PrancingNugget
PrancingNugget

PM roles have made startups with average talent pool more inefficient

I'm a product manager myself and I've been noticing this mentality.

Founders of pre-PMF stage companies, having raised tons of money in the bull market in a last couple of years, have hired tons of resources with no clarity and vision whatsoever.

They continue to ignore they're building a product nobody wants. They barely talk to users. On top of it, they hire Product Managers thinking it's a silver bullet and will solve PMF issues.

It's founders responsibility to figure out PMF and not anybody's else. You need to get in the weeds and not throw money at problems.

It just doesn't end there. These companies with average talent pool and the kind of culture that sets it top-down because of these average founders, expect PMs to own everything and fix everything. Everybody from Tech to Marketing shrugs off from the responsibility expect PMs to tell what needs to be done. This chutiya mindset of 'sit and wait' until a PM tells let breeds more inefficiency as output becomes slower as nobody is incentivised to think and take decisions. Also, everybody enjoys doing what are being told because no consequences if things blow up.

Hire competent people across functions and get involved in product building. It's already too late to fix it if this resonates with you.

17mo ago
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QuirkyNarwhal
QuirkyNarwhal

Unfortunately this is the reality in most companies in the world. It's not just pre-PMF startups.

That's just how things are in corporate.

I was lucky to be working in a pre-PMF startup where engineers took more responsibility. And they themselves planned out the tech debt and optimised APIs/queries, etc.

And I know I'm not gonna find such set of engineers ever again.

Best thing to do is to make peace with it and do whatever you can to make the best product 😀

PrancingNugget
PrancingNugget

You won't ever find peace in such companies because of wrong expectations and misaligned incentives

QuirkyNarwhal
QuirkyNarwhal

I know. But you can't deny the fact that most companies are functioning like this.

ZestyDonut
ZestyDonut

LinkedIn pe course bechna is more important than doing the actual work.

GroovyBoba
GroovyBoba

They all be doing it

PeppyBanana
PeppyBanana

Upraised company does this

BubblyTaco
BubblyTaco

We Indians have a mediocre talent pool. That's why you need 1 manager behind 15 odd people. If you hire intelligent people, you really don't need managers. They know what to do.

DizzyWaffle
DizzyWaffle

Ya nasa is no management, where do you find such dumbwits

BubblyTaco
BubblyTaco

Nasa ain't a start-up with 15 people

ZoomyMuffin
ZoomyMuffin

I do not get you. If PMs would not work in Product Market Fit, then who should?

Founder is building out enterprise, doing initial market study, and understanding where fundraising is an optimum effort. PMF would shift over time depending on regulation, competition, technology, demand etc. Should not there be a dedicated team/person to align towards this fit over time?

Are we not expecting too much from a founder role?

ZoomyMuffin
ZoomyMuffin

Example: PayTM started out as Mobile payments. That was a very good vision and PMF, innovative, highly needed solution in 2014.

UPI in 2017 made monetising payments obsolete. So they pivoted to MF, insurance, broking, banking license and now to lending. Do we expect founder to bear the onus of this pivot entirely?

PrancingNugget
PrancingNugget

PayTM was not pre-PMF startup in 2017. You completely missed the point just like average founders miss building a real business and focus on optics.

FluffyMochi
FluffyMochi

True that PMs can contribute alot. But when there is no vision or direction and when the founders keep jumping on ideas now and then, it makes the life of PM hell.

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