For most startups, having a job title is only a formality. Most of the time, all budding business employees have to perform multiple tasks outside their usual job description. These businesses often have a “choose-your-own-adventure” kind of work that lures plenty of generalists to work there.
But as the company progresses, expansions need to be made within the company. It forces the business founder to carve out dedicated roles to make tasks organized. Among all the positions in the company, the project manager’s role can be considered as one of the most elusive yet one of the most important roles to fulfill.
Business owners need to know the right way to look for the best way to hire the company’s first product manager. Some of the most important things to consider include the traits to look for, the importance of defining the role before finding the best staff, and what questions to ask during the interview.
Avoid Looking For A Product CEO
Generally, product managers progress into a CEO role or leave their current company to launch their own business. Like most founders, the highly-skilled product managers have inborn leadership skills and excellent communication abilities. Both founders and product managers need visionary skills in terms of products and execution.
Experts believe that an important skill that all product managers must possess is checking and informing the users and possible clients about the products. They also claimed that product managers must know how to use the team’s mission and build and sell that narrative to all users and possible clients.
The experts also reiterated that it is crucial to define what the product managers are not, which is being the CEO of the product. According to seasoned business people, business owners must continue to have a founder and CEO who will maintain their job as its evangelist and main visionary. It is different from the product manager who needs to tackle the operational duties every day.
Have A Clear Definition Of The Role And Establish Your Expectations
The product managers work to translate all the startup staff to work seamlessly with each other. They must find a way to connect the product engineer with the marketing team, the design team with the business development staff, and the sales staff with everyone within the company. But the actual role of the product manager can be difficult to define.
While a good product manager needs to be a highly efficient generalist, they also need to have the capability to analyze and explain the technical processes in layman’s terms. It means that the best candidate must have some technical experience to know the production’s basic procedures.
Having a good product manager is highly necessary if your startup needs to expand rapidly. They must ensure that the product lifecycle is properly organized, from the production stage to the distribution phase. It means all business owners need to search for the best applicant who knows all the nitty-gritty details of launching all products to ensure success.
