Fireside Chat, Panel, Interview
a16z Podcast | How Founders Hire a VP of Product
a16zCaroline Horn, Vijay Balasubramaniyan, Shishir Mehrotra, Gokul Rajaram, Alan Schaaf, Martin Casado, Shashir Mahotra
- The industry trend toward separating product engineering and design is expected to continue as organizations recognize that non-cohesive units lack accountability for direct results.
- External hires are predicted to help break dogmatic assumptions, despite the potential downside of lacking the deep product knowledge held by internal veterans.
- Senior leaders are expected to possess data analysis capabilities to prevent single analysts from becoming overwhelmed by dashboard tasks, with new product leaders required to present a "completely new look at the data" within the first 30 days.
- New product leaders are expected to dedicate their initial 30 days to diagnosis by listening to every team member without interruption, followed by a "State of the Union" presentation to the organization between 30 and 60 days.
- Organizational changes are expected to be executed within the first 60 days, as making changes later is predicted to be difficult once the leader becomes an insider.
- To establish credibility, a new leader is expected to drive at least one significant product change within the first six days and prioritize fixing user deterrents before focusing on retention drivers in the first couple of quarters.
- A new product leader is expected to act as an "information sponge" by engaging with users, reviewing bugs, and monitoring community forums to learn the product.
- Founders are expected to step back from operational weeds like assigning bugs and writing requirement documents upon hiring a VP of product, shifting focus to longer time horizons while the product lead handles execution details.
- Startups are expected to require "unicorn" product people capable of performing multiple superpowers including coding, visual design, and UI work, while fundraising companies are expected to immediately hire dedicated hiring managers.
- Organizations are expected to utilize formal six-month externships to train individuals from adjacent functions for transfer into product management.
- Founders are expected to spend at least five hours getting to know a potential co-founder or executive before interviews to ensure vision and philosophy alignment, while sales heads require a six-month productivity grace period that product leads should also receive.
- Failure modes for bringing in a VP of PM are expected to stem from a lack of proper onboarding and coaching, with non-fits predicted to rapidly "metastasize" and form "bad antibodies" if not corrected quickly.
- Product leads are expected to demonstrate a "maniacal" level of commitment comparable to a CEO or CTO, regularly visit customers, and avoid claiming availability only on "second Fridays," which predicts they are not the right person.
- The top four or five hiring criteria must be explicitly listed on paper to avoid difficulties in finding the best interviewer, and candidates must articulate a winning strategy rooted in customer insights or risk falling "way below the min bar."
- Product leads are expected to bring options for hard decisions to the CEO and act to scale themselves by separating emotional attachments and letting go of tasks to avoid "flushing out in six months" due to a lack of meaningful action within the first 60 days.