My name is Larry Cummings

Many of you are here for insight and thoughtful advice that will help you.

I'm going to fail to fulfill that expectation.

I've failed at most of the things that I've tried. As a product manager, I've failed pretty quietly, but rest assured, I've failed in very big ways.

I tell you this because some people believe that in order to be a product manager, terrible failures are required to succeed. For this reason alone, I am qualified to claim I am an expert product manager, there are many other reasons, but that's enough for the intro.

Businesses that don't know how their own product teams work, often seek a product manager that had incredible results with another team in another business.

People that have created a successful product in another business, are not often able to easily create success in your business. For one thing, they are probably too busy with their own success.

So why do we keep doing this?

1. In terms of investment, a product is a "business within a business", and the product manager owns that "business".
1.1 I'm not talking about bootstrapping a startup in this deck.
2. Brands, not their product managers, "own" the product.
3. Customers associate products with brands not with people.
4. Successful product managers are able to succeed because they can express their vision within their brand.

Of all the product teams I've worked with, when I talk to the Product Manager this is something we always have in common.

We use our imagination, creativity and dedication to say something to the world. To put a little ding in the universe.

Every time I work on my own product I try to find out what it is I really want to communicate.

But when I talk to people about this practice, many of the people show me what they are trying to say with their business and tell me I should do that. We all concentrate on telling others what they should say or do.

Before you act, take a moment. Who ARE they? How can they improve my own ability to express myself through my product?

When you get to the end, you want to know that your product made the statement you wanted it to make. You have to hang on to your vision to do that.

It's really easy to make the business say what "they" wanted said, it gets loudest right before your customer clearly starts hearing you say it and says yes.

You don't have to work 80 hour weeks to make your product successful.

That's just bullshit.

There's lots of work you will do to grow your product that you'll hate, and you won't have enough help, or you'll have help that doesn't understand what you're trying to say and that really makes it harder.

But you still need the help. You still need to get to done quickly.

Starting a product is hard. You won't enjoy it.

Nobody enjoys working on hard problems, we only took them on because we've all agreed they they are worth solving.

People that tell you you have to LOVE what you do, are really telling you to stop complaining about doing the hard work.

Don't pretend to enjoy something you hate doing just because "you're a startup". You'll have to do it and you may as well be honest about what you've got to do. If you don't learn to channel that energy you won't be able to get to done, especially because people can "smell" a lack of commitment to execution and will stay away.

Product manages have to determine for themselves if the work will eventually pay off. Great ones don't spend time on products they don't believe will pay off.

Everyone else in their orgnaization that hasn't been directed to layout the roadmap and prove the vision by shipping, listening and growing, doesn't necessarily care if it eventually pays off for you.

Sometimes you will have people try to accelerate your customer growth in a way that is not compatible with your product vision. They just want it to pay off for them, or they want to be near something that's going to be the next big thing.

When you do have something that others call success, you will look back on your present self as having had an amusing naive perspective.

You're inside your product everyday, if you're good at it your vision and your brand line up and you have some success. Just don't expect what you thought your product would be, when you started, to look anything like what your successful products looks like 5 years from now.

Products grow on lots of little successes that start to form a pattern, and you're not the only one that gets to decide how that pattern turns into sustainable growth.

If you spend too much time worrying about why it hasn't happened yet... well the big day you thought you could see right around the corner isn't ever going to be there.

Just becuase you can see what is working for other products, doesn't mean a thing to your startup.

You're always going to learn something looking outside. But remember how other people have solved their problems will almost never tell you how to fix similar problems in your product.

Guess what, you only control what works in your product. Know how to use your network, and don't expect them to help much if you can't show how you are benefiting their community. Either way don't expect what works for other products to just work for yours,

You and your customers will find a way to work together, especially if you listen to them instead of looking at what's working for someone else. Product Market Fit is a NON ISSUE if you listen to your customers from day one.

And while you're back at work, remember this works both ways. Be sure you don't get so enamored of your success that you think you did it all yourself.

Why can't you tell me how your product works?

Is it because you are in "stealth mode"?

Your idea, isn't worth a damn thing until it's executing in a product, until it has shipped to your customer. You can't grow your idea if you don't share it.

Product managers keep secrets for two reasons.
1) because it's imperative to their product's success
2) because before they had successes they tried lots of things that didn't work (and they realize they didn't learn anything that customers care about now)

If your product idea isn't very good you won't be able to figure out how to execute. Hiring a different product manager won't help you with that.

Instead of telling me you'r busy figuring out your product, that you are in stealth mode, how about you ship? Show me that someone considers your vision valuable enough to pay for.

Your idea, your vision, is never going to get "stolen" if it's only expressed as an idea, as a proposal, as a pro forma. It is not worth anything if you can't ship it and get customers.

Product Mangers can give you good advice, they will sign your NDA and in my experience they all honor it. They certainly won't tell anyone about your product, if they don't understand how your product works.

You'll be surprised but the thing is, if you can explain how your product works, if you're product doesn't yet express, what you are trying to say.. then you are already the most qualified person on earth to make it work. You'll find a way.

The "business model" of your product will never stop adapting, and you'll do everything you can to keep it afloat until you feel you've gotten your product to say what you wanted said.

Once customers like your product you can stop bailing water. The model is now reliable enough that you can ask for help without sinking. People will help, even the bankers, and lawyers will help.

It might feel like they are helping because you sold a lot of product, or got a key customer, but they are are helping because they are using the work to say something.

In Product, we are an openly critical culture. We've earned our knowledge through direct and immediate pain. When you ask a startup for something, and they tell you the answer, you can rely on that answer being direct.

Product is usually very demanding work.

When we hire for a team leader we should expect that they will be able to tell us if they have a vision for a product that can be expressed in our brand.

When we hire for a Rockstar, the only reason we are hiring them is because they have had a "huge" success within another brand.

Other product managers can only help you if you are accountable for your product's vision.

If you are giving up on your product vision, don't even ask for advice! Figure out how to hand off the product quickly and effectively (and without "poisoning the well") or shut it down.

Having said all that, let's chat about the real work of Product Management. What are you trying to do? I may have some experiences that relate.

You can't literally only look at a product manager's success on another product, as they're past success within a different brand. That success alone will not translate to success on your product.

I only needed some of they lyrics to the song in the slides. I just love this song. I'm sharing some bonus slide without any in just for fun.