Author: Pradip Khakhar

Yes, Product Managers negotiate every day. However, you may not have thought about Product Management this way. In this article, my goal is to answer what is negotiation for Product Managers? and share 10 steps to influence without authority. Click right here to jump straight down to step #1 and start influencing.

Generally speaking when we think about negotiations we tend to think about one of the following three situations, negotiating:

1. With a customer over price or contracts
2. A legal settlement
3. With vendors

As a result, when we think about the role of the Product Manager, negotiation is typically something we don’t see often.

If you’d ask me to sum up the role of the Product Manager in one tweet I’d say:

1. Discover & communicate the product. 2. Collaborate with the team to execute. 3. Repeat step 1. (learn & Iterate) Click To Tweet

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Introduction to Negotiations

What is a negotiation
Types of negotiations
Do Product Managers negotiate?
Elements of an effective negotiation?
Habits of effective negotiators

Negotiation for Product Managers in 6 steps?

1. Become self-aware
2. Prepare
3. Ask questions
4. Focus on interests not positions
5. Leverage
6. Align the success plan

10 steps to influence without authority

1. Be influence-able
2. Be active
3. Know your stuff
4. What does success look like
5. Build relationships
6. Build alignment
7. Team Discovery (Understand the team dynamics)
8. Communicate with purpose
9. Minimize risk & reduce friction
10. Create a path to success

5 negotiation traps to be aware of

Reciprocity trap
Good Cop Bad Cop
The last-minute issue
The school yard bully
The alternative availability
What to do if you fall into a trap

Bonus

Do founders negotiate?

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Introduction to Negotiations

What is a negotiation?

Negotiation is a discussion between two or more people to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. Click To Tweet

In Chris Voss’s book never split the difference, Chris says:

“Life is a negotiation. The majority of the interactions we have at work and at home are negotiations that boil down to the expression of a simple, animalistic urge: I want.”

In G. Richard Shell’s book bargaining for advantage – negotiation strategies for reasonable people, Richard says:

“A negotiation is an interactive communication process that may take place whenever we want something from someone else or another person wants something from us.”

In Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton’s book Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, the authors define negotiation as a:

“Back-and-forth communication designed to reach an agreement when you and the other side have some interests that are shared and others that are opposed.

Like it or not, you are a negotiator … Everyone negotiates something every day.”

In Leigh Thompson’s book Mind and Heart of the Negotiator Leigh refers to negotiation as an:

“Interpersonal decision-making process” that is “necessary whenever we cannot achieve our objectives single-handedly.”

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Types of negotiations

You’re probably negotiating already and may not even know it. Or you may be calling it something else. Below are five different examples of negotiating.

1. Buying a new car. The dealer and buyer are likely negotiating the purchase price of the car. The dealer knows the fixed value and will negotiate to keep as much money as possible. This is an example of distributive negotiation or distributive bargaining.

2. Buying a used car is similar to what we described above. However, depending on the nature of the seller this might be viewed as a one time exchange. Think about seeing an ad online for a car and arranging to go see it and then making the decision to buy or not. In this situation, the seller is not expecting a relationship.

3. Negotiating your job offer. We hope when you negotiate your job offer you are looking at more than just the salary offer. For example, vacation, working conditions, benefits, etc. This is an example of an integrative negotiation or integrative bargaining. However, in this situation, you work with the employer to create a “win-win” agreement. You benefit from employment and the company benefits from an additional resource. Since multiple issues are at stake, depending on interests and values there is more opportunity for a give and take.

4. Negotiations can also be in teams. Think about when the sales team approaches the Product Management team about implementing new features the market is asking for.

5. Three friends deciding where to go out to eat is an example of a multi-party negotiation. Each of the three friends will have inputs. Similarly, for example, three countries negotiating a trade agreement is a multi-party negotiation.

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Do Product Managers negotiate?

Yes, Yes, and a strong Yes

via GIPHY

Does this sound familiar?

• You’re looking for a new Product Manager role and one offer you receive is $20k lower than what you are looking for.
• While working with the sales team they keep requesting new features to be added to bring in new sales. However, when we ask for details or ask to speak with the customer the features keep changing and cannot decide what to build.
• The CEO of the company just informed us that he has seen competitor X launch two new features and has instructed us to have them built by the end of the month. We don’t know how these features will benefit our customers
• The sales team is over sharing roadmap items to get new customers, however, they churn quickly.
• We need some more time to do more effective customer discovery but the engineering team is expecting to start building tomorrow.

Product Managers negotiate every day and with multiple stakeholders across the company. However, almost no Product Management training program offers any negotiation training. This is why we created our Practical Negotiations for Product People workshop and Team Discovery for Product People Workshop.

Persuasion, Influencing, and Negotiation

In other words, as Product Managers, we often refer to the phrase “influence without authority” as a key tenant of our role. If we explore this a little further we arrive at the following:

• Persuasion is the short term form of changing hearts and minds. In order to persuade words are used to encourage someone to take action in the direction you choose.
• Influencing takes persuasion one level up where reputation and credibility are taken into consideration. Therefore being the ability to influence is a skill that builds over time.
• Negotiation is (as we stated above) a discussion between two or more people to reach a mutually beneficial agreement. However, to expand a little, the people involved generally have constraints, priorities, needs, etc. that need to be taken into consideration.

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Elements of a effective negotiation?

Success is relative and will depend on what the outcome of the negotiation is. However, effective negotiations share the following elements:

• A smart agreement that benefits all parties involved. In this scenario, all parties stand to gain something that they would not if it were not for this agreement and better than the alternatives.
• It’s efficient. The agreement should take no longer than necessary. Creating a product vision generally will take longer than deciding what to eat with a co-worker. From a sales perspective, if it’s taking two years to sign a new customer, it would be safe to assume the customer doesn’t have a real interest in your product.
• It doesn’t damage the relationship. Even if the agreement is for the purchase of a car or house which can be considered a one-time purchase. Maintaining relationships is important.

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Habits of effective negotiators

Negotiation is a practical skill that can only be taught so far by reading books. You have to get out there and negotiate. Keep a negotiations log of every negotiation you are involved in and as you practice more you’ll start getting better.

Some of the most effective negotiators have the following mindset:

• They prepare a lot. I would go on to say some negotiators who I consider experts would go on to say know the negotiation better than the person you are negotiating with.
• Personal Integrity. It’s not about getting what you want at all costs. Effective negotiators have no exceptions to personal integrity.
• They know when you shut up. Staying quiet or knowing not to be the first to break that awkward silence. The first person to break that silence generally ends up losing leverage.
• They hold high expectations for the outcome.

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What is Negotiation for Product Managers?

1. Become self-aware

You are the root of every problem

Before you negotiate (persuade or influence for that matter) I would suggest you take a self-evaluation and be self-aware (if you are not already).

Who you are

As humans, we all have a background, culture, and upbring. No one subset is better than the other, however, during a negotiation, it is important to be aware of your limitations.

I was once sitting in a multi-million dollar contract negotiation, I would say there were about six people from the company I worked at and around the same for the company we were trying to reach an agreement with.

We started reviewing the financial section and our team started asking questions to their financial person. He was a bright professional and as he started answering our questions we realized that he was relatively new to the table. Meaning, he likely just got promoted and did not have much practice negotiating.

As we asked more specific questions, he started to offer concessions and discounts without us asking for them. A few minutes later a senior member of their team called a break. After we returned the finance person did not say a word. It seemed one of their senior members of the team had a few words with him.

Understand your strengths and weaknesses

Negotiations can be scary and maybe that’s why Product Managers have not really gotten used to the idea that Product Managers negotiate every day.

While we have defined negotiation as “Negotiation is a discussion between two or more people to reach a mutually beneficial agreement,” discussion can occasionally get heated. Not often, but possible. How do you handle the heated exchange?

Your personality plays a big part in how you react or respond. If you are proactive or reactive. As you start to think about these things they become part of your style.

If you’re interested in learning more about your personality type take a look at the 16 personalities website. Please act with caution as in my opinion these types of tests can be used as a guide. However, you know you best.

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses has two impacts:

• How you negotiate.
• How other people negotiate with you.

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2. Prepare

Effective negotiators prepare a lot. Front-loading much of the work makes it easier to negotiate. Preparation is so important a topic that it needs to be broken further down.

Know what you want

Sounds relatively simple, however, you don’t want to be thinking about it during a negotiation. Kow what you want before going into a negotiation.

For example, let’s say you received a job offer for $20K less than what you wanted.

Would you refuse this opportunity purely based on a $20K amount?

I should hope not. Don’t get me wrong $20K is a lot of money, however, my point is the decision to accept or reject a job offer should not solely be based on a dollar amount. A job offer has other elements that should be taken into consideration.

Determine your BATNA

A BATNA is a Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement. In other words, what happens if you cannot reach an agreement?

What’s the alternative?

For example, going back to our job offer where you received an offer for $20k less than what you wanted. In this situation, potential BATNA’s could be:

• If you are currently employed. Staying at your current job is an alternative.
• Or if you are not currently employed. Your alternative may be to remain unemployed and continue looking for another job.
• Or if you have Competing offer. A competiting offer that is also a potential alternative.

Develop a list of alternatives before so in the back of your mind if the discussion fails you know the alternatives clearly. Rank them from most desirable to least desirable.

Determine your walk-away point

Before you start negotiating, think about a walk-away point (like a line in the proverbial sand). At some point when the discussion just doesn’t feel like it’s progressing, you already know where your bottom line is and can walk away.

Know what the person you are negotiating with wants better than they do

This is a tough one. When I mention this to students in our Practical Negotiations for Product People workshop the most asked question following is “where do I go to find out what the other person wants better than they do?”

It’s very hard, I 100% agree. However, depending on the stakes the level of preparation will vary. Here’s what I mean, a Product Manager working with the sales team to close a large deal will require more preparation and intelligence around the potential customer than say a Product Manager working with the engineering to create an MVP to test and iterate on.

Please note: I am not saying one is more important than the other. Only those stakeholders have different thought processes.

The first step, in my opinion, is to Google the name of the person you are negotiating with. You’ll find out where they hang out, the social platforms they are on. In many B2B cases, you’ll likely them on Linkedin and/ or Twitter. Use this information to find areas of similarities.

Once I was talking about hosting our Practical Negotiations for Product People workshop for a company’s internal team. Before the meeting, I checked out the profile of the two individuals I was due to chat with and found out that one of them attended the same college as me.

You bet I dropped that into the conversation. Did it work? who knows. But the company did hire me.

Many times you can make an educated guess or ask questions to understand what the person wants better than them. In the above workshop situation, through a series of questions, I found out that the company is starting to build out a training series, where they plan to periodically bring certain teams together for a lunch and learn series.

I focused on how the Practical Negotiations for Product People workshop will help the team after the workshop. They were interested in the mock negotiation and I believe that is what made the company move forward with me.

