Main takeaways: - The one thing I do to help me identify what part of the problem to focus on - The challenges of being a SaaS Product Manager and how to overcome them - Why negotiating and gaining buy-in/allies from other teams is pivotal to your product’s success

1. www.productschool.com
How to Overcome the Challenges of
Being a SaaS PM by Olo Sr PM

2. Join 35,000+Product
Managers on
Free Resources
Discover great job
opportunities
Job Portal
prdct.school/PSJobPortalprdct.school/events-slack

3. C O U R S E S
Product
Management
Learn the skills you need to land
a Product Manager job

4. C O U R S E S
Coding
for Managers
Build a website and gain the
technical knowledge to lead
software engineers

5. C O U R S E S
Data Analytics
for Managers
Learn the skills to understand web
analytics, SQL and machine learning
concepts

6. C O U R S E S
Learn how to acquire more users
and convert them into clients
Digital Marketing
for Managers

7. C O U R S E S
UX Design
for Managers
Gain a deeper understanding of your
users and deliver an exceptional end-to-
end experience

8. C O U R S E S
For experienced Product Managers
looking to gain strategic skills needed
for top leadership roles
Product
Leadership

9. C O U R S E S
Corporate
Training
Level up your team’s Product
Management skills

10. Janna Sheng
T O N I G H T ’ S S P E A K E R

11. OVERCOMING THE CHALLENGES
OF BEING A SaaS PM
Product School
July 2019

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Hometown: New York City
Education: Hunter College (Geography and
Economics)
Past Roles: Customer Service Representative,
Quality Assurance Analyst, Business Analyst
Current Role: Senior Product Manager, Olo
ABOUT ME

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- Over 60 integrations across Point-of-Sale
systems, payment and loyalty providers,
custom web agencies, delivery providers
and marketplace partners
WHAT IS OLO?
Olo is a best-in-class online
ordering platform for restaurant
enterprises.
- Order food ahead and skip the line
- Menu Management and Insights
- Call center solution
- Front and back-of-house solutions

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CHALLENGES
1. Addressing product requests from a diverse set of
stakeholders
2. Aligning the product strategy with the overall
business approach
3. Balancing product short-term and long-term goals

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Addressing product requests from a diverse
set of stakeholders
CHALLENGE 1

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PM

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PM
DELIVERY
PICK UP
CURBSIDE
PICKUP
DRIVE
THRU
CATERING

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SOLUTION:
⎻ Understand your company’s top-line goal
⎻ Prioritize the problems
CHALLENGE 1: Addressing product requests
from a diverse set of stakeholders

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THE FUNNEL
1000 500 350 200
189 185
GOAL: 1000 clients live with the
feature

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Aligning the product strategy with Olo’s
business approach
- Sales-driven approach versus product-driven
approach
CHALLENGE 2

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CHALLENGE 2: Aligning the product strategy
with the overall business approach
SOLUTION:
⎻ Create a vision and roadmap
⎻ Sell the vision … continually
⎻ Influence other teams … even without
formal authority
⎻ Be a voice for the Product

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Balancing short-term goals against the long-
term vision
CHALLENGE 3

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CHALLENGE 3: Balancing product short-term
goals against the long-term vision
SOLUTION:
⎻ Assess the data and your reality
⎻ Be practical and pick your battles
⎻ Stay the course

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CHALLENGES SOLUTIONS
Addressing product requests from a
diverse set of stakeholders
Understand your company’s top line goal
Prioritize the problems
Aligning the product strategy with Olo’s
business approach
Create a vision and roadmap
Sell the vision … continually
Influence other teams … even without
formal authority
Be the voice of the product
Balancing short-term goals against the
long-term vision
Assess the data and your reality
Be practical and pick your battles
Stay the course

25. Janna Sheng
Senior Product Manager
shengjanna@gmail.com

26. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management, Coding, Data Analytics, Digital
Marketing, UX Design, Product Leadership courses and
Corporate Training