AMA: Meta Senior Director of Product Management, Poorvi Shrivastav on Product Management Career Path

I've had the opportunity to work with and hire product managers from various backgrounds. Here's my perspective on the strengths an entrepreneurial candidate might bring compared to one from a FAANG company: 1. Resourcefulness: Entrepreneurs often excel at doing more with less, a valuable skill in resource-constrained environments. 2. End-to-end ownership: They typically have experience managing all aspects of a product, from ideation to launch and beyond. 3. Customer-centric mindset: Entrepreneurs often have direct customer interaction, fostering deep user empathy. 4. Adaptability: They're usually adept at pivoting quickly based on market feedback or changing conditions. 5. Risk tolerance: Entrepreneurs tend to be more comfortable with uncertainty and calculated risk-taking. 6. Diverse skill set: They often wear multiple hats, developing a broad range of skills beyond traditional PM responsibilities. 7. Growth mindset: The challenges of entrepreneurship often instill a strong drive for continuous learning and improvement. That said, each candidate brings unique strengths, and the best fit depends on the specific needs of the role and company culture.

Here's how to position your B2B experience for B2C roles: 1. Highlight transferable skills: User research, data analysis, and prioritization are crucial in both domains. 2. Emphasize customer-centricity: Show how you've put users first, even in a B2B context. 3. Showcase your ability to manage complexity: B2B often involves intricate product ecosystems, a valuable skill in B2C. 4. Focus on metrics-driven decision making: Demonstrate how you've used data to drive product strategy. 5. Highlight any relevant B2C touchpoints in your B2B experience, such as end-user focused features. 6. Emphasize your adaptability and willingness to learn new markets and user behaviors. 7. Leverage product-led growth experience: If you've implemented PLG strategies in B2B, highlight how this aligns with B2C user acquisition and engagement models. Remember, many product principles are universal. Frame your experience in terms of solving user problems and driving business outcomes, regardless of the specific market.

Impact as a PM extends beyond direct revenue or cost savings. Consider these aspects when justifying resume points: 1. User growth or retention: Did the feature help sustain or expand your user base? 2. Engagement: How did the feature affect user interaction with the product? 3. Product value: Did it add foundational elements crucial for long-term success? 4. Competitive parity: Was it necessary to keep pace with market standards? 5. Future potential: Did it lay groundwork for upcoming strategic initiatives? Focus on the metric you used (or would use) to define success for each feature. Even if you "just built" something, frame it in terms of its intended impact on these broader product and business goals. This approach demonstrates your strategic thinking and ability to align features with overarching objectives, key skills for any PM.

Currently, I'm best suited to mentor mid-career product leaders facing challenges I've tackled in the last 5-7 years. For aspiring PMs, I recommend finding mentors with recent experience in entry-level PM roles. They can offer more relevant advice on breaking into the field and building foundational skills. While I focus on mid-career mentorship, I do volunteer with Mentors in Tech for aspiring software engineers. If approached by an aspiring PM, I'd appreciate their initiative, explain my current focus, and offer to connect them with more suitable mentors if possible. I'm open to brief conversations about the PM career path, but for in-depth mentorship, it's crucial to find someone whose experience aligns closely with your current career stage and goals.

When transitioning from consulting to product management, focus on building these key skills: 1. Clarity of thought and communication 2. Problem-solving abilities 3. Comfort with ambiguity and change 4. Collaboration and influence Seek opportunities that allow you to develop deep product knowledge and context in a specific domain. This 'domino effect' of expertise can significantly boost your PM career. For the transition itself: 1. Client-side is often the quickest route, leveraging your existing relationships and industry knowledge. 2. Startup experience can be more valuable than a formal degree, especially given the rapidly evolving tech landscape with AI. 3. While an MBA can be helpful, it may not be necessary given the fast-paced changes in technology.

As a product leader, I've seen successful transitions from partnerships to product. While titles matter, your actual experiences and demostrated skills are more crucial. Some beneficial titles could be: 1. Strategic Partnerships Manager 2. Product Integration Partnerships Manager 3. Partner Solutions Manager For example, in a B2B SaaS environment, partnerships roles can develop key PM skills: 1. Technical Integration: Managing API integrations with partners builds technical understanding. 2. Pricing Strategy: Negotiating partnership deals hones pricing and value proposition skills. 3. Collaboration: Working across teams (sales, product, engineering) mirrors cross-functional PM work. 4. Influence: Aligning partner and company goals develops stakeholder management abilities.