Hiring the First Product Manager: A Guide for Startups

As a startup founder or leader, you might have experienced the challenges of managing product development, sales, marketing, and development altogether. At some point, you might realize that you need to hire a Product Manager to take charge of these responsibilities. But when should you do it? And how should you go about it? In this article, we'll guide you through the process of hiring your first Product Manager and help you find the right fit for your startup.

When to Hire a Product Manager

Hiring a Product Manager is unique to each company. Some companies may need to hire one after Series A or B funding when the CEO or CTO needs to relieve their duties as more emphasis is on funding management, working with VCs, and scaling the business. Others may need to hire a Product Manager during a scaling period when onboarding sales, marketing, and development. The Product Manager can act as the thread going between all teams to ensure everyone is working towards the same goals.

Another indicator is the load on the Development team. At the early stages, it can be easy for an agile development team to implement different features as they experiement to find Product Market Fit (PMF). However, this can dangerous place to be once the startup starts growing. With a lack of focus and no PM, the development may begin to underperform, lose time and money, and start accumulating technical debt. It’s at this point that a Product Manager needs to come in and take ownership of the Product by streamlining the internal processes.

Start with One Person

It's best to start with one person first rather than hiring a product team immediately. This approach will allow the Product Manager to learn about the company in-depth, make the onboarding process more seamless, and understand the unique challenges of the business. The Product Manager can then build a product team based on the company's needs and culture. From experience when I started as the solo Product Manager at a startup, I got to flow more easily between functions with autonomy and start making sense of the startup. I can imagine that having too many cooks in the kitchen could make this more cumbersome.

Define the Product Hire

Before you start recruiting, you need to define the product person you want and need. This could be down to culture, where they fit in with the team. The Product Manager should be able to commuincate with ease with all stakeholders. But sometimes communication isn’t enough. If a person isn’t a good fit with the team and only operates in a formal manner, they will miss out on the more casual conversations and nuances of the business that creates deep product and business knowledge.

You could also take the approach of looking at the strengths and weaknesses of the current team and balancing that out with the new hire. As you know, there is no “standard” Product Manager. As Product Managers, we always work within the environment we’re in. We adapt and evolve based on the needs of the organization. Therefore, when hiring you might have PMs who have more technical skills, those with more marketing skills, or those who have worked in the operational side for example.

Recruiting

Recruiting the right Product Manager is crucial for your startup's success. Product Manager jobs can be put out on any major recruitment site, such as LinkedIn and Indeed. One of the best ways to learn about a Product Manager and their experience is through scenarios. These could be hypothetical situations that a Product Manager may face in your company. You can also ask about the projects they have managed to understand their product management style and approach. The interview process should focus on their communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills, as well as their ability to work with different teams.

Initial Role

The initial role of the Product Manager should be structured to ensure they can integrate into the company's culture and understand the company's goals. It’s useful to give the Product Manager a structure to start out but it shouldn’t necessarily remain in that structure. There should be a regular meeting cadence setup between the Product Manager and founders to discuss product management processes and systems. As the Product Manager dives deeper into the company, they’ll have more insights on how to improve it aslo.

The onboarding period will determine the speed and success of the initial few weeks and months of the new Product Manager. This should include spending time with the founders and other teams, understanding the customers (both in person and through the likes of customer support data), getting a handle on data (even if there is very little data, such as that on Google Analytics), and validating the startup strategy and plan.

Hiring your first Product Manager can be a challenging process. However, by defining your needs, recruiting the right candidate, and structuring the role appropriately, you can find the perfect fit for your company.

If you need assistance with developing a product hire and onboarding plan, recruiting, or training and mentoring a newly hired product person, I’m here to help. Contact me today to learn more about how I can help your startup grow.