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Katie Cubillas

AMA: Twilio Sr. Dir, Product - Carrier Relations, Katie Cubillas on Product Operations and GTM

April 28, 2022 @ 10:00AM PT

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  1. What does the career path for a product operations manager look like?

    Katie Cubillas
    Katie Cubillas

    Twilio Sr. Dir, Product - Technology Partners • 4y

    In taking an end-to-end business leadership approach to this role, it opens up multiple career paths. For example- if your goal is to become a product GM, this is well aligned. If your ambition is to be a future COO, I think this is a great role to dig into. I think it's also a great extension to leadership roles in customer success and GTM as well. I definitely see it as a choose your own adventure skillset.

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  2. How do you think about the right ratio of products to product operations managers? We are a multi-product company.

    Katie Cubillas
    Katie Cubillas

    Twilio Sr. Dir, Product - Technology Partners • 4y

    It all depends on the size of the product and requirements scope. I tend to see this role as a right-hand to product VPs / GMs, so oversight of the product portfolio within that construct often determines the scope for the prod ops person. 

    Alternativley, I've also seen the role built out in a way that's similar to product marketing. 

    1,204 Views
    3 requests

  3. What does a product operations manager need to be exceptional at compared to a product manager?

    Katie Cubillas
    Katie Cubillas

    Twilio Sr. Dir, Product - Technology Partners • 4y

    I've found it's been critical to feel competent in running a business end-to-end. By this, I mean I've focused on taking a 360 view regardless of where I've sat within my organization (be it product or GTM). Every product needs buy-in across the entire village to make it successful- GTM, support, customer success, legal, partners, product / engineering, etc. Being great at communicating with and influencing engineers, for example, is a wonderful trait, but success comes out of one's ability to t ...Read More

    1,791 Views
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  4. When establishing product operations, what do your 30 / 60 / 90 look like?

    Katie Cubillas
    Katie Cubillas

    Twilio Sr. Dir, Product - Technology Partners • 4y

    30: listen, learn, pull data, conduct cross-dept & key stakeholder interviews. Immediately get with finance to understand the product business model & resourcing. 

    60: Propose high / medium / low plans in alignment with revenue / customer acquisition targets. Get approvals across key stakeholders. 

    90: Start phased build against proposed plans. Run internal campaign across key leaders / stakeholders to socialize plan, timelines, feedback loops.

    1,652 Views
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  5. How does the product team define successful product operations?

    Katie Cubillas
    Katie Cubillas

    Twilio Sr. Dir, Product - Technology Partners • 4y

    Ultimately I define success as new customer acquisition, ARR, and realized revenue.  However, I also think it's critical to establish strong feedback loops across departments & customers to understand how successfully you're building a connected culture that your customers & internal stakeholder teams feel good about engaging with. I say this because I've noticed that product teams can often operate in a fairly isolated way- remaining in a world of engineer-to-engineer and this can somet ...Read More

    881 Views
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  6. Where do you see the product operations field evolving over the next 5 years?

    Katie Cubillas
    Katie Cubillas

    Twilio Sr. Dir, Product - Technology Partners • 4y

    I've noticed it's pretty common that this role can be overlooked / under resourced. Instead, companies will rely on product ops being addressed via a team effort between Product Market & Product Management. I tend to think every meaningful product within a company should be set up as a 'mini company' within the parent company. In this way, I'd see prod ops more widely understood as a COO of a specific product / set of products.

    1,469 Views
    2 requests

  7. What skills do you look for when hiring a Product Ops Manager?

    Katie Cubillas
    Katie Cubillas

    Twilio Sr. Dir, Product - Technology Partners • 4y

    Great communication and intellectual honestly are of the main traits I look for.  It's pretty important to be extremely resourceful and confident in one's ability to make a lot with a little and to influence teams to buy into your mission enough that they want to contribute / jump in.  I also get really excited when I meet people who have had experience in both product and GTM organizations and have a competence in translating across teams / tying both worlds together. It's pretty rare, but I se ...Read More

    1,142 Views
    2 requests

  8. How does your product operations team partner with your data teams? Who owns what?

    Katie Cubillas
    Katie Cubillas

    Twilio Sr. Dir, Product - Technology Partners • 4y

    Data teams are critical partners to product ops. I've tended to structure product operations as the owners of the plan, strategies, operations, outcomes. We partner with data teams to inform strategies, measure ops effectiveness and report on growth / trends. As part of a product resourcing plan, having data team alignment / designation is critical. 

    879 Views
    3 requests