptation when?? Obviously this is more of a fraud story than an AI or edtech story, except that: Everyone is telling school leaders "you MUST do something with AI," and plenty of people, some with VERY FEW scruples, have shown up to say, "We have something with AI!" Feel free to slow down. Take a breath. Your school, your teachers, your students ... they are each precious and have only finite resources. Ask or wait for proof. https://lnkd.in/gx6zeEZR

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Hey rockstars. MASSIVE NEWS. I am hosting a COMPLIMENTARY LIVE session for Product Mgmt Rockstars to help you LAND an amazing product ROLE QUICKLY. We'll build your brand, show you how to stand out in the market, interview like a rockstar, and land the right job....quickly. We'll even do some LinkedIn reviews LIVE! When: May 7th-9th Time: 7pm ET / 4pm ET It's real content I have trained over 600+ product managers on. I would LOVE to see you there. Just comment LAND and I'll send you a registration link. LET's GO! #productmanagement

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A world class Go-to-Market is just as important as product market fit. In the majority of conversations I have with earlier stage businesses, there's an obsession with getting the product perfect before taking it to market.... 🤔 Not discounting the importance of PMF (that's obviously critical!), but GTM is often pushed back in the journey. In it's simplicity, GTM involves all actions a company takes to engage with customers, encompassing marketing efforts to reach them, sales activities to close deals, and strategies for retaining and growing the customer base through successful interactions. To break that down, there's 4 common GTM strategies, depending on your customer and business model: 1) Self-serve: Customers purchase online without sales interaction (low-cost, simple products for individuals or prosumers). 2) Inside Sales: Leads and sales are managed remotely by account executives (targets SMB and mid-market customers). 3) Field Sales: Enterprise account executives close sales through on-site or conference meetings (high-cost, complex products for enterprise customers). 4) Channel Sales: Sales via third parties, driving growth efficiently (e.g., Atlassian's 63% revenue from channel partners in 2020). When scaling, there's 3 factors to consider in deciding the right strategy: the customer, strategic advantages, and economics. Blackbird put together a great overview, and whilst a couple of years old, it's very relevant. Link below. SCALERR #gtm #globalgrowth #gotomarket #sales #businessdevelopment #globalexpansion

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Looking for a Product Leadership role? Explore these top opportunities to drive innovation, lead teams, and shape strategy at these companies: 1. SVP, Product Management – MasterControl, Salt Lake City, UT (Remote) Lead product strategy and development for MasterControl's quality and compliance software portfolio while managing the product management team. MasterControl provides cloud-based quality and compliance software to over 1,000 companies in life sciences and regulated industries. 2. Group Product Manager - Microsoft Security Service Edge – Microsoft, San Francisco, CA (Remote) Lead Microsoft's Security Service Edge (SSE) offering, driving product strategy and development for Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Private Access solutions. Microsoft is a global technology leader with 228,000 employees across 190 countries, focused on empowering every person and organization to achieve more through technology. 3. VP of Product Management – Benevity, Seattle, WA Lead product strategy and development for Benevity's Finance Platform, managing a product team while driving vision, roadmap execution, and platform operations. Benevity is a B Corporation that provides social impact technology to Fortune 100 companies, enabling corporate giving, volunteering, and other social action initiatives. 4. VP of Product – Banyan Software, Chicago, IL Serve as a key executive leader at SoftSmiths (a Banyan Software portfolio company) responsible for driving product strategy, innovation, and execution in the energy sector, initially working independently with potential to build a product team. Reports to the CEO of SoftSmiths, working closely with VP Technology. Banyan Software is one of fastest-growing private software companies in the US that acquires and grows enterprise software businesses with dominant positions in niche vertical markets, operating with a permanent "buy and hold for life" strategy. 5. Director of Product Management – Mark43, New York, NY (Remote) Lead the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) product line and Mobile applications, managing a team of 2-3 Product Managers while driving product strategy and development. Mark43 is a technology company that develops cloud-native software solutions for law enforcement and public safety agencies to improve community safety and quality of life. 6. Head of Product – 0x, San Francisco, CA (Remote) Lead Product team overseeing consumer and developer platforms while driving product strategy and fostering team growth. Reports directly to the CEO. 0x is a Web3 company providing developer APIs for token access and liquidity, having processed over $130B in trading volume through major platforms like Coinbase and MetaMask. Want more Product Leadership roles? Access the weekly updated database: https://lnkd.in/gq9qY6s4

