As Product Management Recruiters, we’ve had a front-row seat to the extreme swings across the market when it comes to hiring Product Managers (or not!) over the past few years. Thankfully, we are kicking off 2025 with signals that indicate the page is turning and we can all collectively exhale. However, the market has evolved…
The most common recruitment trend we are seeing is every functional leader screaming for the budget to hire for a role they had to downsize in 2023. After another challenging year of layoffs and budget cuts, hiring has become a luxury for many organizations. For those lucky few who manage to secure a hiring budget,…
The first half of 2024 has been intense, but we are pleased to report a noticeable increase in the number of Chief Product Officer (CPO) and VP-level hiring decisions being made by CEOs of B2B SaaS companies. This trend signals a growing recognition of the critical role that top-tier product leadership plays in driving business…
In product management, distinguishing between fractional product managers and product consultants is crucial for companies seeking tailored guidance. Both roles contribute expertise but diverge in their engagement models, objectives, and scopes. Understanding these nuances is pivotal for businesses looking to leverage these roles effectively. Here’s a breakdown of the disparities between fractional product managers and…
The quest to find and hire a proficient SaaS Product Marketing Manager involves more than merely checking off a list of qualifications. It’s about understanding the nuanced dynamics of your HCM / employee engagement product and strategically aligning a candidate’s skills and experiences with your company’s roadmap. When looking to recruit SaaS Product Marketing…
Our Product Practice is devoted to helping tech companies make strategic product hires, and no hire consumes a CEO’s thoughts more than the CPO. For those recruiting C-level HCM SaaS product professionals, these are the top five lessons we’ve learned: Requirements It is always wise to determine early on whether subject matter expertise is…
When partnering with a CEO to help them hire, one of the first questions we get asked is, “What is the current Chief Product Officer salary?” Compensation is one of the conversations we never tire of having – whether it’s with employers trying to understand how to align budgets or with candidates seeking perspective on…
An Interview with Jillian Maloney Meet Jillian Maloney, a seasoned product leader with over a decade of triumphs in product development; bolstering client acquisition, maximizing revenue opportunities, and igniting product awareness. In this interview, Jillian unveils valuable insights to steer both CEOs, Founders and product leaders through the intricacies of their professional relationships and how…
Our experience building product teams for tech startups and scaleups has shown us that there is no single path into a product management career. Successful product management leaders and individual contributors enter the profession through any number of earlier careers, whether engineering, marketing, sales, or as a subject matter expert from the industry. The same…
Looking to scale product ops? We sat down with May Wong, Co-author of The Product Operations Manifesto, Organizer of ProductTO, and all-around product operations expert, to share her advice with Product Management leaders looking to build out or scale their product ops team. Pull back the curtain to help us understand the value a…
Is it just me, or is everyone talking about product operations lately? One contributing factor is a recent Lenny podcast with guests Melissa Perri and Dennis Tilles, where they talked about their latest book ‘Product Operations: How Successful Companies Build Better Products at Scale.’ In Lenny’s podcast interview, he pointed out that approximately half of…
When interviewing for product operations roles, it’s essential to cut through the fluff and focus on the core skills that matter. While this is in no way an exhaustive list, this article offers a set of questions that get to the heart of a candidate’s skills and experience, helping hiring managers better determine whether the…
We asked 6 Product Leaders across the US and Canada: What do you want first time Founder or CEO to understand about experienced product leaders to ensure they make the right CPO or VP Product hire? Here is what they said: If you’ve managed to get to the point where you need a CPO you’ve likely done a whole lot right!…
Building a customer-obsessed product team transcends robust user and product metrics – it fundamentally involves engaging in dialogue with customers! Achieving the right balance between these two elements is vital. Here’s how: 1. Define Your Customer During my tenure as a Senior PM at Amazon, where I supported external vendors in the supply chain technology…
The more senior and experienced a Founder/CEO is, the more they realize that teams are not solely built by leveraging a personal network, offering referral bonuses to staff, or posting a job on a website. Often, companies are built through the work done by search firms. Martyn Bassett Associates provides engaged search services to startups and scale-ups…