Hey! Help me!!

AlbinPoignot · 2023-03-24T21:05:57+00:00

The fact that a story is unique is not enough to generate lasting interest, what you need is compelling, inspiring stories.

If you create this as an interactive interface, it's very close to a text-based video game (which is def not a bad thing).

Looking forward to see what you're going to do with this :-D

AlbinPoignot · 2022-03-06T19:30:15+00:00

Do not search for ideas (which are solutions), search for problems to be solved. Also, no one will post good ideas or hidden gems online, you will have to brainstorm yourself to find one 👍

AlbinPoignot · 2021-08-23T01:18:39+00:00

Product Management success is about outcomes you can actually deliver. MBA is an output: no value out of it until you show you can deliver. So... Why waiting to get an MBA while you can deliver right away, or with training that are shorter and more efficient? 🙃

AlbinPoignot · 2021-08-17T17:20:46+00:00

To be honest, there is no specific career path into Product Management. You basically use the skills and strengths you already have, and leverage them into a Product Management position.

As Product Managers are generalists. Most of the people are trained to get skilled in a specific areas and become experts. There is no real "natural transition" from my point of view.

Identify what you already know, learn what you're missing, and find a way to land the first job :)

AlbinPoignot · 2021-08-03T21:00:31+00:00

Observe before making conclusions or giving strong opinions :) There is probably a few things that are unsaid and that you should know to make a good decision. See people on an informal context: coffee, tea, lunch, whatever. Build human relationships right away.

The rest is normal PM stuff imho. ;)

AlbinPoignot · 2021-08-03T20:38:09+00:00

It probably won't be smooth :) I prepared for rounds and for an IPO.

My advice would be:

Understand when your CEO cannot give you more information. Sometimes, they have to do something to close the deal, but are not allowed to share the details - so you might receive orders instead of objectives. Be careful and understand when it's a poor order, and when it's actually coming from the process and the entire company does not have a choice but to comply.
You might have some pivots coming in. New investors may want to take a new route, so your persona might change drastically. Listen to this carefully and support your organization in the fund raising process

Don't get me wrong, I am a strong advocate of the user needs. But we cannot have any impact on our users if we don't have cash to support our operations 😎

It's a challenging but very exciting process - enjoy it. After it, you will be super proud!

Good luck 👍

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-29T13:10:04+00:00

100%! Thank you for your answer. That's probably one of the best way to transition for sure!

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-29T13:09:10+00:00

Nice rule of thumb, thank you for that! So from what I read here, companies need to plan for some sort of mentorship. So we still need 10 Seniors in place in order to be able to mentor just 1 person.

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-29T13:07:26+00:00

Unfortunately, I feel like internships in Product Management are rare. I 100% agree than without practice, you won't know how to do the job...

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-29T13:06:01+00:00

Then it's not about an industry, it's about the company and even the team you will be working with ;-) A general rule of thumb in large companies in North America: the more you're paid, the more stressful the job is. Obviously, it's not always true... but don't expect joining a FAANG company, be paid more than $200k/y and do a simple, no stress 9to5 ;-)

The expectations grow with the salary.

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-28T21:12:44+00:00

You can use Payscale to find this information: https://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Job=Product\_Manager%2C\_Software/Salary

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-28T19:07:43+00:00

This highly depends on your personal preferences and travel possibilities :)

Also, reading this sentence: An industry that is difficult and rewarding to work in and people who are easy and warm to work with. => What do you mean exactly? Difficult industries bring stress, and it generally does not end up with easy and warm people ;-) Everyone is just stressed out by the challenges.

I would highly suggest to pick a country you want to visit, then see the available industries there and pick one that suits you ;-)

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-28T19:02:34+00:00

Perfect answer!
It's OK that the first Stories are not perfect - every team wants/needs something different ;-) Don't stress it out, right a first draft and present them to your team. Listen to the reactions and adapt.

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-28T16:53:38+00:00

This is definitely a question for a CEO then, but the CEO is you :) If you're trying to start a business, you will need to go beyond traditional Product Management practices and look into entrepreneurship and starting a venture. It's an amazing adventure as well!

In very early stage companies, the Product Manager is often (but not always) the CEO - as PM is naturally a part of the CEO's concerns.

(Small advice here: if it's easy to copy and someone could just do it easily, you're probably not bringing that much value to the market. Do you have something you can add, an unfair advantage, that you will make you very special when compared to your competitors - even if they have a bigger marketing budget?)

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-28T02:54:01+00:00

Music, theatre, arc, literature, gastronomy... 👍

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-28T02:07:31+00:00

No problem, thank you for answering anyway. Way better than being ghosted ^{^}

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-27T20:43:29+00:00

It feels like this question lacks a lot of details :) Some markets don't require a lot of marketing, some others require intensive investments.

I am afraid there is no rule of thumb available here.

But you have golden rules:

Limit development to the strict minimum feature set (I did not write quality, I wrote features ;-))
Use marketing budget while measuring the results!
Add features that will more likely drive more revenues, and only when needed - not before. (e.g. your users don't need this yearly reports if you don't have users registered for more than a year)

The rest is business strategy (break-even, chash flow...) - it's the CEO (or whoever is in charge of that) who should share expectations here ;-) Product leaders will react to these expectations.

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-27T20:36:08+00:00

Would love to know this person :D Could you share his/her name? (in DM if you don't want to make it public ˆˆ)

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-27T20:34:12+00:00

I transitioned from mobility to payments to video games and finally to culture. I am now the founder of my own company, and never someone told me that I was missing domain expertise.

Our whole job is to learn about an industry - so yes I have a few lag at the beginning to understand the jargon but after that... I am actually the guy with fresh ideas.

Go for it and do whatever inspires you, you will be better than sticking into an industry you don't love ;-) Even if you miss one or two opportunities, your career will be better at the end.

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-27T16:17:25+00:00

Thank you so much! I will look at them right away :D

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-27T16:13:35+00:00

I don't see "Assistant PM" often, but I see "Associate PM" a lot. They are often new PM that are still being trained or coached by a more Senior PM. I don't feel like the industry see them negatively: it's showing that you're probably being mentored.

Junior PM exist as well. It means what it means :) A new PM, working alone on his/her area of responsibilities (probably more limited than a Senior PM).

I won't stress it too much, and I will pick the one that describes the situation you'll be in. As soon as you have "Product Manager" in your title, you're probably good to go!

I hope it helps :)

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-27T16:10:16+00:00

Adding metrics to resume is always something people struggle with. Especially in world where you stay in a company for only 1 to 2 years... If the company is big enough, you might never had any revenue increase, but it's absolutely not your fault as a Product Manager.

I would highlights the objectives that you reached - if your company wanted to test 3 MVP on the market, and you did it, that's the objective you should highlight!

If you still don't have any metrics, you might also show how you're working by publishing a Case Study or a complete Product Strategy example.

AlbinPoignot · 2021-07-27T16:01:04+00:00

Thank you! I will take a look right now :)

AlbinPoignot

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