5 Practical Tips on Mastering B2B Product Strategy with Laura Marino

Welcome to the latest issue of the Product Management Learning Series - a series of live streaming events and newsletter articles to help you level up your product career! ??

In our 46th installment, our speaker was Laura Marino , Chief Product Officer, board member, and guest lecturer at Stanford University. Laura's expertise spans more than two decades across various B2B and B2B2C companies, where she specializes in aligning product strategy with business strategy. From tech giants like Microsoft and SAP Labs to the cutting-edge start-up TrueML, Laura's insights have shaped growth trajectories of many companies. A supporter of women and diversity, Laura serves on the Board of Leading Women in Technology, a non-profit dedicated to promoting women's leadership.

If you missed the event, you can watch the full event recording here.?

Below are the main takeaways from the conversation I had with Laura:

Two key aspects of strategic leadership in product management are: developing a high-performing team and aligning product strategy with business goals.?

Laura shared that strategic leadership in product management can hold different meanings depending on who you ask. Many associate it with Steve Jobs, a brilliant visionary. Although keeping up with trends, recognizing opportunities, and fostering product innovation are vital aspects of strategic thinking, they don't paint the complete picture. A definition that Laura referenced was: "strategic leadership involves guiding ourselves, our teams, and our organizations in a manner that pushes the company's mission and objectives forward, yielding a lasting advantage." Laura liked this definition because it conveys two core essences of “strategic leadership”: first, the emphasis on leading teams and organizations implies the ability to build, develop, retain, and inspire a high performing team. No product leader succeeds alone, no matter how visionary they are. Second, "pushes the company's mission and objectives forward'' highlights the link between product strategy and business strategy, including financial aspirations. Product strategy must not only steer products toward fulfilling the company's long-term mission and vision, but also harmonize with mid-term business strategies and aid short-term financial targets.

Successful alignment between B2B sales and product teams hinges on mutual empathy and a shared company goal.

Laura mentioned that one of the challenges in B2B is finding the right balance between short term demands, typically driven by the sales team, and long term initiatives that the product team wants. The goal is to work together better and not just make products based on sales requests. When the company is just starting out, it's more acceptable to accommodate unique features for customers because it helps the company secure those critical initial adopters. But as the company gets bigger, it's not always possible to do that for every customer. Laura shared that the best practice is to keep a close eye on the company's goals and find the right balance. Sometimes that means saying "no" to the sales team or even the CEO to make sure product plans stay on track. Other times, especially when things are tough economically, it's telling the product and engineering teams to pause long term strategic initiatives to focus on tactical efforts that can generate short-term revenue.

Laura recounted an instance where she advised the CEO to let go of their largest customer. Although initially attractive, this customer's demands for unique features drained resources from scalable projects. By showing that these requests were unsustainable and misaligned with the company's objectives, Laura guided the executive team to the tough but necessary decision to part ways, emphasizing the value of long-term vision over short-term gains. She also shared a contrasting example where she redirected the team's focus from long-term strategic features to immediate business needs. For such shifts to be effective, it's crucial to foster empathy between go-to-market and the R&D teams, and to ensure that everyone is aligned toward the shared goal of company success.

Product strategy is like a trip up a steep mountain, you set your main goal and figure out what path to take through lots of communication along the way to drive alignment.

When it comes to decision-making parameters, Laura used the metaphor of a trek towards a distant mountain to describe product strategy. This mountain symbolizes the company's long-term vision. The journey involves constant adjustments and decisions based on the landscape, much like how a product strategy must adapt to market conditions and internal capabilities. Laura emphasized that these tactical decisions should be informed by the business goals set by the executive team. These goals often include key performance indicators like net retention rates or compliance standards. For example, if the business goal is to double revenue, the product and engineering teams need to evaluate the platform's capacity to handle increased transactions and identify any areas of technical debt that could hinder scalability.?

To operationalize alignment, Laura insisted that effective communication is the linchpin. She pointed out that many companies lack a clear roadmap or even a basic communication strategy to align different departments. To bridge this gap, each functional group—be it sales, engineering, or product—would first identify their key initiatives and resource allocations in line with the company's overarching business goals. These individual plans are then collectively reviewed by the leadership to identify any dependencies or inconsistencies. For instance, if the sales team is targeting enterprise clients while the product team feels the product isn't enterprise-ready, such a misalignment is immediately flagged. This cyclical review process ensures not just alignment but also collective ownership of the company's strategic direction.

Navigating the AI and ML landscape in B2B is not just about jumping on the bandwagon, but finding real value and addressing enterprise concerns.

AI and ML are ubiquitous trends in the business landscape, but their application needs to be carefully considered rather than blindly adopted. Laura pointed out that while many companies are quick to announce their use of AI, it's essential for product teams to identify where AI can genuinely add value. She suggested focusing on "low-hanging fruit" to improve internal processes and productivity initially. At the same time, product teams should explore how AI can significantly enhance the products they offer or transform customer interactions.

Laura also noted that larger companies were among the first to embrace AI, often to disrupt themselves before startups could. She believed that companies with access to their own data have a competitive edge if they build AI models based on that data. Moreover, startups that pay attention to enterprise concerns like data security and compliance will find unique opportunities in the B2B space. This balanced approach—combining AI capabilities with attention to security and compliance—offers a promising path for B2B companies.

Present with confidence, provide context, and use good judgment on delegating tasks to close the perception gap towards women being considered “not strategic enough”.?

Laura mentioned there really is a perception gap on women being considered better at execution and not at being strategic. Laura shared that, Margaret Thatcher famously said, when she was the prime minister in the UK, “if you want anything said, ask a man; if you want anything done, ask a woman.” So women tend to be known as famous for being very strong in execution, but that sometimes hurts them in terms of not being perceived as strategic. Laura recommended that to address this perception gap, it's important for women to communicate confidently and provide context before diving into details. Confidence when presenting is crucial. Also, while being great at getting things done is good, it's wise to decide what tasks should be passed on to others to delegate better and help others grow. This way, you free yourself to spend more time on strategic discussions.

Additional Gems from Laura:

?? AllTrails , an app that is commonly used for outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain biking, climbing and snow sports, is Laura’s favorite product. ?

?? Early in her career, Laura found the most influence from the VP of Engineering and the VP of R&D at Nuance, who not only advocated for her promotion but also instilled confidence in her leadership abilities and emphasized the importance of strong relationships with engineering teams.

?? Laura mentioned that as you advance in your career, you should look at growing a comprehensive skill set in other areas of the business, beyond product management skills. One book Laura recommended was High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil.?

?? Special kudos to Andrew Altschuler for writing this article.

Next up, join us for an insightful conversation with Prashant Mahajan , the founder of Zeda.io and a seasoned product manager turned entrepreneur. We'll explore how Zeda.io leverages AI to empower product managers and facilitate collaboration among product teams. Prashant will share his journey from the initial idea to building the platform, discuss the challenges he faced, and offer insights into the future of product management in an AI-empowered era. ??

?? RSVP here (Replay available upon registration)

Next up,

• Sep 1: AI-Powered Product Management: Conversation with Zeda.io Founder?
• Sep 8: Empowering Connections and Mentorship through ADPList with Felix Lee
• Sep 15: Mastering the Chaos: Navigating Product Management and AI
• Sep 22: Career Reinvention: Building A Product Management Portfolio Careers

More sessions coming… subscribe to stay tuned!?

Learn more about the Product Management Learning Series and view past recordings here.