When Launches Ship but the Product Doesn't Move - Follow Up Story
Handling the dilemma of GTM vs product delivery
What happened after writing a recent Product Management IRL article? These insights are for paid subscribers to Product Management IRL.
This week’s backstory is about helping the GTM team:
What Prompted This Article?
This article comes from two of my favorite product managers in real-life: Vivek and Sam.
Vivek cold-called a lot of salespeople and told them about his latest product launch. His goal was to generate quick revenue. As a result of these calls, Vivek learned what was missing in his product. No revenue came from his “dialing for dollars” play.
Sam watched Vivek’s efforts with interest. Sam’s latest launch had a lot of organic interest from sales. Orders were trickling in for Sam’s product. Sam wanted more sales.
Sam asked if he should help the GTM team, but in a different way from Vivek. Sam had the classic product manager’s dilemma: Does he help GTM or focus on the next launch?
Sam asked me about ways to help GTM. I immediately told him to focus on the next launch. It’s performance review time, and Sam needs to show product delivery.
I felt bad after this. I gave Sam the right answer but the wrong reason.
It was Sam’s question and my flawed answer that prompted this article.
The simple reason is that product managers have operational sellability steps after the launch.
