In part 1 of this blog, I summarized the seminal work of my colleague Geoffrey Moore in defining whole product as “everything required to assure that the target customers can fulfill their compelling reason to buy.” 

The concept of whole product has been foundational to the software product companies I have worked with and is fundamental to the widely used technology strategy framework Crossing the Chasm.

This is my third post on the strategic potential of Category for tech companies. In the first two, I wrote about the leverage that Category can create for your market traction, and about the competitive differentiation you can realize through Category.

This is the fourth in a series of posts about Category and its potential to help firms gain leverage and momentum in their markets. I’d like to build on a statement from the initial post that said Category defines the space into which your offering will grow. 

I’m excited to be named Product Executive in Residence (PXIR) at Carnegie Mellon University. This new PXIR role enables CMU to bring the voice of industry into classrooms and product leadership curricula.

In today’s software development world, we are all accustomed to the concept of Technical Debt, which is created when we deliver software that is (intentionally or unintentionally) sub-optimal in the near term and must be refactored later.

This is the second post in a series on Strategy Debt, which companies incur when they fail to clarify their strategic intent with stakeholders, and which is compounded when employees are empowered over time to act outside of the company’s strategic interests.

In a previous post we reviewed the nine elements of a Strategic Narrative and described the nature of Strategy Debt that can be incurred with respect to each.

As the final blog in our series on strategy debt, we decided to touch on the role of the private equity investor on strategy debt.

Product-led growth (PLG) is a high-leverage aspect of the SaaS business model and perhaps one of the most significant departures from the legacy software world.

Digital native product managers (DNPMs) are product managers (typically Gen Zers and Millennials) who grew up with the ubiquitous presence and influence of the internet, mobile apps, and other modern technologies.

For a product company, a product value stream is a body of work focused on a particular theme performed by the company to deliver value to the customer and/or the company.

A maddening reality of a SaaS business: the very moment you “finalize” something by sharing “approved” information with stakeholders, the information starts becoming obsolete.

Over the course of my career, I’ve headed both product management and product development organizations. A strong and functional relationship between these two organizations is a critical success factor for any SaaS company.

How the Realities of Market Maturity, Company Maturity, and Solution Maturity Shape the Development of the PM Function

This is an unprecedented time for CPOs. The broad array of enabling stacks to manage, develop, sell and operate SaaS products is growing at a rapid pace. In this context, a stack is an enabling layer of purpose-built technology.

As a senior operating partner at a SaaS-focused private equity firmand head of INSTEP, a SaaS product advisory firm, I often review SaaS product competitive analysis. I am in the middle of such a review.

Lately, I’ve been spending time with SaaS companies on their buyer journeys. A buyer journey consists of the stages a buyer goes through to make a purchase decision and beyond.