There’s more

However, there is a lot more to this process and there are nuances. However, the point you should take away from this section is to think like the person you are negotiating with. What are they hoping to accomplish and what obstacles can be foreseen.

A couple of things to remember:

• Look for shared interests or common ground
• Identify areas where you think the other person will say no and think about how you can address those concerns
• Think of unique ways to create small wins while working to a bigger goal or outcome
• Know the chain of command/ decision-makers from the team you are negotiating with

Understand the impact on the relationship

Negotiation is all about people and something they need or want. Creating a personal relationship builds a level of trust and therefore facilitates communications.

We all want to see our friends succeed and as humans, we are willing to help where we can. However, people are complex and emotional and therefore, may become unpredictable and therefore trust will need to be considered each time you negotiate.

Relationships allow you to gain credibility and access. Think about when you applied for your last Product Manager through a friend or referral versus applying cold.

Keep the focus on the shared interests/ outcome

Negotiations are between people and it can sometimes be easy to get carried away from the reason the negotiation is taking place. This is why I suggested being self-aware above.

People are unpredictable. This applies to all parties involved in the negotiation, someone may say something that triggers off an emotional response which then takes over and discussions move from interests into positions.

If the conversation isn’t moving, learn to either 1) Take a break, 2) guide the conversation back to interests, or 3) table that part and move on to the next topic that needs to be discussed.

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Want access to my negotiation preparation workbook?

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3. Ask questions

I cannot stress the importance of asking questions. A good well crafted question can yield many benefits:

• Understand the interests. Especially helpful if you cannot move the conversation away from position based negotiation.
• Test your understanding.

Ask questions does not mean you hijack the conversation and make it robotic. You cannot expect the conversation to be:

You: Question 1.
Them: Answer 1.
You: Question 2.
Them: Answer 2.
You: Question X.
Them: Answer X.

Rather learn to listen more than you talk. Listen to what’s being said but also what’s not being said. Test understanding for interests by asking questions that you’ve thought of before the negotiation.

Some recommendations for developing your asking questions skills:

• Advice is More Important — and Overwhelming — Than Ever. Here’s How Founders Can Cut Through the Noise by First Round
• The surprising power of questions by Alison Wood Brooks and Leslie K. John
• 7 Suggestions for Asking More Powerful Questions by Michael Hyatt
• What makes a good question? by Chris How

On the flip side learn to also give good answers 😉

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4. Focus on interests not positions

This is a very important element of negotiations.

An interest is: I want to make lemonade.

A position is: I need a lemon.

For example, let’s say we have two chefs in the restaurant kitchen. Both chefs are busy preparing their dishes and at the same time, they realize they need a lemon. Both rush over to the Pantry and see that only one lemon is left.

Who gets the last lemon?

The choices are:
A: Chef 1
B: Chef 2
C: 50/50
D: Other?

What do you think? Typically when I ask this question I get a mixture of responses. In reality based on the information provided it would be difficult to determine who should get the last lemon.

We just learned about asking questions, so the question that comes to mind is to ask both chefs what do they need the lemon for? (To complete their dishes yes, however, what is their dish?)

Let’s say:

• Chef 1 says she needs the lemon for the rind to grate as a garnish for a cheesecake.
• Chef 2 says she needs the lemon for the juice to make lemonade.

Problem solved right?

Both chefs get what they want and the correct response is Option D: Other.

Now if we focused on the positions, where both Chef 1 and 2 wanted the lemon and stayed firm we would not get anywhere. Consider it a stalemate.

By giving one chef the lemon and not the second chef will eventually lead to animosity between the two chefs and create an undesirable work environment.

Option C: a 50/50 split seems fair, however in this situation is not the best option as each chef will be wasting a portion of the lemon.

There’s usually more than one way

Understanding the interests behind the ask gives you further insight into the minds of the other person. You may need to think quickly on your feet and come up with creative solutions that creates a benefit to all people involved.

What’s the standard?

Negotiation has an element of conflict and as humans, we tend to think differently. When negotiating, agreeing on an objective standard can help. For example, if you are negotiating your Product Manager job offer an objective standard could be market rates for similar Product Managers with a similar experience.

Market rates are not set in stone. Depending on your experience and what you can bring to the table combined with other elements related to a job offer. You can negotiate a higher salary or the employer may try to negotiate a lower salary. The point here is that the starting point or agreed upon objective standard is the market rate.

Other examples of objective standard include; market value, precedent, and cost.

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5. Leverage

Leverage gives you power to be confident and negotiate on your own terms. In the book getting to Yes, Roger Fisher, William Ury, and Bruce Patton about the better the BATNA the greater your power. We briefly touched on that in the 2. Prepare section above that talks about BATNA.

As per G. Richard Shell’s book Bargaining for advantage there are three different types of leverage:

1. Positive leverage. You have something that someone wants.
2. Negative leverage. What can I do to make someone do something for me.
3. Normative leverage. Appeal to the values of the person you are negotiating with.

Richard also talks about the power of coalitions whereby using relationships and shared interests helps create effective coalitions to gain all three types of leverage.

When considering leverage remember:

• Leverage is based on perception not facts
• The amount of leverage can change quickly
• People will listen to you if you have authority. Authority is not leverage

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6. Align the success plan

In sales terms: Always be Closing. However, in Product terms what are the next steps to make this happen?

For example, if you’re a Product leader hiring your first Product Manager. Once the candidate has accepted the offer the negotiation portion is effectively completed. The next steps could include setting a start date, completing any necessary paperwork, pre-onboarding, etc.

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10 steps to influence without Authority

In order to influence, trust plays an important role. Think about it, when you trust someone when they talk generally you’d listen to what they have to say. It’s easier to cooperate with them, easy to commit to things, and you have a sense of feeling comfortable.

On the other hand, if you don’t trust someone you’ll likely be suspicious, act with caution, and unable to commit without additional information or assurances.

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1. Be influence-able

This may seem obvious, however, if you want to:

• Influence other people you must be influence-able
• Build trust, first you must trust others

Everyone can bring something to the table, you may not need them now but down the road, you may. Therefore, treat everyone equally and do not burn your bridges.

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2. Be active

Interact with people you are trying to influence. The simplest way to do this is to answer your emails, text, tweets, voicemails, video chats, etc. However, that alone is not enough. Be proactive, reach out to people. Be a resource.

Hiten sums it up very well:

Your reputation gets built up with every interaction you have with others.

Consistentancy is important and so is kindness.

Even the most critical feedback can be given in a kind way.

— Hiten Shah (@hnshah) May 15, 2020

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3. Know your stuff

As a Product Manager, you are not expected to know everything. In fact, saying that you don’t know something, however, you’ll do some research tells more about your character than blindly lying to sound smart.

In practical terms:

• Share your knowledge by teaching
• Show your competence through social proof

Product Managers interact with the engineering team on a regular basis. Product Managers don’t need to be engineers, however, they do need to be able to have a conversation.

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4. What does success look like

In order to influence someone their needs to be a common goal, vision, objective, or outcome. Something the team can be excited about and work towards. A shared interest of sorts.

When conflicts start to arise keep in the forefront of everyone’s mind the common goal, vision, objective, or outcome the team is working toward.

There may be times when the team needs to start prioritizing if multiple issues arise. For example, the sales team needs the Product team to assist with a customer demo, however, the Product team has been asked by the VP of Product to review the roadmap.

Both are important events, however, in my opinion the Product team should have a chat with the VP of Product if they can reschedule the review of the roadmap to assist with sales.

I doubt the VP of Product would say no, but involving other team members and discussing how to prioritize and then communicating the final decision keeps the team on the same page.

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5. Build relationships

Do you remember that co-worker who reaches out only when they need something? well, don’t be that co-worker. Relationships are built over time.

Building relationships is hard. We all start as an acquaintance, then moving to co-worker status. Finally, if things go well that relationship may be called a friendship.

Being a friend is not a requirement to negotiate. You do not need everyone to be your friend. In fact, if you try to negotiate with your friends all the time, you may lose a few. Friends can ask for favors or concessions without giving anything in return. If they reciprocate it may not be even.

Gifts and favors go a long way (as long as they are legal 😉). It can as simple as buying someone a coffee or helping them export a document.

As per Forbes, Guanxi loosely translates as personal connections, relationships, or social networks. It implies trust and mutual obligations between parties, and it operates on personal, familial, social, business, and political levels. Having good, bad or no guanxi impacts one’s influence and ability to get things done.

Some recommendations for developing your relationship building skills:

• 5 Quick Ways to Develop Successful Relationships by Chris Ducker
• 7 Key Habits For Building Better Relationships by Fast Company
• How to build relationships with influential people by Steli Efti
• 5 Ways to Build Powerful Relationships by Christopher D. Connors
• How product managers and engineers at Asana develop great relationships by Jackie Bavaro

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6. Build alignment

Aligned teams make better decisions.
Working in cross-functional teams has its fair share of ups and downs. On one hand, cross-functional teams bring expertise to the table that you or your team do not have. Similarly, on the other hand, other teams may not share the same values or goals as you.

Without team alignment.
Have you worked on a team where it seems like things just don’t click?

You think they do, and as the company starts to scale or as team members change you start losing track of what’s going on.

Consequently, the communications are unstructured and mixed messages are received, the left-hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Hence, there is no clear sense of direction and team members are fast losing interest.

Furthermore, teams are arguing and escalating to management.

As a result, you end up working late to actually do the job you were hired to do and nothing seems to move in the right direction.

Benefits of working in an aligned team.
In contrast, imagine working in a team where things start to flow.

• The team knows what they are working on individually, as a functional team, part of the larger team.
• Consequently, communication is improved.
• Everyone on the team is invested in the outcome and is working hard to succeed.
• Decisions are made faster.
• Team members want to come to work and work hard. They are engaged and motivated.
• Finally, team productivity and performance increases reducing waste.

Some recommendations for developing your alignment building skills:

• A Practical Guide to Organizational Alignment and Relationship-Building for Product Teams by Pendo
• building alignment between product and engineering by Plato HQ
• Aligning ‘product management’ and ‘product marketing’ efforts by Nima Torabi

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7. Team Discovery (Understand the team dynamics)

When communicating as part of a cross-functional team, don’t just talk shop. Get to know the team and its members. This is the essence of team discovery. You should aim to understand:

• What/how they think
• What motivates them
• The biggest challenges they face
• How they measure success

One of the first things I do when I’ve joined a new company is to set up some time to chat with co-workers. Think of it as an intro call, with some discovery elements.

You cannot know the team member in one day or one chat, however, it gives you the opportunity to start off the relationship on a positive note.

I like how Steph created a “user manual” when she joined a new team. It’s a fantastic starting point to get to know her.

Having recently joined a new team, my boss asked me to describe how I like to be managed.

