The lack of resources is the most significant obstacle that all entrepreneurs encounter. Investing in a product manager, on the other hand, is a fairly safe choice for a young business with one or two products.
Startup product managers, often known as “first product managers,” are in charge of laying the groundwork for product management for a new company. There’s a lot of strain on them because they’re such an important element of their company’s founding team. Nonetheless, the profession offers a number of appealing intrinsic and financial benefits.
Keep reading if you’re a startup founder or a product management professional looking for a new opportunity. We’ll sketch out a detailed image of what a startup PM’s work comprises in this essay.
Do Product Managers Have a Place in Startups?
This is especially true for firms that have progressed past the pre-seed stage and are rapidly developing and launching a concrete product, all while looking to scale.
Keep in mind, though, that startups in the pre-seed stage can benefit from hiring a product management consultant as well.
Here are some of the reasons for this:
A startup product manager can relieve the entrepreneur of a significant portion of the PM job.
They can act as a link that connects all company units and breaks down organizational barriers. They can develop a clear path for the startup product based on their years of experience.
At the end of the day, the decision to appoint a startup Product Manager is entirely up to the company’s founders, who know their business better than anyone else.
What Should a Startup Project Leader Do?
A startup product manager, for the most part, has the same tasks as a conventional Product Manager in a well-established company. They’re in charge of developing and owning product strategies. Bringing internal teams together to achieve a single goal. But also managing people, and leading debates and efforts to drive things ahead.
A PM at a startup, on the other hand, must take a more hands-on approach and collaborate closely with the founders. Here are a few key responsibilities that any startup project manager must fulfill:
In a startup, what does a product manager do?
A startup product manager, for the most part, has the same tasks as a conventional Product Manager in a well-established company. They’re in charge of developing and owning product strategies, bringing internal teams together to achieve a single goal, managing people, and leading debates and efforts to drive things ahead.
A PM at a startup, on the other hand, must take a more hands-on approach and collaborate closely with the founders. Here are a few key responsibilities that any startup project manager must fulfill:
This entails stating what the startup hopes to achieve with its offerings.
The exact business objectives they seek to achieve
The following is a list of the steps and efforts that must be taken in order to achieve the product vision (plan of action).
After working with the founders to develop a product strategy and roadmap, a startup PM must communicate and apply the plan to the rest of the team.
If you want to succeed as a startup product manager, take a look at our certification courses.
Internal Team Alignment with the Vision
The second most important task for a startup product manager is to unify the internal team (no matter how small) around a shared company-wide agenda – the product vision.
Aligning or rallying product teams is easier in startups than it is in larger corporations. This is due to the fact that in a typical startup, there aren’t many people to begin with. There are usually only a few persons on each product team (and in some cases, certain departments, such as marketing, are one-person-armies).
A startup PM must ensure that all stakeholders, product leaders, marketing, and product development teams are on the same page, regardless of the situation.
In addition to stand-up meetings, the product manager may organize one-on-one sessions to keep everyone informed.
Due to the small size of the internal teams, the PM has the opportunity to take a more personal approach.
Most Commonly Asked Questions (FAQs)
We’ve answered some of the most common questions about the startup product management role below:
When is it appropriate for a startup to hire a product manager?
When a firm is experiencing problems scaling and the founders need to delegate some product management-related work to an expert, it’s the best moment to engage a product manager.
Finally, there are no hard and fast guidelines for when this should occur. If you’re the founder of a startup, you’ll recognize when it’s time to step things up a level and enlist some extra aid to help you expand your efforts.
How much does a product manager make on average?
According to Glassdoor, product managers in the United States earn an average of $112,029 per year. This is based on over 30,000 compensation reports from genuine product managers in various companies around the United States.
Final Thoughts
Overall, startup project managers not only contribute to overall progress through individual efforts. But they also lay the groundwork for project management in their organization.
