Minimal Viable Success Stories
I recently attended an event sponsored by the Toronto Product Management Association (TPMA) and wanted to share some of the learnings I took away from the experience.
TPMA is a volunteer-led non-profit association dedicated to serving the needs of Product Managers, Product Marketing Managers and other professionals working within the tech Product Management field in the GTA. In addition to hosting great learning events like this, they also provide mentoring and networking opportunities.
Their monthly events feature guest speakers and panellists who address pressing issues affecting Product Managers within the tech industry. Last month, Paul Teshima, Chief Client Experience Officer & Head of Invest at Wealthsimple, was the guest speaker.
His talk covered his personal journey as a Founder, CEO, and startup Executive. He also discussed best practices for measuring product-market fit, balancing new opportunities with existing product demands, the intersection of Product and CX, and disruptive innovation.
Something that really struck me during this event was when Paul discussed the concept of MVP and defined it as minimal viable success stories and the relevance of looking for MVP success stories as product professionals.
As most of you know, an MVP is a minimum version of a product with just enough features to be useful to early adopters who can provide feedback on future product development.
Paul incorporated this idea into running a business and stressed the importance of always having MVP success stories — little snippets of good things to share with your customers. He encouraged us to recognize those little wins that your early customers are gaining from the products and the experiences that you’re shipping so that you can best keep building the business.
The best thing about this is that it can also be applied to hiring product professionals. As a product leader involved in the hiring process, it is important to have and share these minimal viable success stories during the interview process.
Why you might ask? Because you need to be able to speak about the minimal viable success stories of your product, your team, and the organization to every candidate you’re meeting. As much as interviewing is about evaluating a candidate, it’s also selling the opportunity.
To be a successful interviewer, you need to make sure every single candidate leaves the interview wanting more so they will continue to engage in your process. It’s a candidate’s market for product professionals so it’s crucial that you convey all the great aspects of your product, brand and organization.
Likewise, candidates should come prepared for the interview with minimum viable success stories to share. As a candidate, you need to have these stories in your back pocket. What used to be called the “elevator pitch” is now these minimal viable success stories.
Be confident in sharing how you’ve made an impact on the product, to the team, what you’ve launched, what you’ve shipped, what you’ve learned and how all of that adds value to you, your team, your company and your customers or to whoever it is you’re building and launching for.
You need to be able to tell those quick, catching stories, not just those that are filled with subjective opinions but those with actual facts and figures, since at the end of the day that is what a hiring leader is interested in. Sharing compelling stories and being a great storyteller will set you apart.
As for recruiters, our business is storytelling. The reason this whole idea of minimal viable success stories resonated with me is that we often speak with new candidates who have never worked with our firm before, so we need to be mindful and communicate how we add value to the technology companies who hire us to help build their product teams as well as how our clients have benefited from the strategic hires made in partnership with us.
Regardless of what your role or industry is, everyone can benefit from being able to tell their MVP success stories well.
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Author:
Heidi Ram is the Head of Search & Product Practice Lead at Martyn Bassett Associates. She has been a recruiter for the company for 20 years. During that time, she has been instrumental in shaping the evolution of the business, while building high-performing teams for some of the firm’s most valued clients.
Heidi is regarded as a thought leader and trusted advisor in the Toronto Product Management and Design community when it comes to industry insights, recruitment trends, salaries and the current talent landscape.