I went a bit overboard and created a personal “user manual”. Now the whole team is making one. (Sorry team 😀)

➡️ https://t.co/mJHxyBJ2Tp pic.twitter.com/njHIKp7TPL

— Steph Smith (@stephsmithio) October 13, 2019

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8. Communicate with purpose

When the communication is clear it has a knock-on effect. Your cross-functional team understands information quickly but more importantly, the team understands the information accurately reducing misunderstandings.

Two of the common mistakes I have seen in communicating is:

• Not tailoring the communication to your audience
• Overloading people with unnecessary information

Here’s what I mean by this.

As Product Manager, we place a lot of importance on the user and customer. Rightfully so, as part of a Product manager’s job is to understand the user.

However, internally we work in cross-functional teams, yet many don’t understand the role of these different functions.

For example, do you know what motivates the:

• Sales team?
• Marketing team?
• Customer support team?
• Or even your team members?

What is the purpose of communication?

If we take a step back communication is the transfer of information from one person to another. Or another way to look at this is why should the person receiving the information care?

Before scheduling a meeting

Meetings can be a time suck. However, if done with some creativity they can be useful. Either way, meetings are something you’ll likely have to deal with.

Things to consider:

• Communicate a clear agenda and outcome
• Roles and responsibilities
• How much time will people need to devote
• Are there any materials attendees need to review prior to the meeting? if yes, why?
• Notes/ next steps

Without know why invitees should come to the meeting, what’s in it for them, and why should they prepare. The engagement may not be what you want, (if at all they show up).

Communicate with leadership

As you go higher up the chain with leadership, they are less interested in the details and more interested in the strategic nature and how that ties in with their objectives.

You may only have five minutes to explain what is happening on that $100M project. You may have been asked by the leader’s admin to share one slide or two slides max.

How do you combine, for example, eight months of work and a $100M project into one or two slides?

How do you know it will be meaningful to the leader?

Find out what is meaningful to them. If asked to communicate with a sales leader they are numbers people. In good years when there are more deals then capacity they can pick and choose which companies to work with. In bad years they might be willing to accept a deal at a lower profit margin.

Connect what you are doing with the overall business goals, objectives, and/or outcomes. Understand what success looks like to leadership.

Some recommendations for developing your communication skills:

• The Product Manager communication manifesto by Mark Shurtleff
• Mastering Effective Communication as a Product Manager by Sachin Rekhi

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9. Minimize risk & reduce friction

There are risk-takers and risk avoiders. Generally speaking, it will be easier to influence a risk-taker as they will see the benefit of the upside with the tolerance to accept the consequences of the risk. Conversely, risk avoiders (or people who are risk-averse) may need more time and additional information before making a decision.

Therefore, try to position yourself with low hanging fruit. This will register some early wins which will boost confidence and trust.

Think about what the overall goal or objective is and aim to reduce friction to help achieve that success. Reducing friction makes it easier.

Some recommendations for reducing friction:

• How 6 product designers tackle friction with product managers by Tarif Rahman
• 6 Friction Points That Are Killing Your Business by Logan Mayville

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10. Create a path to success

You’ve done all this hard work influencing multiple stakeholders. Now you have to go and execute on it. What are the next steps, how do we implement?

If you’re someone who brings solutions (ideas) and can deliver (execute) on them timely you’ll be able to influence your team more effectively.

Don’t be the Product Manager that brings the energy and ideas to the table but doesn’t know how to actually make it happen.

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5 negotiation traps to be aware of

Reciprocity trap

Times Square, NYC is a popular tourist attraction and during the summer months (before Covid-19) you generally see folks dressed up as popular children’s characters. One summer afternoon my son and I were exploring NYC. We went to the intrepid museum and my son wanted to check out Times Square.

We got to Times Square and soaked in the sight, my son saw someone dressed as Mario (the video game character) and one of his fav games was Mario.

Naturally, Mario was waving and being friendly and people were taking photos with him. My son asked if he could have his photo taken. I said sure. To set the scene this was parents taking out their phones and taking pictures. We waited for our turn and took the photo.

Then Mario approaches me and asks for money. I had already taken the photo, what was I going to do? I felt obligated to take out some money to give Mario.

This is an example of a reciprocity trap designed to trigger a donation exceeding the value of a 5-second photo taken on my phone.

To be clear, I understand that is how they make some money. For me, it took me by surprise.

To bring this to a negotiation, beware of people who make small concessions and then ask for a bigger concession in return.

Or beware of people who disclose little information and then ask you to disclose a lot more information.

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Good Cop Bad Cop

You may have experienced something like this in the past. An example of this can happen when going through a job application process.

• Good Cop: The business owner may say something along the lines of “officially I am not allowed to get into the salary aspect HR normally does that. However, we’d love to have you on board and will help fight for the salary you’ve asked for”. By saying this the business owner is attempting to get on your side and gain your trust.
• Bad Cop: The HR team member may counter by saying that unfortunately, we don’t have what you’re asking for in our budget we can only offer this much.

The role of the bad cop is to make an outrageous offer which generally anchors to the lower end of the salary offer.

The role of the good cop is to be on your side and have “internal discussions” to break down the bad cop to come up a little and then work with you to make that offer attractive.

Not saying this happens all the time or the characters involved have bad intent. The goal here is to distract you into a conversation between the business owner and HR while throwing you off your interests.

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The last-minute issue

Just as you’re about to agree on something, the last-minute issue is surfaced. Something so small that it doesn’t really need a discussion and you may be tempted to just give in and agree. This becomes a free trade for the other person.

To avoid this, simply say no or ask for something in return (remember how much I emphasized the importance of preparation?)

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The school yard bully

During a negotiation you may come across someone who is over powering over bearing and you just cannot get a word in.

Yes, they still unfortunately exist. The key here is to remain calm and not get emotional or be intimidated.

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The alternative availability

Good negotiators will likely try to ask questions about your BATNA (and you should also ask about their BATNA). If you have not prepared properly and done your research you may not know if an alternative exists.

Once I got to the second round interview for a position, I asked where the company was in their hiring, they responded they should be making an offer to the right candidate soon.

The choice of words “right candidate” set off an alarm so I decided to probe a little further by asking questions and I found out that the company had a #1 candidate choice (in their own words started the process before me) who they were planning to make an offer.

I was being interviewed to fill up the pipeline in case their first choice said no or did not meet the employment requirements.

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What to do if you fall into a trap

If you realize that you are falling into one of the above-mentioned traps or in general feel that the negotiation is not going in the direction you had hoped for, think about the following:

• Staying quiet. Don’t start pushing back or making accusations.
• Focus on their interests. Does this trap help them in their interests or this is a school yard bully tactic to try and break you down?
• Do not start defending yourself or your interests. At this stage do not let your guard down or become emotional.
• Take a break. Take a five and come back if you feel progress can be made or consider your walk-away point.

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Do founders negotiate?

I had a conversation with a founder that I’d like to share with you. He was a founder of a SaaS company and I introduced and showed him The Product Angle.

From looking at the homepage he immediately understood what we do and he immediately understood the line “become a better Product Person” and asked me what we offer.

After explaining how The Product Angle can help him become a better Product Person, the next question puzzled me.

Why do I need to negotiate?

After taking a second to re-group I asked the founder several questions about user acquisition.

He confidently told me that he has been sharing his SaaS with PH, IH, and HN. I asked how many paying customers he has gotten from these channels.

He spoke about the number of views, email captures, number of trials, etc. Meanwhile, I pushed a little more and found out that he had zero paying customers at that time. He told me only shared his SaaS with the world recently.

To be clear I have the utmost respect for this founder (and founders in general), creating a SaaS product alone shows great skills, talent, and determination.

Next, I explained to him that I would consider re-evaluating his user acquisition strategy. While, posting to PH, IH, HN, and other similar sites is a great way to get exposure. In short, these channels may not be the best way to acquire users or validate your idea. Others have written about this so I do not plan to go there.

Sales is a negotiation

I suggested that he reach out directly to his target user base and;

• First of all, talk to them
• Get them interested in your product
• Communicate and help them understand the pain your product solves
• Explain why your product or the story behind it
• Getting them to use/ try your product
• Help them with overcoming any learning barriers
• Get them to the Ah-ha moment
• Offer assistance along the way or check-in if they stopped using and understand why
• Turn them into paying customer
• Turn them into customers that love your product

What I explained there was effectively an example of a sales process. Furthermore, all of these things are things that don’t scale. In the beginning, founders need to do things that don’t scale for the first 10 – 20 – 50 – or even 100 customers.

The sales process is effectively a negotiation. Therefore, in our opinion Founders do need to negotiate, the above is just one example of when founders negotiate.

To take this a step further everyone negotiates every day.

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Enjoy this article?

This is the first article since working with Ryan Robinson as a part of his Scholarship program.

🙏 Very grateful for the suggestions and knowledge Ryan has shared.

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First, keeping with the theme of understanding different functions within a cross-functional team. In this article, we chat with a designer – Fajar Siddiq.

Tell us who you are and what you do?

Hey, I’m Fajar Siddiq, I’m a Serial Entrepreneur from Singapore. I run three companies related to creative work & communities online. Furthermore, I’m working on bootstrapped micro-startups (side projects) as an indie maker. I also travel and work online as Digital Nomad. In addition, I also produce videos for Product launches.

Chat with a designer – Fajar Siddiq

What are some of the products you have worked on?

I have worked on multiple varieties of products and services. You can view my products over on my website. In addition, I also provide design and product feedback to the bootstrapped & indie-makers community.

In your opinion, what traits do good designers share?

Designers are very talented and possess many skills, however, the below is not a comprehensive list but rather a starting point.

• Communication
• Curiosity
• Passion and Drive
• Openness
• Ability to Take Criticism
• Problem Solving
• Self-doubt
• Patience
• Reliability
• Evolution

what traits do good designers share? Click To Tweet

Walk us through your creative process

I like to break my creative process down into 4 stages:

FOCUS: Think about the things you want to do (ideas), write them down, and make a plan to execute. There are a number of todo task app/website or write it down on a piece of paper/book in bullet points.

LEVERAGE: Explore the ideas and problems you’d like to solve. Look at them with a different lens and think about how you can leverage examples already out there e.g., portfolios and other people’s work. Consider this as experimenting & leveraging at the same time to put your ideas together. Your mind must be strong because you need to paint a picture or visualize how it works.

ENGAGEMENT: You need to be driven by passion from the moment you want to work on that idea. Stay away from the problems that don’t exist because there will be over 1,000 freaking problems if you go looking for negativity. So stop and focus on the part where you get excited & get 100% full energy on it. Time to lead and produce.

ACCOUNTABILITY: You must not let the idea get away from you but to make the idea come back to you. I don’t care about your timelines, your plan, your goals, or your talent. If you are not consistent in action, you are out! Do not compete with your priorities because you will lose focus & passion. This stage is the hardest because you will need to shape and develop. You need to release, share, or launch to the whole wide world. You must be ready for constructive criticism & adapt to changes. Ask for feedback. Remember connecting your ideas is to complete all the stages.

How do you stay organized?

It totally depends on the level of priorities. If you’re busy or super busy:

1. Create a todo list, however, remember to get things done rather than creating more lists.
2. Email can be useful, as can chat apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. If your not active with the conversation, considering archiving them. You can also create folders (back up if needed) or save your messages or create your own group (for your own ideas).
3. Declutter everything from your home and work. Also, declutter the tools you use. Do not install all the apps that you get excited but install selectively the apps/software that helps you get things done and helps you make the best of your time helping you achieve your goals.
4. Create habits & patterns. For example, create your morning or evening routines. I prefer the mornings because it allows me to exercise, surf some websites/social media, read to some newsletters, listen to podcasts, and watch some Netflix/videos before my day starts. Focus on your food intake, your work, people around you like family, friends, and colleague/acquaintance/community. In between remember to take breaks & eat healthy snacks. You can power nap as well.

Chat with a designer – Fajar Siddiq

1. Don’t ever get shit pile up. If you have to save yes to everyone and everything, you need to know how to efficiently use technology to help you with time management, and things get done faster. There will come a point where you need to start to say no more often. Saying no is an art, you need to practice and learn to say 1,000,000 NO times.
2. There are things that are difficult to complete and we are humans. We may be fired up and plan to complete it, however, get distracted. This is very common. Especially when it comes to workload, better offers, and procrastination. One of the ways to prevent distractions is to break down the tasks into smaller manageable tasks, part by part, day by day, week by week, and work on the workflow. Practice your workflow and master it till done.
3. Don’t ever get scared to get messy. Messy is normal especially when you’re busy. When you’re super busy you can get super messy. Take things one at a time, give it the focus to do your best. You will feel proud of achieving the task(s) and doing the things that you need to do. If you have bad habits, work to remove the bad habits because it can affect the whole entire process and progress of your workflow from work to your daily life.

Chat with a designer – Fajar Siddiq

How do you balance competing priorities?

Keep it short, sharp, and simple. Always in bullet point form, keep 1,2,3 or step by step. Once done, move to another from big your break it to small pieces.

How do you handle conflict?

Email the person or company and write it down properly, always call up and talk if you need to. 3 important powerful words: 1. Sorry, 2. Thank you, 3. Love you. Don’t talk about it and solve it, tell them when you are going to complete the tasks, and show the results.

What is your biggest achievement?

1. Created a project for clients with $50,000 in sales in 2 months, not for myself. I like to do it for others because I like others to be happy first. Don’t ask me why because I like to create value first then money comes second.
2. I sold some of my products to clients and made a lot of money. But, I used to pay bills and also buy gifts for those who in need. Giving back is important, it makes you a better character. Remember, you can hire a great character and master the skills by learning.
3. Improving my health from time to time. I’ve been in the worst situation in my life. I almost lost my business because I wanted to give up. I came back strong wanting to learn more. I find like-minded people, by joining online communities, and help people by giving feedback on their product and also sharing good tips/advice on making their company or product better. I lost my mom, dad, and brother, but I came back to build my business better. I also was overwhelmed with tons of bills and debt that lead me to an unhealthy mental state, anxiety, and burnout. From there I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I also had other health issues including needing a hernia repair. It was a crazy challenging time. I’m back for good because I know what I want to do and not only do I want to add value to people but most importantly myself first. Because from there I want to help other people create an impact and help them become driven and passionate. Create a better life, people friendship, and partners in business, and also design better products.

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Where can we find you

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Thank you, Fajar for sharing your design experience with us.

Today, April 01, 2020, we scheduled our first conference – Product Impact 2020. Instead, it’s now the conference that never happened.

In this article, we talk about our experience in organizing Product Impact 2020 from idea to cancelation.

First, organizing a conference is a lot of hard work, there are so many ups, and downs. Throughout our journey, we experienced the feeling of are we going to be able to sell even one ticket. Other times we thought oh man why did we even think we can host a conference. At times we considered getting a bigger space.

It was a roller coaster of a ride with a lot of learnings.

However, through Product Impact 2020 we connected with many amazing folks, from individuals looking to get into the product space, individuals who are new product managers, and individuals looking to move into product leadership roles.

Yes, it’s a lot of hard work and many evenings and weekends spent away from the family trying to get Product Impact 2020 off the ground. Thanks to our amazing community it is all worth it.

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Table of contents:

Part 1: The Idea & vision
1.1: Why create a conference
1.2: Creating value for attendees (why would someone attend)
1.3: Picking a date
1.4: Greenlighting the conference

Part 2: Finding speakers & relevant topics
2.1: Call for speakers
2.2: Reaching out to speakers
2.3: Selecting the topic and delivery method
2.4: Preparation sessions

Part 3: Sales & Marketing
3.1: Pricing strategy
3.2: Ticketing platforms
3.3: Social media
3.4: To discount or not

Part 4: Execution
4.1: Getting ready for a lot of work
4.2: Things to prepare before the day of
4.3: Plans for the day of
4.4: Communications with speakers, attendees, and vendors

Part 5: Prioritizing the health & safety of our speakers and attendees
5.1: The world turned upside down
5.2: Involving our speakers and attendees
5.3: The decision
5.4: Communicating our decision out

Part 6: In Closing, a message from our founder
6.1: Lessons learned/ the reality
6.2: The positives
6.3: The negatives
6.2: Thank You

Part 7: What’s next

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The conference that never happened

Part 1: The Idea & vision

1.1: Why create a conference

After talking to a number of Product People we (think we) identified a gap. The Product Angle and Product Impact 2020 is our attempt at solving this gap.

If you have not yet read why we started The Product Angle read our About The Product Angle page, and the behind the scenes look at Product Impact 2020.

The thesis behind Product Impact 2020

Behind Products people want to buy & use there *usually* is an exceptional cross-functional team.

When the team comes together and there is alignment – everyone knows:

• The company objectives/ mission
• Their specific role and how they contribute to the mission
• How to get there

Creating alignment is difficult (not impossible). For that reason, building an exceptional cross-functional team is hard. Each function has its own politics, strengths, motivations, etc.

Therefore, we suggest using communication skills as a superpower.

Growing in silos is difficult and potentially wastes resources.

Don’t just talk product with the team.

Furthermore, Understand:

• What and how they think
• Their motivations
• What challenges they face
• The meaning of success to them

Therefore, good relationships are important in team dynamics. People like to work with other people they trust.

The Gap

Working in cross-functional teams involves a lot of work, communication, and negotiation. However, from what we saw during our customer research, and competitor research phase there are not that many resources to help Product People Communicate, Negotiate & Evangelize effectively while building trust, and confidence in Product teams.

Learning from cross-functional teams

In the product world, we all know how important customer/ user research is. However, Products are made by exceptional cross-functional teams. As Product People, we can only go so far to train other Product People.

Therefore, we believe and advocate there is an opportunity to learn from other cross-functional team members. Let’s bring other cross-functional team members’ viewpoints into our curriculum, training materials, and coaching sessions.

Product Impact 2020 Speakers

That’s exactly what we did. Our diverse Speakers are NOT all Product People.

Are you interested in learning from other cross-functional team members (Marketing, Engineering, and Community, Design, etc.) then Product Impact 2020 is the event for you?

Product Impact 2020 is a 1-day conference where you’ll hear from amazing speakers AND participate in interactive sessions where you’ll learn by doing! Click To Tweet

What we are NOT saying

To be very clear we are not saying Product People should take over and do the job of Engineering, UI/UX, CX, Design, or any other function for that matter.

Seems like other Product leaders also agree

If you can’t sell (actually demo, $ on the line) or market your product (pricing, packaging, positioning, messaging), you probably don’t actually understand your user & what they need.

— Maggie Crowley (@maggiecrowley) January 24, 2020

Deep appreciation/understanding of how other depts (sales, mktg, support, eng) are differently motivated https://t.co/znawX4Cf0V

— Rich Mironov (@RichMironov) January 26, 2020

Lots of b2b product managers haven’t had to buy high ticket software

It can be hard for them to relate to the actual buying process.

— John Cutler (@johncutlefish) January 12, 2020

What we think

We think we will double down on this thesis. Maybe we are wrong, but we will continue to talk to our customers/users, run experiments, take those learnings and iterate.

Prediction/ upcoming trend:

More product events/ conferences/ workshops will include speakers from other cross-functional teams.

Why?

Simple Product people need to understand how other depts operate/motivated

— Pradip Khakhar (@pradipcloud) February 20, 2020

If you have any comments feel free to tweet ☝️.

Read the full thesis behind product impact 2020.

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1.2: Creating value for attendees (why would someone attend)

Before we announced Product Impact 2020 we spoke to a number of Product People, a lot of work went into research and talking to our community.

First, we thought out why we attend conferences.

Next, we asked our community members if they attended conferences and if they did what they liked/ disliked about the conference experience.

Key Insights

The insights shared with us were very valuable. A few takeaways that have stuck with us are:

• There usually is a huge buzz leading up to and day of, however, the energy seems to disappear the next day
• Attendees learn so much, however, during the day there generally isn’t enough time to absorb all the information and how to use what we just learned in our daily professional work lives
• We found attendees loved the human interaction of meeting other Product People especially those serendipity interactions during breaks, lunches, and in the corridors
• On the flip side, we learned that attendees found sitting through hours of talks/ lectures about how that cool tech company does X was valuable. However, attendees also wanted to know how they can bring that knowledge or learning into their daily lives, into their roles to advance their careers

Therefore, as we built out Product Impact 2020 we created a mix of talks/ lectures and practical applications of learnings relevant to Product People/ Managers.

Our value proposition revolved around the phrase Learn by doing.

Product Impact 2020 is a 1-day conference where you’ll hear from amazing speakers AND participate in interactive sessions where you’ll learn by doing!

Our sessions are focused around:

• Showing attendees the theory/ concepts etc.
• Allow the attendees to practice how the theory/ concepts can be applied in their daily lives
• Discuss as a group (a safe environment to allow them to make mistakes, experiment, and learn by doing with fear) what they learned, how they can apply what they learned in their daily lives and any challenges they foresee.
• Including “traditional” talks/lectures”

Learn by doing

One of the things we learned teaching workshops/classes for the past nine-plus years is that students want actionable learning that they can relate to in their daily lives.

Why Product Impact 2020 is different

Product Impact 2020 was created after chatting with a number of different Product People about their experiences and what they would like to see. If you:

• You enjoy listening to professionals talk about their practical experiences and would like the opportunity to ask questions
• When you learn something new you also want to know how to apply it immediately in your professional careers (and practice your new skills in a safe environment)
• Access to no-fluff, no-nonsense actionable content

We don’t know if these are considered good/ bad or if there is an industry-standard. We have created Product Impact 2020 with Product People in mind and what we thought was right for the participants and speakers in an attempt to differentiate Product Impact 2020.

If you are someone who follows trends/ statistics let us know how we compare to the industry.

