Do you love your product?
Love wins
Product Managers are generalists. Engineers are better at writing code, designers are better at solving UX problems, and analysts are better at crunching data. As generalists our only path to success is to become an expert on the product, the user, and the market. That’s how you add value to your team.
This means you need to:
Use your product often
Talk to your users frequently
Become an absolute expert in your market
These activities are huge investments of your time. If you are not genuinely interested in what it is that your product does, it will be hard to put in the hours. It will feel like work. While to others - who do have a passion for that market - it will feel like play. Who do you think will win that game?
How to find love
Okay, so we need to do something we love. How do we find it? I think it’s relatively easy: What are the things that have sparked your curiosity lately? Don’t think about jobs. Think about trends, technologies and markets you care about and work backwards from there.
What I love about VEED
So what led me to VEED? Since Figma came about, I’m fascinated by how great browser-based tools reduce the barrier to create things. Back in the day, you needed an agency to create a slick marketing video (costing lots $ and time), while with VEED you can spin something up in an hour and see how it performs.
That trend is making it much easier create and sell things. Design with Figma, use Webflow to build your website, use Stripe for payments, and Zapier for integrations. What used to require a team of specialists, can now be done by one ambitious generalist.
All these tools have a free tier, so you can start at zero cost. With lower barriers, more people will start businesses. This means they can work on things they care about. That’s a trend I care about and love to contribute to.
Closing thoughts
This month’s newsletter wasn’t packed with actionable tips, rather it’s a prompt for reflection. Try to articulate what excites you about your product. This will help you sell your product to customers, team members, and potential recruits. And in the inevitable moments where your motivation dips it will help you sell it to yourself.
Already have the answer? Tell me in the comments!