Open Question: Product Management Challenges at a Startup
by Saeed Khan
I’m going to try something a bit different this time. Here’s your chance to help a startup founder with some common startup challenges.
Max Cameron is a cofounder of Big Bang Technology, the makers of Woople, a hosted eLearning platform for enterprises.
Max’s company has grown from 2 founders to 10 people and while they’ve hired a full-time Product Manager there are several hurdles they still need to overcome.
Max has 3 current challenges that he’s facing and I’d like to enlist all of you to collectively help Max address them, buy watching the video of Max talking about his company, and then leaving comments at the bottom of the blog post.
If you are shy 
but still want to give some advice, you can use the Contact Us form. I’ll keep your identity secret but share your advice with Max.
While the challenges are listed below, I strongly urge you to watch the YouTube video of Max — it’s only 6 minutes in length — to get all the details before answering. You can click the image below to launch the video. Unfortunately it cannot be embedded directly in this page.
click image to launch video
The 3 challenges Max needs advice on are:
- Metrics in the software. What metrics should be instrumented into the product to see if implemented features are effective in solving customer/user problems.
- Optimizing the onboarding process for new clients. What are the right collateral pieces for the sales people? What is/are the right pricing models? How to best get in front of the business people — i.e. the buyers? How to work with technical/IT teams to perform integrations?
- How to take the collateral that is built and have Marketing work with Product Management to create compelling stories to identify and target new customer segments.
So there it is. What advice do you have for Max and his company?
Saeed
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Here’s an answer to challenge #3 — getting good stories to use to target new customers or customer segments.
This is a fundamental task of Product Management. i.e. understanding patterns of need that can be applied outside of the existing customer base.
First of all, it’s good that there is awareness of this need and this approach. The challenge, particularly in B2B or enterprise products is that every customer sees themselves as different or wants to see others just like themselves using the product before they can commit. e.g. http://onproductmanagement.net/2011/02/17/exactly-like-me-the-perfect-reference-customer/
So it’s important to take a step back and answer some fundamental questions, because it’s not simply just what other customers can get found, but how can the startup get great customers that absolutely need your product?
It’s important to clearly understand why your existing customers chose you — a fledgling and possibly unproven startup — to use vs. other competitors or potential solutions. There may not be a clear answer here as it may have been a combination of timing, pricing, relationship, need etc. but it’s critical to get this information from as many of the early customers as you can. Find the commonality, find the pattern, and find out why they didn’t choose your competition.
Get as much detail as possible and then once you have a good picture, go test it out and refine that picture. Once you’ve “nailed” the picture — have a VERY clear understanding of who, why, when, how much etc. i.e. created a clear customer “persona” — then you can scale your marketing and sales efforts to acquire more companies that fit that picture.
And don’t let yourself be distracted by poorly qualified opps. i.e. if a prospect doesn’t appear fit the picture you have but is interested in your product, qualify them thoroughly to see if they do fit. If they don’t then you may want to let them go and stay focused on your target customer persona.
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1. The metrics you use really depend on the shape of your customer base. If it’s just a handful of key accounts, I’d try work with them directly to understand how the product performs in-situ. If the user base has a kind of a long tail (which presumably is light touch), then the more metrics the merrier. At a minimum you would need something in the client installer (not sure if you have one). If the client is browser-based but still closed loop on the customer’s intranet, then create a browser plugin for “enhanced” experience which would also track engagement.
2. I would look at the funnel and see where it’s leaky, then go after the leaks.
3. Marketing should already be banging on product management’s door to create whitepapers, case studies, whatever else necessary to increase exposure and gain lead confidence. Due to tactical pressures, chances are nobody is looking farther afield, which I guess is what you are asking about. I’d say split your customer base by verticals and try to analyze which verticals you do better in. Then hone your message/product for those verticals. That’s your killer app.
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