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1.3: Picking a date

Picking a date was one of the hardest things to do. Being in NYC there are so many events and meetups competing for attendees.

We considered a number of different months to potentially host the event. Initially, we considered:

• June 2020, however, with summer right around the corner we decided against June 2020.
• September 2020 is a good candidate.
• March 2020, is also a good candidate. The weather in NYC starts to be warmer
• April 2020, again this was another good candidate where the weather in NYC starts to be warmer and it is before the summer events

After chatting with our first round of confirmed speakers, we decided on 01, April 2020.

Why April 01, that’s April fools?

We think that was part of the attraction. Hosting a conference is a *big* deal and we could potentially make some jokes about April fools during the conference.

During the opening welcome remarks, one of the jokes we were planning to potentially use was to Thank everyone for attending Product Impact 2020, however, this was one big April fool’s experiment. There is no conference, feel free to eat breakfast and be on your way home.

We did not fully think this through. We have ideas we were not sure which *joke* to use.

via GIPHY

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1.4: Greenlighting the conference

Hosting a conference is a *big* deal that takes a lot of time and effort. Initially, when we spoke to our speakers we indicated that 2 weeks prior to the conference i.e. approximately March 18, 2020, we would make the *final* call if we should move ahead or scrap the concept.

Therefore, giving us a level of comfort knowing if the expenses exceed the ticket sales or if there was not sufficient interest we could *cancel* the whole conference. (could not think of a better word all things considered).

Luckily in Jan 2020, the conversations with the speakers went something like:

Super excited to officially let you know that Product Impact 2020 is a go.

We are close to the budget and we feel we still have time (2 months), and if we don’t make more sales we will personally make up the difference.

Hence. we appreciate your sharing/ engaging on social. We appreciate your continued support.

We have also sent a speaker-only dinner invite.

There was a sense of relief. Product Impact 2020 was a go, however, on the flip side that meant we had to deliver the best experience we can. At the end of the conference, we want attendees to walk away feeling wow. This was a fantastic learning experience.

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Table of Contents:

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The conference that never happened

Part 2: Finding speakers

Speakers are the main attraction. People want to hear from their favorite speakers. Therefore, we immediately started to brainstorm who we would like to invite to speak. Who we would like to hear from. As we made a list we needed to craft our story.

2.1: Call for speakers

When we first came up with the Idea for Product Impact 2020 we had no idea that call for speakers was even a thing. However, once we did realize we did not utilize a call for speakers for a couple of reasons:

1. We wanted to curate the experience for attendees
2. Being a “new” entity there is a chance people may not want to submit a talk

Plus reaching out to speakers whom we knew or could be introduced facilitated through a warm introduction meant the chance of that speaker saying yes (at least in our opinion) was higher.

Product Impact 2020 Speakers

We are truly grateful to all the speakers who said yes. As you can see we had a fantastic speaker lineup.

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2.2: Reaching out to speakers

While we were confident (to an extent) people would give us time to talk to them about Product Impact 2020 we were very cautious since we are new and this is our first conference. Our fear was people would want to be associated with us.

Our cold emails looked something like this:

(Image inspired by Harry Dry from Marketing Examples)

Telling our story

Looking back we got a response to our email from *nearly* everyone. The next step was to jump on a call. The call allowed us to chat about our story and our thesis behind Product Impact 2020.

We also talked about vision and potential fit. If we thought things were moving in the right direction the next step was to determine if the potential speaker was ready to make a commitment or needed some additional time to think about it.

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2.3: Selecting the topic and delivery method

Similar to curating the speakers, we wanted to curate the topics based on our research.

In line with what we mentioned above, we created a mix of hands-on learning sessions, traditional talks, and hybrid sessions.

In the following section, we talk about how we decided on the following sessions. The list is in order of events for the day.

Speaker: Katelyn Bourgoin

Katelyn is a customer discovery geek (no, we didn’t make that up it’s on Katelyn’s website). We first heard about Katelyn through a webinar she did and she kept our attention for the full hour. Actually, we did not even realize an hour flew by.

Over the 2019 summer, Katelyn held a paid webinar in which she invited us through a personalized video. That was our first video invitation. I mean c’mon Katelyn spent time personalizing the video invitation and made it relevant to us. We had to attend.

The webinar was fantastic and since then we are huge fans of Katelyn. FYI: Katelyn has this amazing PDF on how to do customer discovery interviews and we have been referencing the PDF before we conduct any customer discovery interviews.

We sent a similar email to Katelyn (as shown above), she replied and we jumped on a call. It was exciting to hear that Katelyn also shared out “Learn by doing” vision.

We recalled that during the summer 2019 webinar Katelyn was virtually facilitating her students to conduct mock customer discovery interviews. We asked if Katelyn would be open to doing something like that in person.

The conversations progressed and the next thing we know a two-hour session called How to use customer discovery interviews to get more customers was added to the agenda.

The session includes:

• A talk about Katelyn’s experience
• Practical knowledge on how to conduct customer discovery interviews
• Katelyn to faciliate mock customer discovery interviews
• A discussion as group after completing the mock discovery interviews

Speaker: Mubashar Iqbal

Mubashar is an engineering director and maker of over 80 products. Mubashar has been Product Hunt maker of the year 2016.

At the time we reached out to Mubashar we had never spoken, we were fans of his work and followed him on Twitter.

One Saturday morning we sent a DM via twitter and luckily within a few minutes, we jumped on a call. That’s when we realized Mubashar is a fellow Brit who has a passion for football (the European kind).

We chatted and we felt the conversation was going very well. We spoke about potential ideas for a session and Mubashar suggested Converting big ideas into small MVPs.

The session would include:

• A 35-minute session where Mubashar takes us through his experience
• How Mubashar create MVPs quickly and effectively
• Then we would open up the floor for ideas/problems from the audience members and Mubashar would ideate live in real-time on how he would potentially create an MVP

Speaker: Marcie Walker

Marcie is a community builder we met Marcie at a Meetup a while ago. We don’t recall the exact channel we reached out to Marcie on (it may have been Linkedin).

Keeping in line with our thesis of learning from other cross-functional team members. We knew building communities is essential for your career as well as your product. In no time Marcie came up with a title for an exciting talk called How to Leverage Community to Accelerate Your Career.

Speaker: Michelle Chu

Similar to Marcie, we met Michelle at a Meetup way back when and we don’t recall the exact channel we reached out to Michelle on (it may have been Linkedin). We jumped on a call and the rest is history as they say.

Michelle’s background in design made her an amazing candidate keeping in line with our thesis of learning from other cross-functional team members.

We keep saying “Behind every product that people want to buy and use, there is usually an exceptional cross-functional team”. Michelle’s session called How to create true partnerships with your design team was truly designed to bring alignment within the team.

Speakers: Tremis Skeete, Erin Essex, Henry Bruce, and Bianka McGovern

Similar to Marcie and Michelle, we met Tremis at a Meetup way back when. It really was a long time, when we reached out to Tremis we needed to indicate that we met each other at a Meetup (in 2018 we think). It was a case of “hey do you remember us?”.

Luckily, after some back and forth Tremis recalled when and where we had previously met. We jumped on a call and chatted about our story and asked Tremis if he’d like to speak at Product Impact 2020.

If we recall correctly, Tremis had ideas about a session. However, Tremis turned the script and asked us what topic(s) we think would be good for a talk. I was a little stumped since I didn’t really know Tremis that well and did not really know where his skills/ interests lie.

We share a few ideas together and Tremis asked us to take a look at his website. After some time we got back on a call and shared some more ideas together. Since we are in an election year one of the ideas I had was to create a product-related debate (you know like what you see on TV but for a product-related topic).

This piqued Tremis’s interest and he told me he had done something similar in the past, that is when Tremis made an introduction to Erin, Henry, and Bianka. We had actually had Henry on the podcast (that we never released but that’s a story for another day).

Potential debate topics

From there the pace picked up the team were excited and looking forward to a product debate. We talked about potential debate topics and came up with the following:

1. Product Managers need to have deep technical knowledge of the product in order to be effective
2. APIs are perfect for every product
3. Coding is the best way to build prototypes
4. UX Metrics is the best way to ensure your product is a success
5. Market Research is UX Research
6. Something else

To get some engagement and create interest in the community we decided to involve our community members to chose what topic the team should debate.

The community decided on…

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2.4: Preparation sessions

As each speaker agreed to be on board. We had requested two things:

1. 30 days before Product Impact 2020 to jump on a call
2. 14 days before Product Impact 2020 all slides/ content to be completed and sent to us

Having said that, we did have interactions we each of the speakers informally. So we were always in constant contact with the speakers and here if there were any issues. However, more importantly, working on the materials and staying aligned.

Preparing for the next Product Debate

Since all the speakers for the next Product Debate lived in NYC, we met up for a prep session in Midtown Manhattan.

One night while the TV was on in the background we saw a show where contestants ate hot wings that got progressively spicier (heat). As I researched the show, we noticed the show started on YouTube as an interview series.

We asked the Product Debate speakers if they would be open to recording something similar as we prepared for the debate.

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Below is a representation of the conversation.

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And here is the team:

We had a blast recording the hot wings preparation session. It was fun watching everyone eat hot wings while chatting about the debate. The last dab is very hot.

We cannot wait to share the video with you at a later date.

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Table of Contents:

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The conference that never happened

Part 3: Sales & Marketing

Sales is hard, however, if you make it about making your potential customer successful. Sales can actually be fun.

When we first started selling tickets for Product Impact 2020 we thought in order to get the word out and attract potential attendees we would use blogging, articles, social media, videos, and ads.

In addition, we would cold email potential attendees, getting out there calling people and meeting people.

Now we are by no means an expert in this area. However, it seems like we just described inbound marketing vs. outbound marketing.

We created a list of 300 plus people that we knew/ or think would be interested in attending Product Impact 2020 and started to reach out.

No, our way of outreach is not emailing people and asking them to attend Product Impact 2020.

We would love to write more about our sales approach and outreach program, however, that’s for another article.

Side note

Sales can be fun and rewarding if done right. At the same time, sales can also be stressful especially if salespeople need to meet their numbers and are way off.

Luckily our numbers were reasonable, i.e. we only needed to sell enough tickets to cover our costs.

The difference between sales and marketing

Again, we by no means are an expert at this. In our opinion we view:

• Sales as turning potential (good fit) attendees into paying attendees
• Marketing attracts & educate potential customers

We like the following slides below:

Marketing is what you do when you already have the information needed to make the sale. We don’t. For more information continue reading to the section title “how others saw Product Impact 2020′ below.

Sales is what you do when the customer has the information needed to make the sale (and we don’t). This seems like our situation. As we chatted with people we started to understand what information is needed, again continue reading to the section title “how others saw Product Impact 2020′ below.

The below slide is a fantastic view of sales. Sales get a really bad reputation, and truthfully salespeople are part of the problem when they consistently bombard social marketing DMs, and emails with consistent garbage they call cold emails.

To be clear in our opinion, if cold emails are done right they do work. However, what is a cold email and what should be written in a cold email is debated fiercely online.

So please before you send out a generic email that states “we think our product or service can benefit you” email. Only to follow up with an email that says “hi sending a reminder to bring this higher in your inbox” or “hi just checking you are well as I have not heard from you”. In our opinion what we described is what a number of salespeople do but is not what we consider to be a good cold email strategy.

Anyway, that’s for another day.

Sales is not about making the sale and moving on. It’s about building a relationship and making the customer successful. This leads to happy customers, who can warm intro you to referrals in their networks. Or could be potential candidates for up and cross-selling.

Thank you, Louis, for sharing your slides.

Creating a Product Impact 2020 Scholarship program

At the beginning of 2020, we were thinking about running Product Impact 2020 ads on Linkedin and Twitter. We have absolutely zero experience creating and running ads with either platform. We created mock-up images and ideas for a 30-second video.

Then while doing some research on how to actually implement and execute ads, we got thinking. We could spend $X on ads with (potentially) zero returns.

We would obviously learn about creating ads and buying ads. However, we were learning so much already did we really need to learn more?

That’s when the idea for a scholarship program came to life. We figured why not take the $X budget and give it to people who are interested in attending Product Impact 2020.

We quickly put together an article announcement here. The response was amazing. It was the right choice to make.

How others saw Product Impact 2020

When we first announced Product Impact 2020, the name was actually different. When we first launched we called the concept Pitchside 2020. Because when playing sports you need to be on the pitch. However, as we launched some of the feedback we received included confusion around what Pitchside 2020 was.

People interpreted Pitchside 2020 as something to do with pitching and not product. One late night we were exchanging DMs on Twitter with Hiten, who also suggested next year we change the name. In the back of our minds, we were already considering changing this year.

We floated a couple of alternative names and finally settled on Product Impact 2020, and as soon as we made the announcement people started to get it. It started to click.

Similarly, when we launched we called Product Impact 2020 a workshop (because of the interactive elements), we found people were not as excited about a workshop with nine potential speakers. Based on the people we spoke to felt a workshop should be lead by one or two people.

That worked, but not really. Later I spent some time interviewing people by telling them our story and what I hope to accomplish with Product Impact 2020 and asked what they think I am talking about and nearly everyone I spoke to thought I was talking about a conference.

Well guess what we changed all our materials and now Product Impact 2020 is a one-day conference to level up your product skills.

Once we positioned Product Impact 2020 as a conference that when we started getting traction (along with the hot wings challenge).

The timing problem

As an event organizer, we’d like everyone to buy a ticket as early as possible. This gives us an indication of revenue to use against our costs.

However, a lot of people I spoke to said they had no idea what they’d be doing on April 01. It’s way too out there. After chatting with a number of other event organizers in NYC who were kindly willing to share some learnings with us. We realized that NYC is very last minute. Which based on our ticket sales, as we got closer to April 01, the more tickets we sold.

It’s a pain as an event organizer and therefore we kept debating the size of the space we need. Once we hit capacity we would need to stop selling tickets.

What if we get an influx of last-minute sales, what if we don’t?

In the end, we booked a space on the lower end to ensure we don’t bite off more than we can chew.

3.1: Pricing strategy

Pricing is a sensitive yet interesting topic. On one hand, we created a budget of expenses needed to make Product Impact 2020 a reality and we needed to sell enough tickets to cover the expenses.

Initially, when we came up with the idea we knew (and were reminded) that many conferences are sponsored by corporations who want access to the attendee information. Either through being able to “pitch” their product or service on the day of the conference or gain access to emails in order to be able to “pitch” their services after the conference has ended.

Sponsorships

Our immediate reaction was that sponsorships are great to help spread the word and be attached to other amazing companies. However, we decided we would not sell attendee information in any form.

We were not actively searching for sponsorships, however, when we reached out to Marcie to potentially speak at Product Impact 2020 she asked if we would be open to sponsorship. We asked what exactly does sponsorship means and we were able to secure Fiverr as a corporate sponsor. (For that we are very grateful Marcie 🙏).

Then we realized that there may be other companies who may also be interested in sponsoring Product Impact 2020 where we did not need to *sell* our attendee information. We quickly put together sponsorship tiers.

Truthfully speaking, we had no idea if we would land any additional sponsors. For transparency, at the time of canceling Product Impact 2020, we were in talks with a number of companies to potentially sponsor Product Impact 2020 however, we did not *close* any sponsorships. We had an interest in sponsorship packages and we were in discussions. That is a huge deal for us.

As per our budget, we knew tickets would be our main source of revenue and the only way Product Impact 2020 would happen is if we sold sufficient tickets to cover the expenses. We were not interested in making a profit.

Ticket types

While thinking about tickets we wanted to keep it simple, affordable while creating a ton of value.

When we started selling tickets we were approximately five months out and it was towards the end of the year (we think the announcement was made in Oct), therefore in NYC, we knew people generally don’t buy conference tickets that far ahead and therefore to incentivize people to buy we created an early bird rate.

We have friends and family in England, Europe, Middle-east, India, Pakistan, Singapore, and Australia, who wanted to be a part of Product Impact 2020 some were willing to fly to NYC (thank you so much, you know who you are) and some were unable. However, we were asked we could record the sessions and send it to them and someone asked if we could live-stream the event.

Being a small company, the costs to video produce or live-stream were relatively high. Therefore, we decided to create a video-only ticket. This would allow people to support Product Impact 2020 and also get access to valuable content on the day. It seemed like a win-win, and therefore a video-only ticket was created.

Tickets

Video only – $95

Early Bird ticket – $195

Regular Ticket – $295

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One of the most asked questions we received was:

Why are you charging for video access?

Our response:
We would love to share the videos for free. However, as a small company, it costs us to create Product Impact 2020. Video production costs are one of the many costs that need to be budgeted. You can read some of the Behind the Scenes of what goes into creating a conference.

3.2: Ticketing platforms

We checked out a number of different ticketing platforms. This is not a review of ticketing platforms.

We chose Eventbrite as the main ticketing platform for Product Impact 2020. If you are interested in following along click here to be notified of any upcoming events.

If Meetup is your thing we also have a Meetup group here if Meetup is a platform you use feel free to join.

3.3: Social media

When we started like everyone we started with, 0 followers. We knew we needed to up our social media game. After some research we chose Meet Edgar to manage our social media posts.

We are growing our social media slowly but surely. Right now we are active on Twitter and Linkedin.

To be updated about future experiences feel free to connect with us on one of the platforms.

We have a presence on Instagram and YouTube but not so active on these two platforms.

It takes a lot of work to create meaningful social content. It’s been a fun experience learning what works and what doesn’t.

A couple of honorable mentions:
When the Behind the scenes Product Impact article was released it did well.

Also when we released the hot wings challenges that created a lot of interest and as a result, we sold a number of regular tickets. This was a surprise to us, but it proves that we need a balance of education, entertainment, and encouragement.

In keeping with the hot wings session, here is a never before seen video of how we selected the teams.

3.4: To discount or not

This is a question we really struggled with.

Our tickets were (in our opinion) reasonably priced for the value we believe attendees would be receiving. Therefore, we structured the ticket to offer a discount for people who buy their tickets before December 31, 2019, at $195. On January 01, 2020, the early bird tickets would no longer be available and only the regular ticket would be available for product People interested in attending in person at $295.

The video only ticket was available at any point for $95.

However, we understand life happens and not everyone is in a position to be able to spend $295 on a one-day conference. Therefore, on a case by case basis, if potential attendees would reach out for a discount we would evaluate and offer a discount.

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The conference that never happened

Part 4: Execution

A friend of ours once said something along the lines of sales is relatively easy compared to successfully delivering what you’ve just sold.

And boy was this person right. So far as a quick recap, we have told you the why behind Product Impact 2020 (our thesis), curating speakers and topics, and setting up tickets to be sold.

Execution of Product Impact 2020 can be a min-book on its own. To be very honest, it is a lot of work and at times can be very overwhelming. Read more about this below in the section called: In closing, a message from our founder.

In this section, we talk about what we were working on. Since this is the conference that never happened, we did not get the opportunity to go through with it (obviously).

4.1: Getting ready for a lot of work

Back around Oct 2019, we made a list of items we think we need to prepare (organize) to successfully pull Product Impact 2020 off. As of January 2020, we were pretty cool and relaxed late into February and early March 2020 (before we called Product Impact 2020 off) we were busy making sure that things were moving along according to plan.

4.2: Things to prepare before the day of

Where do we even begin, there is just so much to take care of. Let’s start with the venue.

The venue

Living in NYC we do not see this as a big hurdle, there are *so many* spaces available. It becomes a case of finding the right venue at the right price.

We considered various locations from downtown, midtown, and even uptown. Each location offering something special and unique to its geographical location.

However, we started to think about the location from an attendee’s perspective. NYC can be a pain to travel around at times and therefore if we picked a venue near major public transportation hubs it would be easier for attendees who are coming in on public transport.

This narrowed our search down to two places. First, the Union Square area has access to many MTA Subway lines and connections are available. The second is Midtown Manhattan, near Grand Central Station.

In the end, we found a sweet spot in Midtown Manhattan, near Grand Central Station.

The Food

Food was very important to us. We wanted to make sure that we catered to the dietary needs of attendees while also providing a selection of teas, coffees, and snacks throughout the day.

The idea was:

• 8 am EST welcome breakfast
• Noon EST lunch
• Afternoon tea (the founder is British after all. Which means *everyone* needs to drink their tea with their pinky high in the air (only joking) maybe?)
• Teas, coffees, and snacks replenished throughout the day

We wanted attendees to be comfortable chatting with other attendees and generally mingling. We did not want attendees wasting precious time searching for food and drinks when they could be using that time networking with other attendees.

Just before announcing the cancelation, we had been looking at a couple of food options. Both in terms of what we would actually serve and the restaurant we would order from.

We were close to placing an order, however, since we did not. We did not have any cancelation or fees associated.

Conference badges

We thought about conference badges and thought do we really need the additional expense. We were in two minds when we first created our Google sheet with a list of potential expenses. As we neared April 01, we thought let’s do it.

Why?

Last time we attended a conference we received a conference badge. For us, we kept it safe as a reminder of attending.

We thought it would be a good keepsake item especially considering it is our first conference.

Our next dilemma was should we print attendee names on each conference badge?

If we do, the lead time would increase and effectively cost more. This got us thinking should we add names for attendees who buy their tickets before a specified date? but then some attendees will have a badge with their name and some won’t. We didn’t really want to differentiate between attendees based on when they bought their tickets.

We looked at printing machines so we could print them internally, the cost of each machine is way out of our budget and we looked to potentially rent a machine.

The below images show the potential conference badge design. Clearly, the back of the conference badge needs some more work.

