Business case for having Product Managers in India: Hosted by Adaptive Marketing India

1. Product Professionals Networking
featuring Sanjeev Kumar
Business Case for PMs in India
Starting soon..
10:00-10:45 Networking
10:45 Speaker Starts
Next Networking Events in Bangalore
September 17th – Hosted by Informatica
Oct15th – Hosted by Siemens
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http://www.adaptivemarketing.in

2. Congratulations!!
Srinivas Menon, Cisco
Certified Product Manager (CPM)
Siva L., Alcatel Lucent
Certified Product Manager (CPM)
Madhav Krishnan, NGO club
Certified Product Manager (CPM)
Jayprakash Velu, AMD
Certified Product Manager (CPM)
Aswin K, Consona CRM
Certified Product Manager (CPM)
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3. Business Case for Having
Product Managers in India
Sanjeev Kumar
VP & MD, Informatica India
Adaptive Marketing Networking Event
Aug 2011
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4. Agenda
• Personal Background
• Product Creation – Internal & External Factors
• What is a Product Manager?
• Case for Product Managers in India
• Challenges Product Managers face in India
• Survival Tips for PM’s & Stakeholders
• Q&A
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5. Personal Background
• Formative years at The Doon School
• CS studies at BITS, Pilani & Rutgers Univ.
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6. Personal Background
• Formative years at The Doon School
• CS studies at BITS, Pilani & Rutgers Univ.
• 1990 to 2006 in Silicon Valley
• Three start-up’s in OODBMS – roles in QA, Perf, PS & Pre-sales
• Four years at Oracle – Product Management & Dev Management
• Two further start-up’s – Engineering Management, learnt to scale
• BEA – Engineering Management to General Management
• 2006 onwards – Bangalore, India
• BEA – Product GM & matrix management
• Informatica – matrix management, innovation
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7. “Advert” – Informatica at a Glance
The Independent Leader in Data Integration
• Founded: 1993
• 2010 Revenue: $650 million $650
• 6-year CAGR: >20% per year $600
• Employees: 2,125+ $550
• Partners: 400+ $500
• Major SI, ISV, OEM and $450
• On-Demand Cloud Leaders $400
• Customers: 4,280+ $350
• ~70% of the Global 500 $300
• Customers in 82 countries
$250
• Direct Presence in 26 countries
$200
• # 1 in Customer Loyalty
(5 Years in a Row) $150
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Informatica enables organizations to reduce cost and gain a competitive advantage
in today’s global information economy by empowering them to access,
integrate and trust all their information assets.
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8. “Advert” – Informatica at Another Glance!
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9. Disclaimers
• Strong Silicon Valley slant & mind-set
• Experience relevant to MNC R&D Centers
• Focused on selling to enterprise customers (B2B)
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10. Product Creation – “Outside looking in”
Externalities / Eco-System / “Hygiene”
• Access to (local) markets and customers
• Perception of value in intangible products and software
• Propensity of customers to buy IP-driven products
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11. Product Creation – “Outside looking in”
Externalities / Eco-System / “Hygiene”
• Access to (local) markets and customers
• Perception of value in intangible products and software
• Propensity of customers to buy IP-driven products
• Venture Funding
• IPO’s of product / OPD companies
• Persistence Software, MMYT, …
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12. Product Creation – “Outside looking in”
Externalities / Eco-System / “Hygiene”
• Access to (local) markets and customers
• Perception of value in intangible products and software
• Propensity of customers to buy IP-driven products
• Venture Funding
• IPO’s of product / OPD companies
• Persistence Software, MMYT, …
• Means for Incubating Start-ups
• Licensing of IP from academic institutes – IIT’s, IIIT’s, IISc
• VC firms offering a range of support services / functions
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13. Product (IP) Creation – “Inside looking out”
• Access to (local) markets and customers
• Understanding what adds value and what to build
• Interactive process: relevance, novelty & credibility
• Business vs. Consumer focused businesses
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14. Product (IP) Creation – “Inside looking out”
• Access to (local) markets and customers
• Understanding what adds value and what to build
• Interactive process: relevance, novelty & credibility
• Business vs. Consumer focused businesses
• Talent availability for business + product mindset
• Senior-level engineering talent to drive product ownership
• Business-oriented product management to own business plan
• Track record of delivery and earning of trust
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15. Product (IP) Creation – “Inside looking out”
• Access to (local) markets and customers
• Understanding what adds value and what to build
• Interactive process: relevance, novelty & credibility
• Business vs. Consumer focused businesses
• Talent availability for business + product mindset
• Senior-level engineering talent to drive product ownership
• Business-oriented product management to own business plan
• Track record of delivery and earning of trust
• Cross-functional representation in a single place
• “The Trinity” – PM + Architect + UX Engineering
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16. Product Manager – Who, What & Why?
• A mini-CEO for the product
• “What to build” – customers, competitors & “secret sauce”
• Cross-functional leadership ability, a sense of “the possible”
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17. Product Manager – Who, What & Why?
• A mini-CEO for the product
• “What to build” – customers, competitors & “secret sauce”
• Cross-functional leadership ability, a sense of “the possible”
• Traits of a Product Manager
• Combination of “hard” & “soft” skills – “all-rounders”
• A sense of “where the puck is going to be” – domain expertise
• Powers of persuasion – responsibility without authority
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18. Product Manager – Who, What & Why?
