Navigating Your First Product Leader Hire: A Founder's Guide

In the whirlwind of scaling your startup, hiring your first product leader can feel like embarking on a voyage into uncharted waters. As someone who's had numerous conversations with founders and investors grappling with this decision, I've come to appreciate the weightiness of the question:

What makes a great product leader, and how do you find one?

Let's start by demystifying the role. Product management is the compass providing direction to your company's strategy—it evolves your company vision into an actionable product strategy and provides cross-functional leadership to ensure the company delivers impactful solutions to the market. Essentially, it answers the questions of what to build and why it’s important to our market, allowing the rest of the organization to focus on execution.

Recognizing the right moment to bring a product leader on board is no simple feat. It's not merely about hitting revenue targets or reaching a specific team size. Rather, it's about sensing when the founder, who's been juggling multiple roles—from fundraising to closing deals and fostering thought leadership—is stretched too thin. When the core essence of your product begins to suffer due to this dispersion of focus, it's a clear signal that it's time to consider hiring a dedicated product leader. Another sign is when decision-making processes start to bog down under the weight of too many good ideas, causing hesitation in saying no to anything. Moreover, if onboarding new team members becomes a struggle because few can effectively convey the company's vision, it further underscores the need for a dedicated product leader to steer the ship.

When considering the ideal product leader, it's tempting to envision an innovator like Steve Jobs—a visionary capable of conjuring revolutionary ideas on your behalf. However, for most high-growth companies, someone with this skill set is often unnecessary. Again, there probably is not a lack of good ideas.? Instead, what most high growth companies truly require is an operator—a pragmatic problem-solver who can translate vision into actionable plans. This individual not only streamlines decision-making processes but also possesses the skillset to scale both the product and the business effectively. By focusing on operationalizing strategies and facilitating organizational scalability, they ensure the company's vision is translated into tangible outcomes for the entire team. This, in turn, simplifies onboarding and scaling processes across departments, from sales and marketing to customer success. In essence, they're the catalysts that keep the wheels turning and the momentum flowing as the company expands.

Now, let's talk personality. Your product leader should be part strategist, part tactician, has the ability to connect with others, and can quickly build trust throughout the organization. They should have a plan for quickly understanding your customers' needs and a genuine passion for solving their problems. And perhaps most importantly, they should be able to say “not now” to your ideas without frustrating you—a litmus test for both parties.

So, what can you expect once you've found the right person? In roughly 90 days, your product leader should bring clarity to your company's vision and establish a product strategy and a roadmap for prioritizing product improvements. They should help you provide clarity to the murky waters of decision-making, ensuring that every choice aligns with your overarching goals.

And yes, there will be challenges along the way—moments when your product leader shoots down your latest brainchild. But remember, it's not personal. It's about making decisions based on focused discovery and what's best for the company in the long run.

In the end, hiring your first product leader is a milestone worth celebrating. It's a sign that your company is maturing, ready to take on new challenges and chart a course towards growth and innovation. So embrace the journey, and trust that with the right leader at the helm, your company is better set up for the success you’ve always envisioned.