Sharon Tom has crossed the chasm more than once, helping fast growth companies like Flipagram and Dog Vacay make the jump from early adopters to mainstream markets.
Today Tom is back to basics, searching for product-market fit on repeat, helping Fortune 100 companies find startup success from within. This is all in a day's work as a Lead Product Manager at BCG Digital Ventures.
"The first challenge we have is to help our corporate partners understand what a minimum viable product is and what that actually looks like. That’s the biggest obstacle to get through first. And then it’s actually getting everyone else on board on locking down scope because there’s always new features that everyone wants, and we have to make sure we do a good job of helping people understand that MVP is not the end all. That it's the very first step."
We're talking about leaving perfection behind and learning to love the data instead. The build-measure-learn method of product management. "It just takes people time to let this sink in. Everyone agrees with it at the principle level, but at the execution level you have to, as the product manager, be the one to rally everyone together and get them to get more comfortable with this over time."
Other highlights from our conversation:
- Balancing strategy and tactics
- Leveraging your past skills to find PM success
- "Filling the gaps"
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In this episode:
- Where do startups go wrong with implementing OKRs
- Can OKRs really scale for enterprise?
- What are pipelines and how do they change the way we think about product roadmaps?
In this episode:
- From retail to product management
- Why relationship building is the number one required skill a product manager could have
- The value of having confidence with humility
In this episode:
- Establishing a clear vision of your career path
- Using metrics to answer burning product questions
- What product managers can learn from biology
