The Challenge of hiring your first Product Manager
So you've built a product and the beginnings of an amazing SaaS business from scratch. You're an expert in your problem space and you understand your customers better than anyone else on the planet. You have obsessed about the product for months (probably years) and understand every little detail and decision that's gone into it.
You've just raised Series A and your board has told you to hire a Product Manager because now you need to focus on sales, building the team out, and building a business 😱 .
The vast majority of Product Managers who are hired into this scenario leave within 12 months after a deeply frustrating and unproductive experience (from both the founder and PM's perspective).
So how do you avoid this situation?
1. Understand what you are (and what you are not) prepared to delegate. If this means you hire someone junior to just manage work through the team thats better than hiring someone more capable and then constantly clipping their wings.
2. Speak to the rest of your current team to understand your blind spots. Hire someone who compliments you, rather than competes with you.
3. Be explicit with the rest of the team about why you're hiring this person, and what they will do in the business. Make sure the candidates understand and sign-up for this mission.
4. Commit to the hiring process and lead it. You will spend a lot of time with the person you end up hiring and it's important you make sure they are someone you can work with. Don't just come in at the end for the "CEO chat". Delegating this out might save you some time in the short term, but will cost you (a lot) in the medium to long term
Hiring a great Product Manager can have a massive impact on your company. Too often though first-hire product managers fail in their role because of the things not discussed throughout the interview process. Assumptions are made on both sides, and it's not until 6 months has gone past that both parties understand and start getting frustrated about the mismatch.
Drop me a message if you're just about to hire your first PM and want to chat about it!
