David Pereira

👶 In B2B product organisations, product management teams are often seen as the children in the room 👶 They aren't taken seriously and often end up with: 🤯 No easy access to customers 🤯 Not involved in segmentation or ICP 🤯 Not really involved in pricing or packaging 🤯 In many cases, not really able to prioritise without being escalated over ... and all of the things that they need to be able to influence to actually do the product management part of their job. On the other side, you have a variety of teams all (with some legitimacy) claiming "ownership" of the customer - e.g. sales, account management, customer success. These people are speaking to existing and new customers all the time, way more than PMs ever get to do. PMs are reduced to begging for permission, often denied it, and end up just delivering someone else's list of features. So, what to do? Give up? No! But you don't just get to go in and wave the "product-led" wand and everyone just gets behind you. Try these: 🤝 Build allies, not enemies. Instead of fighting colleagues for access, offer to synthesise and amplify what they hear from customers so they see you as a multiplier, not a competitor 🔎 Earn trust with evidence. When you do get data or customer insights, package them in a way that makes the business impact obvious. Numbers, anecdotes, and outcomes beat vibes or "product sense" ⚔️ Pick your battles. You won’t change pricing strategy, customer access, and roadmap autonomy all at once. Decide which lever is most achievable and most impactful right now. Die on the right hills 🗣️ Overcommunicate the “why.” Stakeholders often resist PM input because they don’t see how it helps them hit quota, retain accounts, or grow revenue.  Connect product decisions explicitly to their success metrics 👑 Act like an owner, even if you don't have ownership. Sometimes, modelling the behaviour of a “real” PM ... being prepared, asking the right questions, running experiments... learns you the credibility you’re missing 🎉 Celebrate small wins loudly. Show people how involving PM earlier led to a better deal closed, smoother renewal, or happier customer. These stories can buy you more influence over time You can't grow up all at once, but take it step by step, and you'll be walking in no time! 👋 Hi, I'm Jason etc etc, follow me for more B2B tips, hit me up if you would like to chat about helping your B2B product organisation, and please remember to fill in my "State of B2B Product Management" survey (links in comments) 👋

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CEO keep micro managing your product? That's annoying. But is it bad? I get asked how to keep CEOs out of the details a lot. Some thoughts. 𝗨𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 Lots of PMs get frustrated at the CEO being all over them, without stopping to ask why. In many cases it signals a lack of trust: • They think they understand customers better than you • They don't trust you to ship on time Trying to get the CEO to back off without solving these root causes won't work. 𝗢𝘄𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 Most CEOs understand customers incredibly well. Especially founder CEOs. If you want them to step back, you need to show you understand your customers even better. This isn't a HIPPO vs. the team dynamic. This is a 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥? dynamic. Be the best informed, share your insights, and you'll have much more influence. That means investing in tracking, user researchers, PM time with customers, etc. This is all upstream of your CEO being too into the details. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗽𝗶𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 The second big fear that drives CEOs into the details is a perceived lack of accountability. They aren't sure you'll ship on time, or are working on the highest priority things. Make it really clear: • What each team is working on <- be clear why • When it will ship <- don't miss your own deadlines • What they plan to work on next <- this can change • What they have recently shipped <- shows throughput 𝗕𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝘄 "𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲" 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 When it's not clear what stage your plans are at it can make discussions much more painful. Someone is commenting on the copy, while someone else is asking "is this the right problem to solve?" Align on your language for where you're at in development, and be really clear about the feedback that is useful. e.g.: • Deciding the problem to tackle • Exploring potential solutions • Fine tuning one solution • Launching a defined solution 𝗔𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗘𝗢 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 Of course, some CEOs want to have flexibility. That's fine as long as you have a "budget" for it. Be explicit about the amount of time in the roadmap to reserve for ad hoc requests. Be clear about how much this will delay other priorities. 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴?! In some cases, the CEO has exposure to critical personas that PMs will never have. e.g. other CEOs In this case, it would be crazy to exclude the most informed person from product development just because they are CEO. Instead think about how you can get them involved in a way that is efficient and effective all round. And by extension, the same goes for having sales / customer success leaders involved. ❤️ Like this post? ❤️ Hustle Badger offers practical, comprehensive support to upskill your product team. DM me for more details about our programs, workshops and on-demand resources.

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Stop thinking about "what can I track?" Start thinking about "what product entities do I have?" Account, Subscription, Board, and Asset. That's it for example, for Miro. Within these entities, you just map out a typical journey: created, updated, shared, deleted This mental shift alone will cut your events by 80%.

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🚨 Product Management in Europe is broken. Too much process. Too little business impact. Too often, Product Managers are treated like project managers instead of growth leaders. At the Highberg MediaMinds Strategy Forum 2025 I’ll go on stage with a clear message: 👉 It’s time to move Product from the backlog to the boardroom. My keynote: “From Broken to Breakthrough: Rebooting Product Management in Media” I’ll share: ➡️ Why most product teams underdeliver today ➡️ How the US does it differently (and better) ➡️ What it really takes to rebuild Product as a growth engine in media If we want product to matter, we need to stop hiding in the sprint planning room and start speaking in business terms. The future of Product in Europe depends on it. #ProductManagement #Leadership #Media #DigitalTransformation #HighbergStrategieforum Bauer Media Group Highberg

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📌 I used to think customer feedback was just a nice-to-have. But then I realized , it’s the secret to building a product people actually love. Here’s how you can turn feedback into your superpower: 1️⃣ Listen everywhere: Customer support chats, social media comments, app store reviews, and forums. 2️⃣ Ask the right questions: Don’t just ask "What do you think?" Instead, ask, "What’s the biggest problem you’re facing with our product?" or "What feature would make your life easier?" 3️⃣ Look for patterns: Don't act on every single request. Instead, find the common themes and pain points. That's where the real opportunities are. 4️⃣ Close the loop: When you launch a feature or fix a bug based on feedback, tell your users! It shows you’re listening and builds incredible trust. 5️⃣ Turn users into advocates: When customers feel heard, they don’t just stick around , they become your biggest fans. 🔑 The secret? Your customers are your co-founders. Most products fail not because they're bad... ...but because they're built in a bubble, without the people who will actually use them. 💡 Customer feedback turns a good idea into a great product. It helps you save time by building what's truly needed. It makes your product indispensable and your brand trustworthy. It shows your customers that you're in this journey together. 🚀 Start small. Ask. Listen. Build. Repeat. That’s how real loyalty is earned. 👉 Want to learn how to set up a simple feedback system for your business? 📩 DM me "Feedback" and I’ll send you a quick guide.

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