Front of badge:

Back of badge:

Conference workbook

We were debating creating a printed conference workbook for attendees. The workbook would contain slides, templates, handouts, etc. that speakers would use for their sessions. Attendees could use to write notes.

We say debate because we didn’t want to simply print for the sake of printing (and therefore killing trees), we needed a strong business case.

We were talking to speakers and attendees to determine if they found having a printed book helpful. After all, all attendees will be receiving electronic access to the slides, templates, handouts, etc.

Video Production

We wanted to capture the day through video. Especially for our video ticket holders. Finding a reliable, trustworthy filmmaker is a job in itself. Initially, we asked around friends and family to see if they know anyone who might be interested.

We were put into touch with a film school and thought about giving students some practical hands-on experience. However, once we chatted with one of the faculty members they were looking to position the students in an internship model where they will be given practical advice, training, and access to camera equipment. All of which we could not provide.

Next, we looked at commercial offerings. A full production house would likely be out of our budget. We remembered that we used a freelance filmmaker when we need to record our talk earlier in the year How to build practical negotiation skills.

We reached out to her and she also helped with the hot wings video. She would have been the filmmaker for Product Impact 2020.

The Product Angle Merch

Yes, it’s coming. We would have loved to launch it at Product Impact 2020.

4.3: Plans for the day of

As we approached April 01, 2020, Product Impact 2020 was becoming a reality (before the cancelation). We could list 101 things that could go wrong. The obvious being the food not being delivered on time or the video recording files becoming corrupt.

There were things we could control, however, a number of things we could not control.

Our proposed Schedule

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End of conference 6:10pm

The schedule and what we cover is subject to change.

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Live social sharing

Another idea we were thinking of was sharing photos, video clips, and tweets as things happened “on stage”.

Welcoming attendees and checking attendees in

We cannot be in two or more places at once and therefore we needed additional people to assist with welcoming attendees and checking attendees in the morning as well as misc tasks throughout the day.

We were contemplating creating a volunteer application, however, a number of people had reached out offering help and support throughout the day.

4.4: Communications with speakers, attendees, and vendors

By now if you have not figured it out, we believe communication is a superpower. Accordingly, we wanted to keep all stakeholders aware of what’s going on, the objective, and the ask.

We kept in touch periodically with speakers, and you can read more in the speaker’s section above.

Since we canceled approx 30 days out we did not have a need for our communication sequence with attendees. As for the vendors we worked with (i.e. event space) they were actually good to work with.

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The conference that never happened

Part 5: Prioritizing the health & safety of our speakers and attendees

5.1: The world turned upside down

We had been following the Covid-19 outbreak worldwide since it was first announced. In the back of our minds, we had a gut feeling that we will need to keep an eye on it. Having said that never in our wildest dreams did we imagine the worldwide impact would be what we are currently witnessing.

As this article is being written we are all in mandatory lockdown (at least in NYC) with physical (social) distancing in effect. With a strong recommendation to only go out for food, emergencies, or going out for fresh air.

This is understandable a very difficult time for everyone worldwide.

We at The Product Angle would like to take this opportunity to thank all the medical professionals around the world working crazy hours to help patients get through this.

In addition, as we face unprecedented circumstances please take a few minutes to stay safe, however, also think of the people who may not be as lucky as you. While we are not specialists by any means in this situation, however, under the circumstances a lot of difficult times are ahead. We are seeing this in the travel and hospitality industries, it will get better with time.

However, having said that we are optimistic and ask you also to think positively and come together as a product community.

We think it was last week in Feb or the first week in March when the first in-person events began to announce they are canceling or postponing as a result of Covid-19.

We had approximately 30 days to go before Product Impact 2020. In our opinion, we had a few options:

1. Cancel Product Impact 2020
2. Wait till last week in March before making a decision
3. Change the delivery format to an online event
4. Continue with Product Impact 2020 as is
5. Postpone Product Impact 2020 to a later date

The decision was a very difficult one to make, however, when it was put into context the decision was not really that difficult.

5.2: Involving our speakers and attendees

Frantically, over a period of a few days, I reached out to all our speakers individually to gain their perspective.

We discussed the five potential options and below are our thoughts:

1. Cancel Product Impact 2020

While nobody wanted to cancel Product Impact 2020, all the speakers are willing to transition to a virtual conference.

2. Wait till last week in March before making a decision

We were not fans of this approach right off the bat for obvious reasons. While we *really* wanted to make Product Impact 2020 (in-person) a reality we did not want to leave our speakers and attendees in any problematic situations where they may be unable to obtain a full refund for their flights, hotels, etc.

Plus canceling last minute puts additional unnecessary stress on our speakers and attendees.

3. Change the delivery format to an online event

This is an option that we considered as a strong alternative, after all, we were also selling video only online tickets.

After much thought, we decided against changing the delivery of Product Impact 2020 to an online format for the following reasons:

We felt that the online tickets provided tremendous value and in addition, we planned to hold on one on one video (Zoom) sessions with our video only ticket holders to give them a chance to ask any questions they may have.

However, at the time of cancelation, we felt we would reorganize Product Impact at a later date keeping with the Learn by doing theme.

4. Continue with Product Impact 2020 as is

This was a very risky choice for obvious reasons, and we did not want to put our speakers nor our attendees at any risk.

5. Postpone Product Impact 2020 to a later date

This is effectively what we are doing, even though the materials state we are canceling Product Impact 2020. The distinction to us is as follows:

If we cancel: we refund all the funds back to the ticketholders.

If we postpone: we keep the funds and do not return the money. Ticket holders will automatically be given a ticket to Product Impact when rescheduled.

We do not want to hold onto the ticket holders’ money. The ticket holders signed up for Product Impact 2020 on April 01, 2020. We did not think it was appropriate to hold onto the money for a later date when at the time of cancelation we did not know when that later date would be.

All things considered, we are very happy with our decision. Combined with the news that many people are losing their jobs and asked to take unpaid leave we know we made the right decision to immediately refund all ticket holders.

Don’t think about it from a conference organizer’s perspective, however, think it through the empathetic eyes of an attendee.

As an attendee, if we signed up to attend a conference on April 01, 2020, and the conference was not happening on April 01, 2020, and there is no date specified we would want a refund.

What if we could not make it on the rescheduled date?

When is the rescheduled

Above all, every speaker is on board with the decision made.

5.3: The decision

In the end, we decided to cancel Product Impact 2020. We decided to prioritize the health and safety of our speakers and attendees.

The decision to cancel was not taken lightly, we have a number of attendees flying into NYC from different parts of the world. However, with approximately less than 30 days to go (when we made the announcement), while chatting with our international folks some had not yet booked their travel (airfare) tickets at the time and were feeling cautious.

If we go ahead and then need to cancel because the outbreak doesn’t improve we would feel very bad for attendees especially if they are unable to request cancelations for travel, hotels, etc.

Canceling with approximately 30 days to go seemed like a good period to communicate to everyone We decided to prioritize the health and safety of our speakers and attendees.

5.4: Communicating our decision out

Once the decision had been made, the first to hear official confirmation were our speakers. Next, we sent out an email blast to the attendees and subscribers of our newsletter.

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The Product Angle Newsletter is The Product Angle’s newsletter.

We explore product, growth, and people skills.

Leave this field empty if you're human:

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Below is a snippet of our announcement, to read the full announcement read Canceling Product Impact 2020.

After consulting our speakers and some of our attendees, we are canceling Product Impact 2020.

The world is experiencing an outbreak of the coronavirus. In addition, New York City officials announced the Coronavirus Outbreak Will Spread in New York City.

We don’t know what April 01, 2020, looks like, however, we are prioritizing the health and safety of our speakers and attendees.

Finally, we also used our social media channels through Twitter and Linkedin to communicate our decision out.

(shameless plug: feel free to connect/ follow 🙂 if that’s something you’d normally do.)

1/2 Canceling Product Impact 2020!

After consulting our speakers and some of our international attendees, we are canceling Product Impact 2020.

We are prioritizing the health and safety of our speakers and attendees

— Pradip Khakhar (@pradipcloud) March 4, 2020

In addition, we would like to thank each and every attendee and many also followed up with some amazing thoughtful comments once the decision to cancel Product Impact 2020 was made public.

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The conference that never happened

Part 6: In Closing, a message from our founder

Hi there, 👋 Pradip Khakhar here. While I did write this entire article, I have used *we* as opposed to *I* for two reasons; 1) Product Impact 2020 is not about me and 2) I am very thankful to everyone who helped me bring Product Impact 2020 to life.

If you have made it this far, thank you so much. Writing this article “The conference that never happened” was both rewarding (writing my story) but also bittersweet (we came so close, yet so far).

6.1: Lessons learned/ the reality

I personally had a blast organizing Product Impact 2020 has forced me to develop and learn new skills. For example, writing cold emails, writing articles consistently, starting a newsletter, video/ audio production, selling tickets, communicating, finding a venue, food arrangements, I mean the list goes on and on.

In the back of my mind, especially when I first announced Product Impact 2020 was the thought what if I fail? What if we don’t sell enough tickets?

Clearly, for a first-time conference organizer, I don’t have the ability to sell 500+ plus tickets. However, when I first thought of Product Impact 2020 I did not want to create a conference with 500 + plus attendees. I wanted to create a niche event (experience).

However, if I don’t try I’ll never know how many tickets I can sell. One thing I do know is it’s not about me or Product Impact 2020 (or selling tickets) it’s about creating an unforgettable experience for Product Impact 2020 attendees where they walk away thinking we can’t wait till next year (hopefully – fingers crossed. Although no promises made).

6.2: The positives

Throughout this article, I have listed so many positives that have come out of organizing Product Impact 2020. I am truly grateful for the friendships, connections, and kind words shared.

6.3: The negatives

I would not say negatives, let’s reframe as the lesson’s learned that maybe did not go as expected to plan.

There are three situations I’d like to mention:

1. Disputed Order(s) Refunded [ref:(order reference #)]
2. Is this a Product Conference with only one Product Manager speaking?
3. Being kicked out of a slack community

Disputed Order(s) Refunded [ref:(order reference #)]

One morning I woke up to an email with the above email subject. I think it was around 4 or 5 am and I was still half asleep waking up. Initially, I thought it was spam as I knew most of the attendees. I was about to delete the email and something in my gut said open it and to my horror, someone I thought was a friend requested a chargeback.

As Eventbrite put in the email:

We received notification that an order for Product Impact 2020. A 1-day conference to level up your Product Skills. was charged back by the cardholder. A chargeback occurs when a ticket buyer formally disputes a purchase with their bank or credit card company.

We have proactively refunded the disputed order. We understand that this action may not be in line with your policy on refunds. However, we have taken this action in response to a formal dispute from our banking partners and feel it is necessary to protect you from incurring a potential loss. We have absorbed the associated fee from our banking partner as a courtesy.

