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I suspect that the answer to this question will vary depending on the organization, but based on my experience, the Head of Product is responsible for translating company goals into a product strategy and leading a team of product managers to bring it to fruition.
In a startup, this role typically remains quite hands-on. Nevertheless, I have observed that the main distinction between a Head of Product (HoP) and a Product Manager (PM) lies in the HoP's emphasis on higher-level strategy and involvement in matters beyond the product team. For example, HoPs often engage in assessing market opportunities, aligning with other departments within the company, and collaborating with leadership and founders on overall business strategy.
If I said busy, does that sound cliche? Haha. At the moment, I'm involved in several tasks: formulating a product vision, onboarding a new Product Manager, establishing processes for goal-setting and product discovery, collaborating with the Engineering team to launch new model infrastructure, conducting meetings with our customers to gather feedback on a new planning tool we're developing, and also in the process of hiring a designer. Just writing all of that leaves me a bit breathless. We definitely move quickly at Mutinex - I always joke that a week of Mutinex time is the equivalent of a month of real-world time.
My background is pretty diverse! I actually started out my career in media, and made a number of sidesteps to get into tech and product (Journalist > Book Editor > Digital Editor > Instructional Designer > Product Manager > Head of Product). When I transitioned into product management, I wanted to be able to build product at pace and make a big impact without all the boundaries of corporate, so I joined a startup, and I’ve never looked back!
As a Head of Product, you’re a leader of products and people, so being great with both of those things is important. You’re not going to nail product leadership until you’ve nailed product management. HoP is also very much a business strategy role, so having a birds-eye view of how the entire org fits together and being commercially-savvy is important.
I’ve always been fairly tech-savvy, so I think the combination of that along with a communications background made the transition into product relatively easy for me. Any combination of project management, engineering, design, marketing or commercial experience can also make for great foundations for getting into product.
When I hire startup PMs, one of the most important characteristics I’m looking for is an entrepreneurial mindset. The types of people who naturally see business and product opportunities in every problem, and have the motivation to bring those (sometimes crazy) ideas to life. It’s one of those things you can’t really teach, but in my experience, I’ve found it to be the difference between good PMs and exceptional PMs in startups.
Others include great communication and storytelling, a good understanding of how technology works, the ability to multitask and be super organised, and to not be afraid of a bit of healthy conflict (we have to say no a lot).
Culture, people, and product vision are priorities for me. I want to make sure I’ll have a good relationship with the founder(s) because as the Head of Product, you’re basically the custodian of their product vision, so I want to make sure we’re super values aligned.
Plus, the product has to be something that sparks my interest in some way – either by being in a domain I’m personally interested in or just a really interesting problem to solve. I also look at the financials to make sure there's a decent runway and signs of growth to offset some risk.
I’m more of a podcast fan than a reader. I love Lenny’s Podcast, Fearless Product Leadership, Y Combinator's startup podcast, and Brene Brown's Dare to Lead podcast.
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Here are the five current active roles in the EVP portfolio:
