The CEO Interface! (+game included)
Over the course of a PM’s journey the interface with the C-suite (CEO / CTO) is a given at a startup. Here’s a game to test your preparedness over what's otherwise perceived as "big boots to fill".
A New Role!
Landed a new role as a product manager lately?
Having to cope with truckloads of work?
Don’t seem to have the foggiest idea how to cope with XFN & their overlapping workflows?
Are expectations of leadership / stakeholders / teams bogging you down?
Not able to get with the gist of moving the needle as needed?
Feeling too big for your shoes…?
Well! Here’s something that would perhaps make you feel better.
You are not alone.
What’s more, given the start up environments it is so common for the product manager to be interfacing with the CEOs / EXECs / business owners at a regular cadence and it could feel like a sudden death for some akin to getting run over by something nasty when the others feel totally overburdened donning multiple hats having to actively contribute at various stages of the PLC and managing the expectations of everyone around.
But, is there a method to the madness?
Given the number of startups that have clicked and made it big with teams that have scaled manifold in the recent past it is pretty evident there is.
Self-assessment - FUN GAME.
INSTRUCTIONS:
→ Take a look at this image here
→ it carries 12 individual points labeled with descriptive headers of what could be a possible topic over a PM interfacing with a CEO across stages right from the time of interviewing to regularly over the workflow.
→ Read each of those points carefully
→ if you are absolutely confident that you can talk about it to a really detailed, nuanced level & deliver it over some mesmerizing / captivating content give yourself “1 point”
→ if you aren’t, then you give yourself “0 points”
→ repeat for all 12 points
What’s your percentage at the end of the exercise!?
Please comment and let me know.
And as for the gradation of the RESULTS:
90-100% - Excellent - just keeping going the way you are now
80-90% - Very good - you know which areas to hit for improvement
70-80% - Good - you need to buckle up & really start covering those gaps
< 70% - Fair - you still need quite a bit of work
Ok, once you’re done with the game & have obtained a score read on…
Phase 1: Interviews
Interviews for product roles could vary largely from org to org, but given an average startup one is bound to have at least 4-5 rounds when in some big MNCs it could hit almost 7-8 as well inclusive of all the CCATs & the take-home tasks.
Section: Tackling questions
Post clearing all those team / managerial rounds a PM candidate could find oneself F2F with the C-suite and that could be a CTO / CEO. If you find yourself at that position, here’s what you can expect over those rounds and also a few pointers over how you ought to approach it.
1) Experience & Impact
Cliched as some may perceive it, 99.99% of interviews start off with a “tell me about yourself”.
so, it’s always a great idea to set the ball rolling with your experience in reverse chronological order (latest first)
working as <role / title> at <org name> from <date> to <date / present>
remember, it is an obvious expectation that as a product person one gravitates towards the impact generated and that’s why it becomes crucial to highlight a few of those topline achievements
we were able to capture <mention the number>% market share (or)
were market leaders over the <market type> and <mention specific customer segments>
tangibility doesn’t even need a special mention here – you ought to be able to talk effortlessly in numbers
generated <USD $x Mn> ARR / MRR (or)
product had an amazing <retention _percentage>% retention rate alongside a measly churn rate of <mention number>%
2) Strategy / Strategic Initiatives
There may have been 10 alternate routes that one could have had. Taking a cue off the previous points it is important to talk about the initiatives undertaken as a part of charting out and deploying what largely constitutes the strategy.
how we got to achieving the <number>% market share was < brief one-line description of the strategy / initiative devised & deployed>
our deep discovery helped identify <THE problem that mattered to specific markets & customer segments we were targeting>
we innovated, built & floated a few features (inclusive of our primary differentiator) using LEAN principles subjecting it some vigorous testing
feedback we received was indicative of positivity when we learnt how some parts needed some more work in terms of solutioning (design)
we had a product with features that mattered to the users and solved their problems in really innovative ways that led to some good adoption and translated into healthy retention <retention _percentage>%
3) Goals / Outcomes / OKRs
The breakdown of strategy into those goals or OKRs if you happen to be using such a framework is very crucial to quote here, given the time taken over the previous answers. You can choose to omit this section if you hinted at it / covered it in depth over the previous sections.
over solving <the problem> we broke it down into <specify a clear set of objective(s)>
highlight <objective1, 2, 3> in order that linked up to justifying the strategy tangibly
highlight <key results 1, 2, 3> as relevant and in order
4) XFN
It is not always common that startups have all the teams and the clear bifurcation of accountability and responsibilities and that’s why it is imperative that the challenges faced over collaborating with XFN ought to be highlighted.
we had <the teams that you had at your workplace> given that particular experience you’re highlighting
we were faced up with <specify the issue, for ex: alignment>
highlight how the issue was identified & the factor that led to identification of all blockers
workaround / solution that was proposed
how it fitted into purpose and helped put things into perspective
NOTE: When most times it would be considered enough to talk about the first 3 sections mentioned above, the 4th one could be appended if one feels that there’s nothing much of semblance to highlight over the prior sections which could happen and be typical of teams / orgs. with major cycle times between ideation and growth especially over B2B products.
Section: Workflow Double-down
Post bagging that PM role, it could get all down to the workflow over understanding, owning and balancing deep work that could be split over strategic and tactical work. Here are a few things to exhibit your understanding of product chops & showcase the skill of asking just the right questions so as to be able to decipher a thing or two about their culture:
5) Vision
Generically speaking the leadership are the ones who own the vision of the org and the product but given the startup ecosystem it might as well be the C-suite taking charge of it. So, the most important part that kicks off a PM’s interface with the CEO is that very vision which is also the backbone of all alignment.
The vision of the product / org is so obvious and 9.9 / 10 times one could find it clearly stated over the website. Spending time over the org’s website is a given, stitching up questions to build a deeper conversation over that vision is more or less an art & that could be done by asking:
“just read about the vision and I deeply correlate to it <mention your reason here>” - full marks if you can stitch a great captivating story around it
then prepare to ask highly specific questions over it or just ask <do you think I’ve got the right understanding or do you think I have missed out on covering a specific aspect?>
NOTE: The reason most people don’t make it through this round is they aren’t truly connected with the vision and could be motivated by some other parameter totally personal & subjective to their own selves. You could never fake it here as there’s a pretty high chance you’ll sniffed out and caught off guard. So, pro tip would be select & apply to orgs. with products / causes you really care about.
6) Business Objectives
As you step into that org as a PM and get a hang of the vision, the one thing that ought to go hand in hand with that are the high-level business objectives which more or less could be an offshoot of the vision itself. But, owing to how dangerous assumptions could be and how ambiguous it could all get it is good if those questions are directed at the right place & people.
By now you already have a clear understanding of their vision, so ask them:
how many business objectives are listed under that vision?
how far would you say you’ve conquered that vision as of today?
what objectives do you consider most important given today’s timeline?
7) Challenges
Nothing about running the show as a CEO is easy meat / smooth sailing. There are bound to be challenges and there are bound to be ample initiatives / efforts either direct or tangential to those business objectives and not to mention all the costs involved. Spend some time over the kind of challenges they have faced thus far & estimating what the future beholds.
What are some of the challenges or roadblocks you’ve had to face hampering the smooth sailing towards that vision?
how’s the journey been thus far leading into the current scheme of things?
any major blockers you seem to be facing at present?
8) Entrepreneurial skills
It’s a given that a PM ought to possess, exhibit entrepreneurial skills owing to how they’re required to play an enterprising role bundled with high agency that binds all teams together and be able to influence them all effortlessly.
Get to know their perspective of how internal teams are stacked up:
could you please talk about the culture followed across teams & the org.
if there was one thing you’d change about your teams what would it be?
why are you looking to hire a product manager now?
what’s your 5-year / 10-year BHAG?
Phase 2: Proposals / PPTs
When writing proposals and building PPTs could land on a PM’s porch, it is very possible that one happens to interface with the C-suite over pitching an idea / presenting the whole proposal to them or even be asked to present it to a third-party like an investor or partners or partner orgs. If that situation ever hits you do remember to cover these:
9) Budgeting & Forecasting
The C-suite seldom fall for flashy ideas and neither would they give the go=ahead if something is looking to risky. It’s always about a strategy / initiative properly researched with the “Risk : Reward” ratio weighed out well that’s going to be welcomed. Some points you ought to cover here:
Scope of the problem
Impact of the solution
Estimated budget
Monthly
Quarterly
Annually
Total expenditure
Forecasting
Total revenue projections
PnL, ROI estimations
No. of unique users – xAU
Few metric projections to unambiguously indicate success – ARPU, CLTV, xRR, CHURN
10) Research & Discovery
Anything that doesn’t have valid and relevant explanations could get branded as flashy and may be put on hold or get earmarked for rejection in the worst case. To save yourself some grace, ensure you back all assumptions, estimations, projections with proper data as obtained from proprietary sources and validate it. The main elements that ought to be showcased here:
Problem(s) discovered
Market & customer segment(s)
Qual & Quant data justifying the problem(s)
demographics
survey results
user interviews
11) Prioritization
When you’ve proposed a solution path to take it is only but logical that you explain the rationale behind it, the reason behind your prioritization, which could again boil down to data.
Solution alternatives listed
Fitting them into a prioritization framework
Visually singling out THE solution path chosen
Justification
reasoning
rationale
12) Proposed solution
Picking one of them and spelling out a particular solution as the chosen one and final is obviously a given, no doubt. But that may not be quite enough to shed some light on “why” it happens to be the chosen one, and also chosen amongst what other alternative options. Although this step is ignored making its inclusion deeply subjective, it’s better to include it so as to build clarity & give the EXECs a complete overview of the thought process. So, you ought to have:
alternative solution paths proposed with each of them covering
solution overview
quant data (TAM, relevance, VOM, feedback)
rationale
proposed solution – “the chosen one”
References:
Here are some other resources that could help you over writing proposals: