The role of a Product Manager in an early-stage Start-up

A Product Manager’s role is dependent on the stage of the company he or she is in – whether early-stage, mid-stage or mature.

In an early-stage start-up, the CEO is heavily involved in the choice of the product and the resource allocation. In most cases, the founder or CEO fills the role of the Product Manager. He fills two roles – he is the product visionary and leader and the resource allocator and “chief priority setter”. Product development is normally driven in a top-down manner.

As a new Product manager brought into this early-stage start-up, you will need to be resourceful to manage the overbearing influence of the co-founder. Your job as the Product Manager might just be to implement or follow-through with the requirements even if you don’t agree with some of the decisions.

Other issues that might arise are as follows:

• There may be no defined product development and management process and you may have a hard time trying to get all stakeholders understand the need for an articulated and clearly communicated process. You may even receive some resistance from the founder(s) as they might think that following a process might adversely affect the speed to market.
• In an early-stage startup, there is often no project manager. This may be due to the leanness of the team or possibly the co-founder or CEO believes the product manager can also be the Project Manager. So apart from being the voice of the customer and ensuring that all stakeholders understand their roles in the definition and ultimate development of the product, you will be responsible for ensure that all stakeholders meet their timelines.
• You might end up taking up a lot more roles than you anticipated. You will inevitably find out that you will be the UX designer, Product marketer and more.
• How to balance speed-to-market versus rigorous testing and product quality. This may be influenced by the founder as most want to get a product out there as quick as possible to manage the expectations of the investors.
• Whether the CEO is Technical/Engineering oriented or Business Oriented. The background of the CEO is a major factor in the role of a Product manager in an early-stage start-up. A business oriented will want the Product manager to focus on achieving business objectives – that will prioritise products with more immediate and financial impact. A technical or Engineering CEO is more likely to make the Product Manager focus on elegant and technologically advanced solutions with more functionalities than the market requires.

So as a Product Manager in an early-stage startup, I would advise you should be patient and understand the situation and learn a lot. Do not get frustrated if you feel your input is not required or implemented most of the time. Your time will come.

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Join me as I facilitate at next in-person training on Product Development and Management organised by Tenth Code Media, is scheduled to take place on the 27/28 of October 2022. Click the link to know more and register to attend.