(2019-04-12) Cutler On Being Product Led

John Cutler: On Being "Product-Led". It does not mean being “product manager led”. Great products emerge from empowered fully cross-functional product teams.

it is not about products “marketing and selling themselves.”

Product-led means being guided by the potential of products and product teams, and breaking down the silos between “the business” and “the product”. The business IS the product.

Product is now your competitive advantage.”

Product is now your driver of customer loyalty.”

we’re leaving massive amounts of money on the table due to the front-loaded, prescriptive, just-build-it-this-way approach! There are huge, glaring usability issues, and we have promising ideas to increase engagement!” Asymmetric payoffs were there for the taking if they could shift decision-autonomy to the front-lines, and embrace experimentation

notice where the funnel ends in the standard sales funnels. Customers/users drop out the bottom of the funnel into The Product. This is where things get very messy—where empowered cross-functional product development teams play and win.

At Amplitude, we buy into the idea of an “engagement ladder” not a funnel

There are always more steps to the ladder. The savviest teams go “upstream” and play in areas traditionally reserved for sales and marketing.