The Evolution of Growth Product Management: Insights from a Seasoned Pro
Partho Ghosh, VP of Product and General Manager of Self-Serve at SecurityScorecard, has spent years honing his expertise in product-led growth. With a background in business analysis and product ownership, Partho has developed a unique perspective on the intersection of growth and product management.
From Business Analyst to Growth PM
Partho’s journey began as a business analyst, where he worked closely with marketers focused on conversion and lead generation. This experience shaped his product management style, emphasizing the importance of lead gen, monetization, pricing, and packaging. As he transitioned into leadership roles, Partho dove deeper into product-led growth, exploring the critical intersection between growth and product management.
Sunsetting Features to Improve Activation
At Hootsuite, Partho faced the challenge of improving trial-to-pay ratios and year-one retention rates. By analyzing product analytics, he identified that early activation moments were fleeting and difficult to achieve due to the presence of one-off, custom features. To improve these metrics, Partho had to sunset several areas of the product, reducing cognitive load and improving progressive disclosure of the core product offering. This required effective communication with the leadership and executive teams, as well as collaboration with other PMs to explain the data-driven reasoning behind these changes.
The Growth PM’s Role in Executing a PLG Strategy
As a growth product manager, Partho’s role is to bring about change and drive a product-led growth motion. This involves working closely with sales and other PMs, explaining the importance of prioritizing features that benefit a wider market over one-off deals. The growth PM must also evangelize adoption metrics, product metrics, and usage metrics to drive data-informed decision-making.
Challenges of a 50-50 Split
In his previous role at Hootsuite, Partho faced the challenge of balancing self-serve revenue and sales revenue. This 50-50 split created prioritization nightmares, making it difficult to innovate and reinvent the company while catering to both sides of the business.
Looking to the Future of Growth Product Management
Partho advises new growth PMs to find their “PLG army” – advocates across the business who share their vision. By building relationships with key stakeholders and gathering data to demonstrate the value of product-led sales, growth PMs can establish buy-in for their strategy. As the growth PM role evolves, Partho predicts that the separation between core and growth product management will dissolve, and product analytics will become a baseline standard for all product managers.
The Future of Product Management
In the next few years, Partho envisions product management becoming more data-informed, focusing on adoption and growth for the business. The traditional divide between growth product management and core product management will fade, giving way to a more holistic approach that prioritizes product excellence and customer experience.