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The 5 Traits of a Product-Driven Company

Rajesh Nerlikar

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Today’s Agenda

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About Me

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What Product-Driven Means

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The 5 Traits of a Product-Driven Company

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Questions / Discussion

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Contact Info

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About Me

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My Product Management Journey

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What Does It Mean to Be Product-Driven?

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When We Ask Founders / Executives...

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How a Sales-Driven Company Delivers Value

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How a Product-Driven Company Delivers Value

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Persona A

Persona B

Persona C

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Why Does Being Product-Driven Matter?

To Customers

To Your Company

  • Lower prices than custom solutions

  • Faster time-to-value

  • Offers latest-and-greatest (SaaS)
  • More profitable

  • Higher valuations

  • Option to employ product-led growth strategy

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The 5 Traits of a Product-Driven Company

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5 Traits of a Product-Driven Company

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Puts product / UX closest to the customer

Addresses the needs of multiple customers with one solution

Uses technology to scale

Understands shifts in market demand / future customers

Succeeds by saying no

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Trait 1: Be Closest to the Customer

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Make time: delegate decisions to design or tech

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2 kinds of research: qualitative and quantitative

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Consider tools like User Interviews to recruit / schedule

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Join a sales call in the next week or two

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Goal: identify key outcome, prioritize problem space

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Trait 2: 1 Solution, Many Customers

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Ask how many customers / users you need to support

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Consider the Kano model to cluster their needs / desires

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Document your persona(s) and target market(s)

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Get feedback on your target market(s) / persona(s)

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Use these new artifacts to make a decision soon

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Trait 3: Use Technology to Scale

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Articulate a clear vision to inform architecture decisions

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Do unscalable things at first (alpha / beta releases)

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Consider internal tools / operational costs

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Trait 4: Understand Market Shifts / Future Needs

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What pressures are your buyers facing?

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What regulatory changes might change their behavior?

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What research reports can explain upcoming shifts?

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What industry newsletters can help you stay up to date?

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What experts can you talk to learn about trends?

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Trait 5: Succeed by Saying No

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Create a yes / no flowchart

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Do a “recent product decision retrospective”

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Say no this week or next

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Ask yourself: are you building what matters?

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...or at least try “not now”

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Questions / Discussion

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Contact Info

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rajesh@prodify.group

Contact Me

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Appendix

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Customer Interactions

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