We, product managers, are the key difference between startups in USA and Spain
There is one reason behind digital made-in-spain products not reaching huge success (create a great business with a great product, not only a great product). The reason is Spanish pms
And what I mean is: the PM community is, in average, less skilled professionals than the rest of the roles on a startup (Engineers and UX roles). The good news: We are improving year after year.
The focus of the post is about PM skills. There are other differences/factors between both countries in the ecosystem (level of investment, possibility to sell to big companies etc…) but we must do the internal analysis first on our roles
How do I reach this conclusion? Being honest, there is no scientific method behind. It is a descriptive research focused on the ability of PM to be hired by US companies compared with the ability of engineers and UX people to be hired by those same companies.
Spanish tech guys are TOP, and UX guys are really good (getting better and better the last 8 years!). It is very easy to know cases of Engineers and UX in the leading technology companies, but it is not the same with PM. Do you know anyone?
What are the causes?
- When did this role take off here in Spain? It didn’t yet. The role of PM in Spain is being pushed forward NOW because nobody before (outside of retail, beauty, pharmacy, etc.) cares or had the key need to develop the role as a mean to achieve business success
- Educational factors: Generation Y, X and xenials have not been taught key topics as communicating effectively (speaking in public is only one part), entrepreneur approach (not encouraged enough at school with autonomous projects carried by the students). In addition, we have been taught to be ashamed / not trying to stand out from the crowd. These things are changing, and, fortunately, students’ English level is also raising up.
- Cultural factors: Where is the appetite for business? In the career of business administration of main cities in outer regions teachers asked the following question 20 years ago: what is the aspirational job after complete the business degree? 45% wanted to apply for public sector positions through competitive examination, 45% wanted to join a financial company and the other 10% did not know or did not answer. Another example is that the word ambition has 100% positive connotations in the USA (like the desire to progress) and in Spain … “to be ambitious” or “have ambition” has not always positive meaning. Aligned to this, the sales role in Spain has really low reputation, while in the USA it is one of the jobs that offers the highest returns; And you cannot understand / create / nurture a business without a commercial spirit.
- Personality factors: Many times, we lack confidence in ourselves and this may be a consequence of all the previous factors and of not having personal experiences that help people to see that step by step you can achieve what you propose and overcame the fear to take next steps. We need to overcome the lack of ambition.
Obviously, it does not help, and I do not forget that theoretically there should be 1PM for every 6–15 Engineers / 2–5UX (research — service design — visual design and interaction), which makes it more difficult to find them.
The good news comes from three fronts:
- Startups that achieve commercial success worldwide with their entrepreneurs (usually the first startup product managers) showing that things are changing and / or the companies that have been acquired and that part of their PM / founders have been integrated into the parent company
- Product managers ecosystem is moving in Spain with meetups, conferences and training. In this way we can define, refine and improve the profile of PM within the companies building a community around the profile
- The new generations have more information and training available in order to select their career path, so it is easier now to aspire to become PM in top-level companies.
So, if you recognize yourself in those problems (or the solution) you already have the way to improve them.
Let us know if you have any additional comments…
