Exploring Product Careers across companies in different stages of Go-to-Market
I wanted to explore the career prospects for product managers at different levels of go-to-market, focusing on startups seeking Product-Market fit, hyper-growth scale-ups aiming to expand market share, and mature products aiming to sustain market presence, all of which I have worked in and want to give you my vision.
1. Startups Seeking Product-Market Fit:
In the early stages of a startup, product managers are essential in identifying and validating target markets and ensuring alignment with customer needs. As a product manager, you have the opportunity to shape the product vision, define the roadmap, and work closely with cross-functional teams to develop and iterate on the product. Depending on your own seniority, I would say it is high demand and high satisfaction role. For junior and aspiring product managers, I find this a great stepping stone as you don’t have millions of users and making a mistake might not end badly for you. And as a senior product professional transitioning into product leadership, this would be an exciting step up because they company would value your product growth experience. Especially when you come with growing a product 0-to-1, your experince would be more valuable and you can negotiate a more seinor role to step into. There is demand for adaptability, creativity, and a deep understanding of customer profiles. Joining a startup at any career level provides you the chance to make a significant impact on the company's trajectory and offers valuable learning.
2. Hyper-Growth Scale-Ups:
As a startup gains traction and aims to capture a larger market share, product managers play a pivotal role in scaling the product and driving growth. Product people in this phase steer the product in every sense, your responsibilities would include refining the product strategy, working on pricing and packaging, exploring the expansion into new markets and actualizing it. All of which can be terrific learning. Working in a hyper-growth scale-up presents exciting challenges, such as managing rapid changes, adapting to market dynamics, and continuously improving the product to meet evolving customer needs. However, just because a company found its product-market fit already does not mean it is easy to expand. With VC money drying up, not all scale ups have the budget to hire great leaders or have the patience to give juniors an opportunity. You might sense my bitterness ( from my own experience) but I would still go for this stage company whether it is seed or Series A, B etc investment stage, because there is some proof of success, what you make of it will be a big step. If you get it right, there is plenty of endorsement and boost to your career. I would advice anyone with junior to mid-level experince to definitely explore this option. You might have a 2 year tenure but the pace of learning with make it worth your time. At this stage, there is tons of dynamic collaboration with engineering, marketing, and sales teams crucial to align strategies and execute plans effectively.
3. Mature Products Needing to Sustain Market Share:
You would call the product mature when it has a foothold in market with established customer base or declining customer base. It could be because products face market saturation and increased competition, that’s when product managers focus on maintaining market share and maximizing customer retention. This phase requires a strategic mindset, as you analyze market trends, identify new opportunities, and make data-driven decisions to sustain product relevance. Collaborating with customer success teams to gather feedback, prioritize feature enhancements, and optimize the user experience. This is lot to do with features to retain customers. Additionally, as a senior coming into this role, you may explore diversification strategies, such as entering new markets or leveraging emerging technologies, to keep the product competitive. But a word of caution is the investment would not keep you going if the product does not get it right with either maintenance or new investment. So if you are introducing AI, it better be ready to roll to customers and not testing for a year. From my experience , this is less exciting for junior product managers who want to learn product innovation and probably a better fit for transitioning from customer success to product management.
