Slides Krishna Madhuvarsu recently used in his discussion w/ mentees of The Product Mentor. The Product Mentor is a program designed to pair Product Mentors and Mentees from around the World, across all industries, from start-up to enterprise, guided by the fundamental goals…Better Decisions. Better Products. Better Product People. Throughout the program, each mentor leads a conversation in an area of their expertise that is live streamed and available to both mentee and the broader product community. http://TheProductMentor.com

1. Product Management
@ Startups and Enterprises
Krishna Madhuvarsu
Director, Product Strategy
Oracle Inc.
www.sureshkrishna.com/blog
www.linkedin.com/in/sureshmadhuvarsu
Picture Attributions : Google image search and personal

2. Bangalore, India
Stuttgart, Germany
Silicon Valley, US
New Jersey, US
GemSoft Inc. (s)
Robert Bosch GmbH
JackBe Inc. (s)
WhizKidz Inc. (s)
Oracle Inc.
Skire Inc. (s)
Oracle Inc.
Computer Science
MBA
Internet/SOA
Social Networking
Automotive
Utilities
Construction | O&G

3. empathy listening
curiosity decision making
communication
influential negotiation
IQ & EQ
technology
industry
Customers vs. userscompetitors
domain knowledge attention to details
evangelist collaboration
confidence
integrity
prioritize
design thinking
futuristic teamwork
energetic
focused
persistent
Traits and Skills

4. Business Model
Innovation & Quality
Company & Product Vision
Market Fit Growth
Product Feedback
Product Roadmap
Top 8 differentiators
Requirements

6. Business Model
Startups
• Self-discovery
• Multiple changes
• Biz Plan for investors
Enterprises
• Established model
• Change has a huge impact
• Biz Plan for senior
management and market

8. Roadmap
Startups
• 6 months is a good time to
look ahead
• Focus on New
features/functions
• Lot of autonomy to execute
• Resource Constraints
Enterprises
• 2 years is a typical look
ahead time
• Focus on completing a story
and integrations
• Existing customers and
demands could slow you
down

10. Requirements
Startups
• Huge part of requirements
is the founders vision
• Informal use case level
discussions
• (often) no formal
documents
Enterprises
• Fill in the competitive
whitespace
• Easy to get industry experts
• Formal process
– Customers
– Partners
– Industry
– Consulting
How Product Managers Decide What to Build

12. Innovation & Quality
Startups
• The next big thing
• Innovation at the heart of
the products
• Play multiple roles to make
it happen
Enterprises
• Just enough to solve a
market problem
• Focus on stability and
quality
• Work with multiple
departments
Frictionless Design Choices

14. Product Feedback
Startups
• Just an email or a phone call
away
• Dev and Sales cycles are
often < 90 days
• Agility
Entrprises
• Several layers before you
can reach a customer
• Disconnected cycles
between Dev and Sales.
Sales cycles are often 9-12
months
• Scale
A Product Person’s Perspective on Enterprise Selling

16. Product Vision
Startups
• Founder’s vision
• Change is expected
• UX as differentiator
• User acquisition challenge
Enterprises
• Fill the white space or
complementing business
unit
• Changes need to be
approved at board level
• Functionality as the
differentiator
Startups play poker, big companies play chess

18. Market Fit
Startups
• By definition there is more
scrutiny
• Takes at least 2 years to
find a good market fit
• Win the market with
Innovation and Agility
Enterprises
• Easy to grab attention
• There is enough need and
sponsorship from the
market to start with
• Win the market with
execution, integration and
scale
The only thing that matters is getting to product/market fit.

20. Product Growth
Startups
• Grow (organically) or die
• Team efficiency
Enterprises
• M&A is key to growth and
innovation
• Build or Buy
• Product Architecture and
Scalability

21. Usecase 5
Usecase 4
Usecase 3
Usecase 2
Usecase 1

22. Image Source : https://suaveignition.wordpress.com/2013/08/02/your-cars-dashboard-lights/

23. Thank you!
www.sureshkrishna.com/blog
www.linkedin.com/in/sureshmadhuvarsu