This presentation centers around challenges that David LeBonne, PM at Google, has either experienced or seen during his career when B2C tactics, strategies, or hot trends have been applied to B2B product management unsuccessfully. David finds learning from failures to be particularly interesting.

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8. David LeDonne
TONIGHT’S SPEAKER

9. B2B Product Management
Lessons learned trying to b2c my way through b2b PM’ing
Dave LeDonne
@dave_ledonne
/davidledonne

10. Happy Thanksgiving

11. You must learn from the mistakes
of others. You can't possibly live
long enough to make them all
yourself.
“
“
- Samuel Levenson

12. Getting to know me
Dave’s Timeline
Pre-2004 Present

13. Getting to know you
PM’s?
SWE’s?
Work in Tech?
Live/work in Boston?
Anyone come from far away?

14. Hypothesis
Product management best practices are targeted at the B2C use case

15. Quick survey:
“We’re data driven here, we A/B test everything”
“We don’t plan beyond 6 months - we’re really agile”
“It’s the most requested user feature, we have to work on it”

16. Agenda
B2B v. B2C
The story is the star:
● Don’t A/B test everything
● Have a multi-year plan
● Cater to buyers
Wrap up
Q&A

17. B2b and b2c differences
Cost
Length of sale
# users
high
high
low

18. The story is the star
Developing a point of view that resonates and that you and the team believe in is
the most important thing you can do as a B2B PM
In B2B products:
● Feedback loops are long
● User data is scarce
● The buyer will often never use your product

19. Scenario 1 - don’t A/B test everything
The story should be the star
Focusing too narrowly on data results can make you lose sight of the
story

20. Scenario 1 - don’t A/B test everything
Your company makes data science models to plug into operational processes at
large companies
● Uncover efficiencies in bug reports, customer feedback, and other artifacts
● Up to 250GB of data hosted analyzing millions of data points
● Proprietary NLP algorithms - best of class (97% accurate)
You
● Build a relationship with the team built on being data driven
● Encounter a challenge when you want to launch a feature that may not help
the accuracy of the NLP algorithms

21. Scenario 1 - don’t A/B test everything
Solution
● Focus on business value, not just statistics
● Don’t A/B test unless you intend to make a real decision based on results
● Get team buy-in around product vision
● Be able to explain how advancing the vision outweighs advancing the stats

22. Scenario 2 - have a multi-year plan
The story should be the star
If you don’t develop it, someone else will

23. Scenario 2 - have a multi-year plan
Your company sells HR solutions to medium sized, fast growing companies
● Administer several benefit options
● Auto-generate org charts and reporting structures
● Administer time off and vacations policies
You
● Focus on being “agile”, things change too fast to commit to anything beyond 6
months
● Encounter a challenge when your head of sales commits to two of your biggest
customers to support payroll automation by end of year

24. Scenario 2 - have a multi-year plan
Solution
● Take an interest in sales and business development to shape customer
conversations - give them the firepower they need with realistic constraints
● Communicate openly and honestly about where the product is headed
● Set expectations that roadmaps aren’t project plans
● Have a multi-year vision for the product

25. Scenario 3 - cater to buyers
The story should be the star
User feedback is great, but don’t let it get in the way of a story for the buyer

26. Scenario 3 - cater to buyers
Your product enables recruiting and hiring
● AI-enhanced screening of resumes
● Auto-post to every top job board
● Seamless onboarding of new hires
You
● Create an elaborate feedback loop with users, usually HR managers, to
prioritize new feature requests
● Encounter a challenge when your competitor starts gaining market share
because they provide a clear compliance and bias reporting plan for the C-suite

27. Scenario 3 - cater to buyers
Solution
● Understand why your customers are buying the product and who in the
organization you are selling to
● Talk to buyers, develop buyer personas, understand buyer needs
● Don’t let user feedback get in the way of the product vision

28. Wrap up
The story is the star:
● Develop a point of view that resonates with the team
● Make your product vision a multi-year plan
● Empathize with buyers, not just users

29. Thank you

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