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Smucha: VP of Product boils down to strategy, velocity, and go-to-market

Zach Smucha · What a Great VP of Product Really Does | SaaStr · Nov 1, 2017 · at 1:19

Zack Smocha, VP of Product at Rainforest, outlines the fundamental responsibilities of product leadership on a SaaStr panel.

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“What's the role of a VP product? I think it's really boils into three things. One is strategy, making sure the company really knows what it's doing. Who they sell, what they sell, how they sell, manage that process over time. The second thing is the minutia of what you really need supposed to do, which is like, make sure there is a velocity between PM, between engineering, customer feedback. And the third thing is the go to market, which is all about supporting sales, sales and sales, supporting marketing, pricing, all of those things.”

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