Data & Products

Every startup’s dream is to not be one! Except the one thing that makes it successful – the “can do” spirit and efficient execution. In the early days of a startup, especially in hierarchical social cultures, designations are used to attract talent. This quickly becomes an Achilles heel for the company. Early hires do not always scale for the needs of the business. According to Carta, there is a 50% chance that your early employees will be gone in 2 to 3 years.

This is a PM career architecture document that I have used in most of my roles over the past decade. It solves for the some key challenges every growing organization faces:

1. A transparent framework easily consumable by the organization.
2. Assesses incoming talent with a consistent benchmark.
3. Gives people a clear growth path by improving on crafts.

PM Career Architecture

Why does your startup need a framework sooner than later?

Product Management in the early days of a startup is “whatever it takes to meet the customer’s (read sales) needs”. As the organization grows, we need to thoughtfully develop products while retaining the original culture of velocity and quality. For this to happen effectively, you need your best people to:

1. Acknowledge that growth (as designations/responsibilities) are all lagging indicators to mastery of the PM crafts.
2. Have the psychological safety that when the time comes, this will happen.

It is possible that when you introduce this framework 2-3 years in, people will feel resentment. They can be more enthused by designations instead of viewing this as an opportunity to sharpen their craft. Over time, what you need are people who are driven by mastering their craft and deploying their skills to both their own and the organization’s growth.

PS: This is the first of a series of posts on career architecture in startups around product, engineering, design, data and business programs. I have been fortunate to have iterated on them over the last ten odd years and I hope you find them useful. These documents are always work in progress, so if you have feedback drop me a note.