Like most people in my field, I too like to dabble in both sides of product management and entrepreneurship.  I think its important to keep myself abreast of what is happening in the innovative startup world, even if it is mostly hype and noise and rarely actually adding value. But I think it is also useful to get bigger company and corporate experience so you have a steady stream of experience, connections, ideas [and income].

While there are similarities between product management and entrepreneurship, I think that they are VERY different things in many ways. This important to think about because I’ve seen a few startup-guys really blow up in the corporate world because they were too entrepreneurial. And I’ve seen a few big-company product people really drop the ball in the startup world. So it’s a good thing to think about from time to time.

First, some of the similarities I’ve noticed:

• They both have the goal to build a compelling product.
• They both rely heavily on engaging the customer from the beginning for ultimate success.
• They both should focus on the business model (or discovering it).
• They both require a multi-disciplined approach.

Some of the differences that I’ve noticed include the following…

Entrepreneur:

• More distractions at every stage because you’re not just building a product, you’re helping to build a business at the same time.
• More adaptability is required because there isn’t a lot of long-term momentum to tap.
• More raw will power to see things through because there are shiny objects under every rock when you’re in a startup.
• More tension and risk to manage (you will not be able to transfer to another division or product line if things don’t work out).
• More energy becuase the potential upside is a lot bigger for everyone (hopefully).

Product management:

• More focus often because you have an existing customer base or an existing market that you’re going after.
• More discipline because you need  to keep everyone on the same team and moving forward in the same direction.
• More political skill is required because you need to negotiate with many power brokers in your organization and get their support.
• More effort to inspire and encourage (cheer-lead) because people often don’t see what’s in it for them.

What does all this mean? Well, it is important to approach the jobs with a different mindset, a different skillset, and a different set of expectations. It’s not that one way is always better or worse than the other. They are just different types of roles and that’s useful to appreciate.  If you don’t learn to separate them, then I think you’re setting yourself up to really blow up your job (and possibly your company).

I know every company is different, every startup is different, and generalizations like the ones above are always easy to prick at. But these are just a few high-level differences that I’ve seen to get you thinking about it.

Enjoy.

As you know, every company does product management differently. But I always enjoys hearing about, asking about, and reading about these different approaches. I highly recommend gathering a big pile of these definitions and learning from all of them.

One interesting thing I’ve found is that people’s definition is often colored by their background, even subconsciously. For example, engineer-type product managers tend to focus on aligning technical requirements with business objectives. Sales and support-type product managers tend to focus on aligning customer feedback with technical and business objectives. Consultant-type product people often tend to focus on strategy, vision, and financial analysis. UX and design-type product manager like to focus on the user experience and the ‘story’ aspect of the product.

While the reality is that these are all important parts of the job, it’s pretty clear that it makes a big difference what background you have in determining what you see product management’s role as in the company. It happens to all of us, so we should just accept it. Knowing this about myself helps me want to develop skills and learn to appreciate other aspects of the job even more.

To get you started, here’s a great post from Phil Montgomery. He has a nice overview of measuring success in product management, and a refreshing twist on the old saying that a product manager is a ‘CEO’ of a product. Phil doesn’t think that description fits and offers some interesting points to consider.

Good luck!