I'm often asked how a big company might crush a startup.
Well it's quite simple really, but few know the process:
Well it's quite simple really, but few know the process:
1/ The bottoms-up
While waiting for a latte at a BigCo cafe, a PM reads a @JoshConstine post of how a startup just raised $2B in a hot space.
The PM writes a 6-pager on why this is a $10B opportunity and has coffee with other product teams to get buy-in.
This leads to...
While waiting for a latte at a BigCo cafe, a PM reads a @JoshConstine post of how a startup just raised $2B in a hot space.
The PM writes a 6-pager on why this is a $10B opportunity and has coffee with other product teams to get buy-in.
This leads to...
2/ The OKR
3 months and 100 coffees later, it's finally time for quarterly planning.
Everyone reads the 6-pager and asks:
"How will this move my metric?"
"Sorry, I have 5 A/B tests to run this quarter."
"This is XXXL, have you seen our tech debt?"
This leads to...
3 months and 100 coffees later, it's finally time for quarterly planning.
Everyone reads the 6-pager and asks:
"How will this move my metric?"
"Sorry, I have 5 A/B tests to run this quarter."
"This is XXXL, have you seen our tech debt?"
This leads to...
3/ The moonshot
"F*** it" the PM decides. "We'll just build a separate app." The team rebrands as the Moonshot org and ships the app in record time.
Sadly, the app fails as none of the teams working on the main app prioritize helping it get discovered.
This leads to...
"F*** it" the PM decides. "We'll just build a separate app." The team rebrands as the Moonshot org and ships the app in record time.
Sadly, the app fails as none of the teams working on the main app prioritize helping it get discovered.
This leads to...
4/ The re-org
The PM has coffee with the CEO, who has been reading @PackyM articles about the same trend. The CEO is convinced and decides to re-org five product teams into one just to get this project done.
The startup is really screwed now.
This leads to...
The PM has coffee with the CEO, who has been reading @PackyM articles about the same trend. The CEO is convinced and decides to re-org five product teams into one just to get this project done.
The startup is really screwed now.
This leads to...
5/ The copycat
The new org ships an exact copycat of the startup's product from 6 months ago. It launches a 7th tab in the main app just to show how serious it is.
Unfortunately, the same app is also trying to tackle ten other use cases. Users are confused.
This leads to...
The new org ships an exact copycat of the startup's product from 6 months ago. It launches a 7th tab in the main app just to show how serious it is.
Unfortunately, the same app is also trying to tackle ten other use cases. Users are confused.
This leads to...
6/ The acqui-hire
The new org gets disbanded, and the BigCo pays $10B to buy the startup. The founder joins thinking: "Now we can finally scale this to billions of users!"
Plot twist - the founder is the PM at the beginning of this story.
Such is the circle of life.
The new org gets disbanded, and the BigCo pays $10B to buy the startup. The founder joins thinking: "Now we can finally scale this to billions of users!"
Plot twist - the founder is the PM at the beginning of this story.
Such is the circle of life.
7/ Thanks for reading my dystopia BigCo fan-fiction.
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creatoreconomy.so
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creatoreconomy.so
8/ People also often ask me about:
Acing the PM interview:
Running great meetings:
More coming :)
Acing the PM interview:
https://twitter.com/petergyang/status/1395747457791897602?s=20
Running great meetings:
https://twitter.com/petergyang/status/1393210743085047808?s=20
More coming :)
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