• A mini-CEO for the product
• “What to build” – customers, competitors & “secret sauce”
• Cross-functional leadership ability, a sense of “the possible”
• Traits of a Product Manager
• Combination of “hard” & “soft” skills – “all-rounders”
• A sense of “where the puck is going to be” – domain expertise
• Powers of persuasion – responsibility without authority
• Why – “Glue” for a Product Team
• Only role with holistic view of product and its value proposition
• First step to being a “general” or “product line” manager
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19. Case for Product Managers in India – Pro’s
• Maturity of R&D Centers to take on ownership
• Eight years of sustained growth across all R&D functions
• In-bound product management being done meaningfully
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20. Case for Product Managers in India – Pro’s
• Maturity of R&D Centers to take on ownership
• Eight years of sustained growth across all R&D functions
• In-bound product management being done meaningfully
• Coverage of 70% of humanity +/- 5 hours from India
• Half-day overlap with bulk of BRIC & other growing economies
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21. Case for Product Managers in India – Pro’s
• Maturity of R&D Centers to take on ownership
• Eight years of sustained growth across all R&D functions
• In-bound product management being done meaningfully
• Coverage of 70% of humanity +/- 5 hours from India
• Half-day overlap with bulk of BRIC & other growing economies
• Increase in spending on software / IP-driven products
• Scale getting large enough that systems cannot be “winged”
• Growing number of Global-1000 companies in close proximity
• Product roll-out in Indian market as blue-print for others
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22. Case for Product Managers in India – Pro’s
• Maturity of R&D Centers to take on ownership
• Eight years of sustained growth across all R&D functions
• In-bound product management being done meaningfully
• Coverage of 70% of humanity +/- 5 hours from India
• Half-day overlap with bulk of BRIC & other growing economies
• Increase in spending on software / IP-driven products
• Scale getting large enough that systems cannot be “winged”
• Growing number of Global-1000 companies in close proximity
• Product roll-out in Indian market as blue-print for others
• Competition from (state funded) companies in China
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23. Case for Product Managers in India – Con’s
• Coverage of 70% of humanity +/- 5 hours from India
• Not yet consistent with geographical distribution of customers
• Lack of access to the product & value-creation feedback loop
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24. Case for Product Managers in India – Con’s
• Coverage of 70% of humanity +/- 5 hours from India
• Not yet consistent with geographical distribution of customers
• Lack of access to the product & value-creation feedback loop
• Maturity of R&D Centers to take on ownership
• Tough to interact with field & sales org in US – longer cycle times
• Cultural differences leading to communication challenges
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25. Case for Product Managers in India – Con’s
• Coverage of 70% of humanity +/- 5 hours from India
• Not yet consistent with geographical distribution of customers
• Lack of access to the product & value-creation feedback loop
• Maturity of R&D Centers to take on ownership
• Tough to interact with field & sales org in US – longer cycle times
• Cultural differences leading to communication challenges
• Increase in spending on software / IP-driven products
• Negotiation and sales cycles are longer than other geographies
• Software piracy
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26. Challenges for PM’s in India
• Customer / Market Access
• Too many PM’s in India “burning the mid-night oil”
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27. Challenges for PM’s in India
• Customer / Market Access
• Too many PM’s in India “burning the mid-night oil”
• Engagement Model between HQ and India
• Degree of empowerment for senior folks in India R&D center
• Shadowing -> Component Charter -> Global Product Charter
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28. Challenges for PM’s in India
• Customer / Market Access
• Too many PM’s in India “burning the mid-night oil”
• Engagement Model between HQ and India
• Degree of empowerment for senior folks in India R&D center
• Shadowing -> Component Charter -> Global Product Charter
• Critical Mass
• Lack of strong peer connect, locally or remote
• Identification with engineering leadership – growing
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29. Challenges for PM’s in India
• Customer / Market Access
• Too many PM’s in India “burning the mid-night oil”
• Engagement Model between HQ and India
• Degree of empowerment for senior folks in India R&D center
• Shadowing -> Component Charter -> Global Product Charter
• Critical Mass
• Lack of strong peer connect, locally or remote
• Identification with engineering leadership – growing
• Career Path
• Function is new enough in India that it lacks role models
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30. Survival Tips – for PM’s & Stake-holders
• “Burning the mid-night oil” is ok to establish yourself
• Need support from family, immediate manager & co-workers
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31. Survival Tips – for PM’s & Stake-holders
• “Burning the mid-night oil” is ok to establish yourself
• Need support from family, immediate manager & co-workers
• Big, new ideas easier to handle than incremental ones
• First rev can be developed without much feedback
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32. Survival Tips – for PM’s & Stake-holders
• “Burning the mid-night oil” is ok to establish yourself
• Need support from family, immediate manager & co-workers
• Big, new ideas easier to handle than incremental ones
• First rev can be developed without much feedback
• Understand & adjust communication flow from field
• Stakeholders at HQ can refer field inquiries to PM’s in India
• Must get face-time with key field / sales personnel
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33. Survival Tips – for PM’s & Stake-holders
• “Burning the mid-night oil” is ok to establish yourself
• Need support from family, immediate manager & co-workers
• Big, new ideas easier to handle than incremental ones
• First rev can be developed without much feedback
• Understand & adjust communication flow from field
• Stakeholders at HQ can refer field inquiries to PM’s in India
• Must get face-time with key field / sales personnel
• Career Value-adds
• BAP Cases & Analyses – Build-Acquire-Partner
• Cross-functional Management (“making of the hotdog”)
• Brand Analysis – attach-rates, “cross-sell”, “up-sell”, pull-through
• Go-To-Market (GTM) Planning – “sell-with”, “sell-through”, “sell-to”
• Leadership Skills – decision w/o complete information, be the generalist
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34. Q&A
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