24: How PMs Develop Skills and Earn Experiences in Startups

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board member Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Justin Kistner (Upfocus) and Rebekah Bastian (OwnTrail) to talk about product managers starting out in startup companies. Whether it’s a small startup with five people or a bigger company with a lot of manpower, the roles product managers take depend on the scope of their responsibilities. What counts most is the experience they acquire and the skills they learn along the way.

Support for How to Succeed in Product Management is brought to you by Apptentive, which enables product managers to measure shifts in customer emotion and gather actionable feedback across the mobile customer journey. To learn more, go to Apptentive.com/UW.

What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 08:05 Smaller companies tend to deal with the runway flexibility
• 11:17 A good PM is a way of problem solving
• 12:50 What makes it fun being a product manager?
• 15:14 Experience the job first before handing over the tasks to others
• 19:29 PM role templates are more established in bigger companies
• 21:15 When PMs forget how to take on higher roles
• 25:02 As your career grows, your scope grows 
• 30:08 There’s no single path to being a good PM
• 33:39 New PMs often work in smaller companies
• 36:16 Depending on startup, people will look for an experienced PM
• 40:27 Who makes the decision depends on the size of the company
• 45:22 You can learn skills and earn experience even if a startup fails
• 48:30 Global community outside of the US
• 52:33 Don’t get disheartened, you’ll figure it out
• 54:33 Your lived experiences is going to make you a good PM