Mike Flouton

Mike Flouton

VP, Product, GitLab
About
Former VPM, VPPMM, investor and advisor. Back to my roots in Product.

Content

Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductAugust 17
The product marketing part of the typical career is pretty straight forward. Generally, you will start as a Product Marketing Manaer. In larger orgs, you may take on a Sr. Product Marketing Manaer or Principal Product Marketing Manager title as you become more of a senior individual contributor. ......Read More
3457 Views
Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductOctober 25
This is a great question. I've been using some variant of cost-adjusted impact scoring to prioritize roadmaps for over 20 years now. Every market, buyer, product and strategic context is different, so there's no one size fits all methodology. RICE is an example of one popular approach, but I pref......Read More
2134 Views
Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductOctober 25
I might have given you a very different answer to this question a year ago! I used to be paranoid about hiding my roadmap from my competitors, and would share broadly internally and with customers to maximize feedback, yet lock it down for everyone else. GitLab is the most transparent company ......Read More
2119 Views
Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductOctober 25
I've always said a good PM and PMM should be joined at the hip. The PMM should be bringing market insights to the table and act as an excellent sounding board for their PM. That should be throughout the lifecycle. Far too often what happens is the PM builds something, throws it over the fence ......Read More
2105 Views
Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductOctober 25
This question is impossible to answer in the abstract. It depends entirely on where you are in the technology adoption lifecycle. If you haven't read "Crossing the Chasm" and "Inside the Tornado," go get them immediately and work your way through them. They are relatively short reads and timeless......Read More
2100 Views
Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductOctober 25
As a general rule, everyone should have input into the product roadmap. In fact, at GitLab our mission is to make it so that everyone can contribute and we apply the same principle here. A good product manager knows that listening to an idea, asking questions, and truly trying to understand it......Read More
2074 Views
Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductOctober 25
I know it's a cliche, but as PM you are CEO of the product. You shouldn't need guidance from the e-group. Their perspective can be useful, and they will bring knowledge and insights that can help you get to the right market driven insights. But you shouldn't outsource your job to them by relying ......Read More
2070 Views
Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductAugust 29
I'd first like to call attention to your last sentence - this is an issue with all of marketing, not just PMM. The CMO the the highest turnover spot on the exec team. There are two reasons IME. 1. The bad news.  Marketing is an easy target when times are bad because many of the ways we are ......Read More
1754 Views
Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductNovember 15
Perhaps this is controversial, but I would say there are zero pros and many, many cons.   MBAs can be useful if you're looking to switch fields. Otherwise, I'd much rather see two additional years of work experience. I've hired MBAs from top 15 schools and from a PMM perspective, I was basicall......Read More
1452 Views
Mike Flouton
Mike Flouton
GitLab VP, ProductNovember 16
Complex enterprise sales are more about relationships and solution selling than they are collateral. So, if anything, content and collateral becomes less important the farther up market you go. These sales are about face to face presentations, conversations, solution selling and discovery.   Th......Read More
1174 Views
Credentials & Highlights
VP, Product at GitLab
Top Product Management Mentor List
Lives In Campbell, California
Work At GitLab
Senior Product Marketing Manager
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