Main Responsibilities of a Product Manager at a B2B Creative SaaS
Evan's role as a Product Manager involves translating business strategy into product strategy, "aligning the actual development with the goal of the organization," encompassing roadmapping, analytics-driven decision-making, and extensive market research, especially in the rapidly evolving AI field. A significant portion of the work focuses on direct customer interaction, from interviews to feedback analysis, alongside prioritization of the product backlog and user journey mapping, all while contributing to support in this startup environment.
Product Strategy, Market Research, Data Analysis, Customer Communication, Product Roadmap
Advizer Information
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Evan Bradshaw
Product Manager
B2B SaaS Marketplace for Creative Production
UCSB
UCSB: Engineering School, Master of Technology Management (MS)
Psychology
Technology, Advertising, Communications & Marketing
Product / Service / Software Development and Management
Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Translating business strategy into product strategy and aligning development with organizational goals
2. Developing product roadmaps, tracking analytics, and making data-driven decisions
3. Conducting market research, gathering customer feedback, and prioritizing features based on user needs
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role?
As a product manager, the main responsibilities are quite extensive. One way to summarize it is that we translate business strategy into product strategy. We also align development with the organization's goals.
This means you might build something for a new customer or vertical one month, and then for your internal team the next. This is how we align the product with the company's strategy.
Another responsibility is product roadmapping. Software development is iterative, and the product roadmap articulates goals. It communicates the product's overview and expectations to the business and customers, outlining what you are attempting to achieve.
Then, you measure to see if you succeeded. Analytics is a big part of the job, observing outcomes and making informed decisions for the product roadmap. For example, if you expect more sign-ups to lead to increased revenue but find sign-ups increase without additional revenue, you might change your development plans based on that insight.
Market research is also crucial. When exploring new areas, like AI for customer acquisition, you need to understand existing solutions. AI research is particularly important as the field moves rapidly; keeping up is essential for building AI products.
Customer focus is paramount. Much of product management involves representing the voice of the customer in the business and product strategy. While leadership or market trends might suggest directions, talking to customers through interviews, discovering their problems, and asking about their daily challenges is vital.
Conducting demos and showing customers early ideas helps gauge their interest and relevance. Feedback buttons and surveys within the product are also part of this customer engagement process.
In my role at a startup, I also handle support. This includes responding to support tickets, requests, and creating related documentation.
If you have many ideas in your backlog, a key responsibility is prioritization. Deciding what to work on and why, or more importantly, what not to work on, is a significant part of the job.
User journey mapping is also involved. Once you have an idea that might lead to a solution, you map out the user's experience to anticipate potential challenges or considerations during development. This is a part of the planning process.
Finally, brainstorming is a fun and important aspect. Starting with a small piece of information, like creators needing help articulating their product offerings, can lead to entirely different ideas and solutions. This iterative and creative process is another part of the job.