Struggling product managers merely present options instead of making definitive decisions
Michael Cieri · Lessons from Gusto & Square on Finding Your Product Wedge | Michael Cieri · Feb 8, 2024 · at 48:52
Michael Cieri, Chief Product Officer at Gusto, discusses key traits of successful product leaders versus those who struggle in product roles.
0:00 / 0:07exact quote · 7.6s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I think the product people that I see struggle the most are the ones that just like, can't really make that like, well, here's all the options. And I'm like, well, it's your job to tell us what we're going to do. So what are we going to do?”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Michael Cieri
Great product leaders identify the right answer 70% of the time
“Somebody with good judgment seven times out of 10 will probably pick up on the right answer with less data.”
Cieri: One-size-fits-all B2B software fails because industry workflows differ starkly
“This can't just be like a one size fits all thing anymore. Like the differences of jobs to be done across these industries are just too stark.”
Vertical SaaS at the bottom of the market faces high CAC
“The catch on that, and like one of the tricks is just, it's very, very difficult to be able to build awareness and be able to acquire, at least at the bottom of the market, be able to acquire at an affordable CAC if you don't have really great brand awareness,…”
Cieri: The SMB software challenge is prioritization, not finding viable product adjacencies
“To me, one of the best things about working in the small business arena is just there's so many areas that we can help that I'm sure if we put effort into would work because the customer pain is there and the market's there. It's just kind of deciding how many…”
Gusto embeds high-risk Horizon 3 product bets inside its core payroll product
“There are like, even horizons within a product. So you look at something like payroll, for example, our payroll product is our, is the backbone of gusto. There's a lot of things we're going to do that adds into what we already have. That is high rate of succes…”
Cieri: Most Horizon 3 product bets originate bottom-up rather than top-down
“I think that's one thing like for horizon three things is just a lot of it comes bottoms up. So most of it comes bottoms up and like making the space for that to happen then shows up in like an annual planning process where you're like, oh yeah, you know, that…”