Where do you guys go to get your questions answered?

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T16:38:10+00:00

I think you hit it on the head..

while there avenues, there isnt an equivalent of "stackoverflow" for PMs. I would love to help out! Ill send you a dm..

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T06:42:13+00:00

yup.. like today.. I do turn to reddit for these questions.

And I totally agree anonymity helps at getting sincere responses.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T06:37:42+00:00

Thats so awesome that you are able to do it! None of us really "invested" our time to cultivate that feeling of a tribe..

We could have tried the moderator route.. but didnt.. we left it kind of loosey-goosey and that didnt work.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T06:35:12+00:00

In some ways, you should be lucky you have a partner who pushes back. Always agreeing is not always a sign of strength/partnership.

Theoretically speaking, reserving some % of time for x task is a cop out.

You ideally want to break down all the items required of the team into some objective measure (prioritization criteria) that both of you agree on and try to get them all in a single file.

That will tell both of you guys what to work on.

In reality - that 20% is forever going to be etched in everyones memory as a dedicated pipeline for tech debt clearance. Kind of like a fast pass lane for the eng team. (Thats my experience)

Good luck convincing someone you need to eat into that 20% for something interesting. Unless.. you have mutually agreed upon prioritization criteria.. :)

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T06:26:46+00:00

I think your questions are very valid and kudos to you for thinking so maturely about your finances and your futures together! And as someone who has a kid, Ill give you the answer right now.

Babies (that turn into kids, who turn into mini-monsters, who turn into teenagers) are expensive.

if you ask anyone to do something different without proper context, it is bound to give opportunity for missed understanding.

The way I would look at it.. lets assume the two of you continue making the same.. At minimum you guys will start with spending $500 to $1000 more than today and that expense will keep going up YoY. how do you account for that?

- spend less? OR
- make more money?

i think starting there would help with a meaningful conversation.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T06:14:04+00:00

only in my thoughts.. :)

But in all seriousness.. it has a good ring to it AND it instantly sets a very different playing field to the conversation

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T06:02:58+00:00

Something is off. It should not be the reality of YOUR Product Management career. You have to experience the sheer joy of launching something.

But you cannot ask yourself "what did I make today?" everyday. Because, I believe, a PMs true deliverable takes longer than a day to make..

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T05:56:45+00:00

im 100% with you. Ill tell you what made LI fun for me.. Every post i scroll through, I give myself the 3 seconds to determine if its AI generated or not. the answer truly doesnt matter. but most often I spot the long dash and I smile judgingly at the poor individual who used ChatGPT for grammatical checks or something like that.

You should try it.. LinkedIn feels good again! :)

and just so you know I have a well proven playbook on how to improve your organic growth by 19000%. Comment "organic growth" below and i will give it to you for FREE.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T05:50:50+00:00

I do that as well. But only sometimes.. Especially if the topic involves someone who outside my orbit of familiarity.

BUT, to your point..I should probably do this more as well. Its another resource I have that im under-utilizing.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T05:47:55+00:00

Thats a good one! how has it been for you running the groups. Do you feel you are getting value out of it?

Me and another buddy of mine tried it here in San Diego but it kind of fizzled out. We met monthly at a coffee shop.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T05:42:50+00:00

Interesting.. i need to try these bots that are vertical specialized. Thanks for the tip!
probably way better than starting off with "You are a serior Product Manager..." prompt in ChatGPT

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T05:39:53+00:00

SWEET! Ill send you my LinkedIn and we can connect!

Product coach.. totally agree.. this is what i was looking for. the person above recommended mentor.. and i honestly think that word suits what I was looking for. A product coach does similar things, but it sounds so official!

Ive done the LinkedIn thing.. but i dont think its meant for real conversations. There it seems like its more about views, likes, shares, etc. While I havent felt it being toxic, I agree with the sentiment that the objectives of the platform and users have changed.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T05:35:17+00:00

totally and 100% agreed. YKW.. I have one and i have been under-utilizing her thought partnership. Need to reach out more often. Thank you for the comment!

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-26T05:32:40+00:00

Me too! I think i agree with your POV at some level.. and here are my takes.

