“Indians don’t want to pay for software”. I heard this from a few SaaS entrepreneurs serving the SMB market (especially ones focused on efficiency). They have either shut down or exited the Indian market. They allude to “cultural” reasons (cost-consciousness) as to why their products failed in this market. However, a detailed
On the face of it, B2B and B2C firms’ structures and processes appear completely divergent. When thinking about B2B, one visualizes large sales teams (in suits), dedicated account managers, conferences, customer meetings etc. In the B2C world, we think of scale, branding, mass marketing etc. The case for confusion: However, looking a
Creating visibility for yourself in an organisation goes hand in hand with building credibility (through impact, delivery etc). Many mid-level professionals wrongly believe that they can continue growing in their careers by positioning themselves as “sages” (high on credibility but low on visibility). The truth is that only very few roles allow
One of my mentees (a Senior PM in a large corporation) told me, “Venkat, I am particularly bad at evangelising myself within my firm. I do not do enough of it.” This is a common complaint many PMs have about themselves for not creating “visibility” for themselves or their work. Having known
Many leaders hesitate to let go of poorly performing team members even after giving them enough time to improve. Few postpone the decision indefinitely and live with the problem despite being fully aware that this affects their own performance and the team as a whole. Why do they do this? To avoid
One of the biggest psychological impacts of getting laid off is the feeling of “I am not good enough”. While performance is definitely a consideration for layoff decisions, it is overrated in the eyes of the affected people. I am listing down the other parameters that go into the decision-making process. Leaders
One of the stressful things about a manager’s life is having to remember the details of every team member’s work. Managers are required to answer questions from their boss, senior management, stakeholders, investors, etc. for which they need to remember details of team members’ day-to-day work and progress. Knowing complete details of
Background: Pradeep joins HelloAB, a series C startup as VP of Products. He was brimming with excitement to solve some of the important problems facing the startup. In a couple of weeks, he understood that customer focus was broken. He created a plan to bring back the focus and showcased the same
Short answer: You can lead 3-5 Product managers/leaders before maxing yourself out Using a 2-step process, here is how to calculate the exact number of PMs that you can realistically manage. Step 1. Calculate the time expectations from your different responsibilities: There are multiple expectations from a leader’s time. Below is the
When you realize that your team member is better than you, what would you do? First, congratulate yourself that you are not one of those “leaders” who carefully avoid hiring people who can be a potential threat to their position. You have made the right choice of hiring smarter people. A couple
