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What’s new from Coach Pri?

Hope your first full week back has started off well, or at least better than Justin Trudeau 😉  A personal anecdote is that I saw both Marc Benioff and Trudeau up close (amidst a lot of press of course) on my first day at Salesforce in the SF office back in Feb 2018, while he was still popular 😜!

As we kick-off the year, here are a few things I want to share with you…

🤩 Podcast dreams: I am thinking of starting a podcast! I won’t be able to start on this project until March most likely (I can imagine it is a LOT of work), but I want to start exploring it slowly. The goal would be to share unconventional wisdom from product leaders + founders around the world. What do you think would be a great title? Please vote below!

🥳 PM Interview Masterclass + Community Meetup: Join us on Friday, Jan 17th - 5 - 7:30 pm PST for our second in-person “Product-with-Pri” PM Community Meetup, right here in the South Bay Area! 

• Format: Kick-Off & welcome/intros (15 minutes), PM Interview Masterclass (45 minutes) + Open Networking (90+ minutes)

• Only 20 spots max due to venue size limitations!

  🔥Sign up before it’s too late - Register here

🤩 Just 3 WEEKS LEFT! The PM Level-Up Program (10 weeks) starts TUE, JAN 28th - Have you been feeling stuck in your PM career? Whether you want to build the skills and confidence for internal growth, or go after your next PM or Product Leadership role - I got you covered!

This is a 10 week virtual program with 16-20 group sessions, plus 3 sessions 1:1 with me included, in addition to 10 weeks of content, guest lectures, and much more!

Why join now?

• We have only 5 seats remaining!

• While the early bird pricing has ended Dec 31st, we have a special bonus pricing being offered just until Jan 15th!

• WHAT’s NEW: Added a full week of “Building AI Products”.

👉 Book a free 15-min call with me next week to assess fit!

Don’t forget - If you know anyone who could benefit from my coaching/training program - please refer them! (I offer a $300 referral bonus 💰 to you!)

🧑‍🏫"Become-a-Coach: If you’ve ever thought of becoming a coach part time or full time, and turning your side-gig into a real business, I highly recommend for you to get in touch with Shiny Unsal asap. She has been my Coaching Mentor since 2023, and has been instrumental in helping me become a better coach, and do it ICF (International Coaching Federation) style! Whether you’re looking for ‘coaching skills’ or ‘running-the-coaching business’ skills, she’s got you covered!

• Shiny has her ‘become-a-coach’ cohort starting Jan 28th for 11 weeks+. So if you’re ready to take action on your dream or goal of becoming a coach in 2025 - contact her today before the cohort is full!

 👉 Book a free discovery call with Shiny!

Product Management News & Industry Trends

So much is changing, and so quickly - in just these past 2 weeks, on the macroeconomic front, in addition to big tech or other industry updates. Here are a few highlights:

• Trade Regulations impacting Products and PMs: Potential tariff threats and regulatory changes, particularly from a Trump-led administration, could influence market dynamics and supply chains. Product strategy, product pricing, GTM decisions, timing, 3rd party partnerships, supply chain, logistics and more will be impacted.

• Immigration policy: Trump has said he supports legal immigration, however from his decisions last time around and the challenges for H1-B visa holders, the reality was quite the opposite. While Trump allies may cry out loud for more legal immigrants in technical fields, we have yet to wait for Trump’s policymakers and what they will actually come up with and implement. This impacts you if you’re a product leader trying to hire PMs, or a job seeker.

• Google DeepMind is creating a new team: Perhaps you have already seen the news, or you haven’t - Google is hiring for a new team whose goal will be to simulate the real world through generative AI models. Tim Brooks will be leading this team - you can read more here.

• The AI war - There is a “sovereign AI” war going on between nations, with each trying to win this war for so-called economic and security reasons. What’s in it for PMs or Product Leaders? Look out for more roles in Cybersecurity startups/companies, and also in product policy in areas related to privacy, trust and safety.

Who’s hiring in my network (HM Linkedin Posts!)

I know that looking for a job is hard! So here are specific links to hiring manager or recruiter posts from people in my network, that give you an insider’s edge while applying..

• eBay is hiring again for a Sr Product Manager - focused on Personalization & Gen. AI - here is the HM’s post.

• Linkedin is hiring a Principal PM for Search. Here is the HM’s post.

• AKKO is a startup in the insuretech space and actively hiring for a PM role. Here is the HM’s post. I can refer you if you’re a good fit & have relevant experience.

• If you’re into healthcare, Fluke health is hiring a PM. Here is the HM’s post.

• Zoominfo is hiring a Principal PM for their data platform. Here is the HM’s post.

  Check out this job board for more open roles.

PM Career/Interview Tips of the Week

💥 Product Strategy Interview tips:
While most people think about customers, competitors etc. as part of their Product Strategy interview prep, one tip to help differentiate you from the sea of candidates is whether you have “contextual knowledge/intelligence”.

What this means is - are you caught up with what’s going on in the world today - everything from customer behaviors overall, customer/user expectations, microeconomic and macroeconomic trends, to high level trade and policy or regulatory changes, in short - everything that could and should impact your decisions as a PM?

So, while you might be busy thinking about the 3 Cs or 5 Ps or Porter’s 5 forces, don’t forget to look up and ‘zoom-out’ from all of it, and consider everything going on in the world around us, and base your interview answers based on that. This is especially important for case studies! Common sense and contextual awareness after all, is not so common 😅 

Here are some core things I ask clients to keep in mind for Product Strategy Interview Questions:

1. 3Cs - Customer, Company & Competitors & 5 Ps of Marketing

2. Think of the company’s core strengths and weaknesses (SWOT)

3. Macroeconomic trends

4. Customer behaviors & trends

5. Your target user groups/target market and why

6. Partnerships for growth (partner/supplier ecosystem)

7. Revenue and Pricing model/monetization

8. Risks and tradeoffs

9. Product use - ethical, privacy and related considerations

10. Climate or environmental impact of your product

11. Your GTM (go-to-market) strategy if asked

💥 What are your biggest challenges with Product Strategy interview questions? 

Whenever you’re ready, here are 2 ways I can help…

1. 😅 PM Level-Up Career Coaching Program STARTS TUE, JAN 28th!

   (10 weeks)

• This is a VIRTUAL, PERSONALIZED, HYBRID program that comes with 15-16 group sessions for 10 weeks, plus 3 sessions 1:1 with me included! 😉

• Once you sign up, we can begin our 1:1 sessions as early as you’d like, you get slack community access, full access to all 8-10 weeks of content/program materials, and…on Jan 28th you join a curated group of 10 experienced fellow PMs for twice weekly live, group coaching sessions!

  • WHAT’s NEW: A full week of “Building AI Products” to the program!

    And we will continue the fantastic guest lectures on AI, PM, leadership, self-care for job-seekers, stress management workshops and more. My client Diya called this a ‘holistic learning journey’ instead of just a coaching program!

  • WHY SIGN UP NOW?

    • Only 5 spots are remaining - once this program is full, you won’t be able to join us for this Jan 28th cohort, and miss out on the job market momentum that is coming in Feb/March!

    • Your last chance to not pay full price ends Jan 15th.
      
      👉️ Curious how this program can help YOU? Ask me 😉