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Hiring a COO/Integrator is expensive — $$$ Here's how you can delay that hire by YEARS... 1. Use a project management SaaS to make all deliverables (projects and tasks) visible. Pro-tip: Motion is amazing, and getting better on what seems like a weekly basis. 2. Evaluate throughput & efficiency by measuring project downtime (automatically) based on whether or not there are tasks (associated with a project) are actually being worked on. 3. Empower & train your existing team to create & sustain improvements, daily. These systems are what I help small businesses implement so that they can grow faster and healthier. 📸: me and the Charging Bull

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Jeff Patterson’s insight below are spot on. The impacts of Private Equity firms are having on education/edtech are very real. Profits today win out over long terms strategic planning. This is one of the many reasons I am excited to be working at an independently owned company like Benchmark education. If you want to join Benchmark on a mission to provide students and teachers with the resources they need to become problem solvers, decisions-makers, and joyful learners, check out our career page. https://lnkd.in/e_wsGKCf

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Your #LMN budget has some really interesting layers. One of them answers the question: "Just how efficient (or not) are we?" How does LMN measure your efficiency? It's pretty simple. 🔑 Start with your job costs - these are all the things that you'll charge your customers for 🔑 Multiply those job costs by their respective overhead markups - and add the profit margins you need to hit your sales goal That total - is your #CompanyPotential - how much revenue could we earn - if we billed 100% of all our job costs. Your #ActualRevenue is the revenue you are actually generating (or, in the case of your budget, that you're forecasting). 💡 Your efficiency then is simply your Actual Revenue divided by your Company Potential. 🚦 0 - 75% - you've got your work cut out for you. You're squandering lots of potential away in inefficiency. 🚦 75 - 80% - getting close, but probably earning razor thin profit margins. You can get better! 🚦 80 - 85% - run in this range and you can start to expect consistent profitability 🚦 85 - 90% - here's where good/great companies run 🚦 90 - 95% - best in class efficiency and productivity 🚦 95-100% - wow 🚦 Over 100% - incredible - if its actual. If you are forecasting (budgeting) > 100% efficiency, it's very likely too optimistic.

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Many are quick to champion user testing as the holy grail for SaaS product launches. They tout the benefits: valuable feedback, reduced errors, and a stronger connection with your audience. Sure, those things are great, but there's a catch. Not everyone can afford to spend time and resources on extensive testing. The reality is, your crucial insights might get buried under the weight of endless revisions and delayed launches. Now, let’s flip the script. Instead of inundating your product with user testing, consider the audacity of building your audience first. You can engage potential users through exclusive newsletters, interactive demos, or even community platforms. Elevating anticipation allows you to gather insights organically as users show genuine interest, creating momentum that can overshadow the need for extensive testing. But don’t get too comfortable; this approach comes with its own setbacks. Building an audience takes time and, let’s be honest, quite a bit of effort. You might lose precious moments while competitors racing ahead snag the attention you want. Why not harness the strengths of both? Adopt a hybrid strategy. Begin with audience-building tactics to generate excitement and then layer in user testing but at a minimal scale. Gather targeted feedback on your earliest concepts while you’re already in front of an engaged audience. This can not only validate your product but also foster community – your future advocates. To apply this combination effectively, kickstart your plans by creating an enticing educational newsletter that showcases your product’s vision but leaves room for user interaction and feedback. Engage consistently to keep your audience invested, and simultaneously incorporate their thoughts into refining your offering as you prepare for a full launch.

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If you notice a difference in how internal teams react to your product launches, here’s one reason that might happen... Some teams view product launches like movie premieres. The work is done and the movie is playing in theaters. Now it’s now just a matter of making sure people know they can buy tickets. This can build tension between departments. Especially by stressing out your product marketing, customer, and sales teams. You’ll get the best results and highest morale if folks view launch day as a milestone, not the finish line. And now more of the team can get involved. Even the best features need some time to reach their audience. Often it's a mix of BOTH outreach and product improvements that helps you build awareness, and reach the next wave of customers. When you ship a feature, you still have to raise it – and yes, it takes a village. #productmarketing #saas #startups #b2b

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There's a disconnect happening in customer onboarding... and it's driving me nuts. Leadership teams know onboarding is crucial. They want it done right. But onboarding teams are swamped. They're drowning in customer calls and day-to-day management. The result? A standoff. 🤼 Leadership is waiting for the people in the trenches to give them solutions. Onboarding teams are waiting for their leaders to tell them what they want. The best companies might have a RevOps team to bridge this gap. But most RevOps folks are laser-focused on pre-sales, leaving post-sales operations in the dust. I don't have all the answers, but I'm seeing this pattern everywhere we look. Onboarding teams "know" they're valued, but they're stuck in quicksand when it comes to scaling. So what do we do? How do we break this stalemate and get everyone moving in the same direction?

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