There are several inputs I think about when considering product differentiation:
1. Specific target customer - There are many types of customers in a market. Who
are you serving? Try to narrow your f
Product Differentiation
2 answers
Sr. Director of Product Management at Splunk • June 2
Head of Product at Matterport • January 27
Product differentiation is not about a feature laundry list; it is about
ensuring you are addressing a key business problem. So instead of starting at we
need to build features A, B, and C that our co
4 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • March 30
A common mistake exec teams make is focusing on output and forgetting about
outcomes. Product teams present roadmaps to execs and once they’ve shipped a
thing, they tell them it’s complete and move on
Sr Director II, Product Management - Marketing Technology at Walmart • March 31
If your exec team has not articulated a credible product strategy it could be
that they don't know how or they feel that they cannot invest at this time due
to much bigger near term issues or constrai
Sr. Director of Product Management at Splunk • June 2
I love this question. The answer is: it depends on the exec team and how they
are motivated, whether they are answering to private investors or public
shareholders, etc. But - to put it simply - fin
Head of Product at Matterport • January 27
Focus on alignment. Aligning differentiation into the product development
process, cross-functional team members, go-to-market planning and goal setting.
This will ensure that there are collective voi
4 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • March 30
Don’t forget about marketing, positioning and acquisition of customers as a key
part in your differentiation strategy. It’s easy for Product Managers to solely
focus on the bits and bytes of how the
Sr Director II, Product Management - Marketing Technology at Walmart • March 31
Sustainable Competitive Advantage. 1. Product attributes are insufficient and
can be replicated by competitors with enough investment and determination 2.
Pricing models and all their nuances can be u
Sr. Director of Product Management at Splunk • June 2
I'll keep this one rather brief. I find that some product managers do not always
listen to their customers and their problems as the guiding light for improving
and differentiating their products. In
Head of Product at Matterport • January 27
One important ingredient is tying how product differentiation helps drive
business value like brand recognition, product usage or increased sales. This
connection between differentiation and business
3 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • March 30
The most common mistake is to not think about it at all. It can be so
challenging to get a product built and shipped at your company that Product
Managers naturally become very internally focused. Th
Sr. Director of Product Management at Splunk • June 2
Product differentiation != new features. New features can enhance
differentiation, but these are not the same thing. For example, product
differentiation can be predominantly delivered in the go-to-m
Head of Product at Matterport • January 27
Differentiation is not just a product team responsibility. However, as a product
manager, you can help connect the dots from product differentiation to customer
adoption and business value. Product f
3 answers
Sr Director II, Product Management - Marketing Technology at Walmart • March 31
While it may be tempting to get sucked into feature by feature wars and spar
through marketing communications it will not yield much for whoever (you or the
competito) lacks sources of Sustainable Com
Sr. Director of Product Management at Splunk • June 2
This is a tale as old as time. There are many ways to approach this. I have seen
vendors heavily bid on the AdWords of their competitor names and promote
alternative solutions (trials or marketing co
Head of Product at Matterport • January 27
In this case, be competitor-aware, but customer-focused. You don't have much
control over what your competitor’s teams are doing. However, what you can drive
is focusing on delivering business resul
3 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • March 30
It’s important to know your competition, but it’s equally important not to
obsess over what they’re doing at a feature level. You should never aim for a
feature vs. feature battle with competitors. Th
Sr. Director of Product Management at Splunk • June 2
While it is important to care about your competitors to understand your own
market position, DO NOT MAKE THEM THE FOCUS. What should be your focus? Your
customers. Their problems. Their needs, their
Head of Product at Matterport • January 27
Looking at a long list of competitors’ features as a catchup list can definitely
be daunting. This is a futile race because while you are playing catchup, the
competitor will continue to keep moving a
3 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • March 30
There are 2 exercises I use to evaluate bringing differentiation into the
products I'm building. What sucks? User value mapping Where they originated I
came up with these frameworks in collaboration
Sr. Director of Product Management at Splunk • June 2
While I don't use an existing framework specifically for product
differentiation, I do use a variety of inputs to determine what lever to pull or
what decision to make. These inputs can be found in th
Head of Product at Matterport • January 27
Here is a general framework that you can leverage to customize to fit the
specific needs of your product; whether it is hardware, software or service
offering; entering a new geo or disrupting an exis
3 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • March 30
Start by analyzing why this might be happening. It’s a key signal that shouldn’t
be ignored, and needs further digging to understand what’s behind it. Is there a
misperception of your brand? Is there
Sr. Director of Product Management at Splunk • June 2
This can be a very frustrating situation to be as a product manager. This
situation tells me you work in a market that hasn't matured to the point of
clear nuance. The culprit could be either a produc
Head of Product at Matterport • January 27
It's a company problem and will likely need a cross-functional team effort to
troubleshoot and solve the issue. In the diagnosis phase, I can't stress this
enough - it's important to spend sufficient
1 answer
Sr. Director of Product Management at Splunk • June 2
I used to be a product marketer. My ideal working relationship is to view
product marketing as my key partner in product development, launch, and
iteration. We are both stewards of the product success
1 answer
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • March 30
I love this question. Through my work at both Salesforce and Shopify this is
something that comes up regularly because of our platform and healthy partner
ecosystem. Do the majority of my users need