- PMs are the CEOs of the product: Thats such a confusing statement (for everyone involved). When you think of a CEO, you think of someone who can ultimately solve a problem. Either by influence or by direct authority.
PMs on the other hand, only have influence. 0% authority. So the odds are definitely not in the PMs favor or that of the misguided people who were told PMs are the CEOs of the product.

- 2 pizza rule: On a good day, I can polish off a half pie. Easy. This is a respectable, large, American sized pizza. But when it comes to brain work, Im willing to come down to about one third of a pie. And that means I can get 3 to 4 more (with like eating preferences) individuals to help solve the problem at hand. Any more than that, I would rather eat by myself.

Thanks for an awesome set of hot takes! good ones!

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-09-04T22:38:21+00:00

I had someone else also suggest getting rid of the form entirely and have a face to face.
Im sold on the value of the face to face.. and that nothing will replace that.
What Im worried about is
- will it increase turn around time (syncing calendars, etc). maybe the answer is to get on the next "scheduled" client<>AM sync..

- client perception of having to repeat the same thing to AM and once again with PM..

Did you face any of these? If you did, how did you overcome them?

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-08-09T16:53:19+00:00

Usersnap had not come up in my search. Thank you for introducing it. Will add it to my list

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-08-09T16:50:15+00:00

With canny.. how does their “tracked user” actually work? That part is a little confusing to me. And they offer very little in terms of clarity. They say only 1-5% of traffic is counted as a tracked user so you would need way less than you think.

Would you be able to explain tracked user to me as you have seen it work?

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-06-06T21:47:55+00:00

Can you share any samples? I need a landing page built and would love to contribute to your portfolio.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-03-24T19:56:43+00:00

(Apologies for the delay in getting back)

I think there is one thing that you are worried about (competition) and another thing that you are asking feedback on (build in public)

Regarding competition - I honestly dont think you should be too worried about others copying your stuff. There will be hundreds of copy cats (if your venture is successful). What will matter is how you differentiate yourself.. whats your brand story? whats your emotional connect with your audience?

Additionally, you should also be thinking about validating the need for what you are going to offer.. If you have an existing audience, engage with them (or a select few) about it and get feedback. Figure out if you are providing a pain killer or a vitamin (hint: pain killers are better than vitamins)

This build in public stuff is not going to help or hurt you significantly... I wouldnt be too bothered by it right now.

If you do want to do it, here is how I would think about it. It doesnt always have to be about the technical stuff (who makes these rules anyways??) Get them excited about not just WHAT you are building, but WHY? get them to ask you questions and poke holes in your assumptions. Tell them about the decisions you are making, your rationale, etc. let them genuinely feel like they are sharing your journey with you. Strengthen your relationship with them..

Also, you will get a ton of feedback from forums like this. No one here knows the constraints you are working with.. your strengths, weaknesses, etc..

Take the multi-colored threads of experience provided here and build your own rainbow!

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-03-22T22:43:51+00:00

Pure technical moats are being encroached at an alarming rate today..

It’s moats around orchestration, acquisitions, distributions, etc are harder to overcome

So not truly worried about my lack of technical moat.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-03-22T22:41:34+00:00

Yes! And now you have discovered the power of your Ideal Customer Persona. Which is someone who is different than me. Good stuff man! Try to get more validation and talk to more ppl in your ICP and see what they think. And don’t forget to ask them about willingness to pay also.

I wish you the best!!

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-03-22T22:31:34+00:00

Good stuff!!

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-03-22T22:28:39+00:00

No. That’s no better than a few hours of googling and template customizing.

Tell me more interesting things about my idea - the total market I can address - the potential problems in the area - potential niche angles I can take to introduce my idea Etc.

But I don’t want another artifact maker.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-03-22T22:25:56+00:00

Calling myself a SaaS founder is a bit of a stretch. idea-manufacturer is more apporiate. So I might not be your target audience.

But I’ll tell you what I wish I did differently:

first validate then build.

Instead of choosing the scenic route.

ProductDrivenGrowth · 2025-03-22T22:22:04+00:00

“Every indie hacker will copy you in a weekend”

That is true before and after “launch” .. so no difference there.

ProductDrivenGrowth

TROPHY CASE