Wow, I was really shocked I immediately reached out to this person and asked what happened. Radio silence, I thought no worries and around 10 am the same morning I called Eventbrite to understand what a chargeback meant. Eventbrite confirmed that a chargeback occurs when a ticket buyer formally disputes a purchase with their bank or credit card company.

What I told Eventbrite

I asked Eventbrite if this impacts my credibility or relationship with Eventbrite and I don’t recall what Eventbrite said. However, I asked the customer rep if they would like any support (that this is not a fraud) between the person requesting a chargeback and me.

This person asked for a discount and I approved. Then the person purchased this ticket and therefore I don’t understand how this person could claim with their bank that the ticket buyer formally disputes the purchase.

Eventbrite said the department that handles this information is not currently available and I should reply to the Eventbrite email with any support I wanted to share. I made it very clear that under no circumstances do I want this person at my event anymore and I do not wish to take any further action (apparently I could not do anything about it anyway). The refund issued, case closed.

My reply to Eventbrite included the following screenshot.

As you can clearly see a discount code was offered, I was then advised that the buyer bought the full pass (meaning in-person ticket as opposed to the video only ticket) and I thanked this person for their support.

Update

The person told me that his credit cards had been stolen and this person did not request a chargeback. I explained what Eventbrite told me. I did not get a chance to ask then why did this person go radio silent and did not respond to my messages/ email.

To be clear, I have zero expectations and if indeed the person’s credit cards were stolen I fully appreciate and acknowledge that it could have taken a month to get this person’s life back to normal and combined with what we are dealing with.

It is a learning experience for me. Meaning, Eventbrite forces you to select a refund policy and I chose no refunds (as do many event organizers), however, we understand that things happen and therefore the ticket could be transferred to someone else.

I have seen many event organizers do this and it creates a predictable headcount.

Otherwise, if people could cancel the day before planning an event would be very difficult.

Lesson learned: If you call your credit card company/ bank and complain that the transaction was a fraud and claim a chargeback you’d get it (no questions asked).

Is this a Product Conference with only one Product Manager speaking?

To set the stage it was around the end of December 2019. I was browsing Twitter late in the evening and I saw a tweet that said something along the lines of (obviously paraphrased); “Hi, our corp has training budget left we need to use before the end of the year any suggestions?”.

I tweeted about Product Impact 2020 (see image below) and one of the responses received confused me. Was it a serious question?

Here is the reply:

“Is this a Product Conference with only one Product Manager speaking?”

Not really sure how to respond to that. Initially, I thought it was a serious question. However, upon checking out the profile page this person appeared to an experienced Product Manager maybe even a Product Leader.

After some thought, I replied “Hi, [Name] 👋 As you know PM’s need to collaborate and communicate effectively in cross-functional teams. We believe it’s important to bring other functions into the conversation. To answer your question, 4 people from the speaker list currently or previously worked as a PM.”

No response.

I followed up with a DM “Hi [Name], thank you for your question. Let me know if I can answer any other questions. I’d love to learn more about you and what you do. Would you be open to a chat?”

No response.

Later (earlier this year) I noticed the same person promoting product training in NYC (I believe the same person was the instructor teaching) and then it made sense to me.

To be clear I am not making any accusations towards the person who asked the question or the large company that this person was promoting the NYC training session with.

However, to me, it did seem odd. 🤔

To read why this question worries me read the thesis behind Product Impact 2020.

Lesson learned: You’ll need thick skin online.

Being kicked out of a slack community

One Saturday afternoon I was browsing a Slack community I am a part of and saw a channel that was something along the lines of # NYC-events. Living in NYC I was curious so I clicked the channel and saw people posting their product events in this channel.

What do you think I did?

Of course, the name of the channel and actions of the channel members matched. It was a place for people to share events in NYC.

I added Product Impact 2020 to the conversation. Three days later I no longer had access to the Slack community. I tried to contact support and a few contacts at the organization and no reply.

Still to this day, I don’t know the reason for being kicked out.

Be it naive or stupidity on my part, my guess is that this organization also runs product events and conferences and did not want my event listed there.

Also, to be clear when I browsed the # NYC-events channel there were events hosted by this organization and there were events that were not hosted by this organization but hosted by other organizations. Hence I assumed it was ok to post.

Lesson learned: Reach out to the admins of the community before posting or risk being kicked out.

Not interested

In case you are wondering if I’d attach any names to the above three situations. Absolutely not, so please don’t even ask.

6.2: Thank You

Firstly, I have to give a shout out to James Kenny for suggesting the title “The conference that never happened” for this article and James consistently read articles and provided feedback. Thank you, James.

I am very grateful for Hiten Shah for responding to my Twitter DM’s and providing valuable feedback. As a result of a DM conversation, we changed the name from Pitchside 2020 to Product Impact 2020.

Next, I’d like to thank all the speakers, Michelle Chu, Katelyn Bourgoin, Marcie Walker, Erin Essex, Bianka McGovern, Mubashar Iqbal, Tremis Skeete, and Henry Bruce.

In addition, I’d like to thank Veni Kunche who runs Diversify Tech who kindly shared our Scholarship program.

Next, I’d like to thank all our supporters, attendees, people who shared Product Impact 2020 on social, people who sent amazing DMs offering their support and wanting to a part of Product Impact 2020.

From the bottom of my heart Thank you, all. ❤️

Done: Product Impact 2020 – chapter closed.

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Table of Contents:

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The conference that never happened

Part 7: What’s next

We have been thinking long and hard about this. The Product Angle started in 2018 as a Podcast, which we failed miserably at and pivoted into writing articles. We held a few smaller meetups, get-togethers, zoom calls, and NYC-based dinners.

We have a number of exciting things planned for now we will leave you with.

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After consulting our speakers and some of our attendees, we are canceling Product Impact 2020.

Reason for Canceling Product Impact 2020

The world is experiencing an outbreak of the coronavirus. In addition, New York City officials announced the Coronavirus Outbreak Will Spread in New York City.

We don’t know what April 01, 2020, looks like, however, we are prioritizing the health and safety of our speakers and attendees.

Thank You to all the attendees who purchased a ticket, the scholarship applicants, and our speakers. Our speakers are awesome Michelle Chu, Katelyn Bourgoin, Marcie Walker, Erin Essex, Bianka McGovern, Mubashar Iqbal (Mubs), Tremis Skeete, and Henry Bruce.

The alternatives

We considered moving Product Impact 2020 to an online-only event. After all, we were selling online-only video tickets. Again, after talking to our speakers, we decided not to.

Firstly, when I came up with the idea for Product Impact 2020 “learn by doing” was the theme of the event. I even wrote about:

• Behind the scenes,
• The thesis behind Product Impact 2020,
• and I was recently writing a FAQ section.

Next Steps

I will be reaching out to all the attendees to offer them a refund.

Thank You

Seriously from the bottom of my heart, I’d like to thank everyone who has supported me in this journey even before the announcement for Product Impact 2020 was made.

The good news

We may be canceling Product Impact 2020, however, we are not out. We are planning other amazing upcoming things.

Finally

Since I first announced Product Impact 2020, I have learned so much about organizing a conference. I plan to write some articles around this and my approach to writing a talk/ workshop.

This is not goodbye.

Thank you to all the supporters.

With lots of love.

Pradip Khakhar

First, in this article, we talk about the thesis behind Product Impact 2020. After talking to a number of Product People we identified a gap. The Product Angle and Product Impact 2020 is our attempt at solving this gap.

If you have not yet read why we started The Product Angle read our about page, and the behind the scenes look at Product Impact 2020.

The thesis behind Product Impact 2020

Behind Products people want to buy & use there *usually* is an exceptional cross-functional team.

When the team comes together and there is alignment – everyone knows
🥅 The objectives/ mission
💪 Their specific role and how they contribute to the mission
🔑 How to get there

Creating alignment is difficult (not impossible). For that reason, building an exceptional cross-functional team is hard. Each function has its own politics, strengths, motivations, etc.

Therefore, use your communication skills as a superpower.

Growing in silos is difficult and potentially wastes resources.

Don’t just talk product with the team.

Furthermore, Understand:
🤯 What/how they think,
💪 What motivates them
🏋️‍♀️ What challenges they face
🔑 What success looks like to them.

Therefore, good relationships are important in team dynamics. People like to work with other people they trust.

The Gap

Working in cross-functional teams involves a lot of work, communication, and negotiation. However, from what could see during our customer research, and competitor research phase that there are not that many resources to help Product People Communicate, Negotiate & Evangelize effectively while building trust, and confidence in Product teams.

Learning from cross-functional teams

In the product world, we all know how important customer/ user research is. However, Products are made by exceptional cross-functional teams. As Product People, we can only go so far to train other Product People.

Therefore, we believe and advocate there is an opportunity to learn from other cross-functional team members. Let’s bring other cross-functional team members viewpoints into our curriculum, training materials, and coaching sessions.

Product Impact 2020 Speakers

That’s exactly what we did. Our diverse Speakers are NOT all Product People/ Managers.

If you are interested in learning from other cross-functional team members (Marketing, Engineering, and Community, Design, etc.) then this is the event for you. (Learn more here.)

Product Impact 2020 is a 1-day conference where you’ll hear from amazing speakers AND participate in interactive sessions where you’ll learn by doing! Click To Tweet

Learn by doing

One of the things we learned teaching workshops/classes for the past nine-plus years is that students want actionable learning that they can relate to in their daily lives.

While there is a place for theory only, we found that the below framework worked best for us:

• Show students the theory/ concepts etc.
• Allow the students to practice how the theory/ concepts can be applied in their daily lives
• Discuss as a group (a safe environment to allow them to make mistakes, experiment, and learn by doing with fear) what they learned, how they can apply what they learned in their daily lives, and any challenges they foresee.

What we are NOT saying ❌

To be very clear we are not saying Product People should take over and do the job of Engineering, UI/UX, CX, Design, or any other function for that matter.

Seems like other Product leaders also agree ✅

If you can’t sell (actually demo, $ on the line) or market your product (pricing, packaging, positioning, messaging), you probably don’t actually understand your user & what they need.

— Maggie Crowley (@maggiecrowley) January 24, 2020

Deep appreciation/understanding of how other depts (sales, mktg, support, eng) are differently motivated https://t.co/znawX4Cf0V

— Rich Mironov (@RichMironov) January 26, 2020

Lots of b2b product managers haven’t had to buy high ticket software

It can be hard for them to relate to the actual buying process.

— John Cutler (@johncutlefish) January 12, 2020

However, it also seems like other Product leaders disagree 🤯

Above all, this was a shock to us to see this. But hey. 🤷‍♂️

What we think

I think we will double down on this thesis. Maybe we are wrong, but we will continue to talk to our customers/users, run experiments, take those learnings and iterate.

Prediction/ upcoming trend:

More product events/ conferences/ workshops will include speakers from other cross-functional teams.

Why?

Simple Product people need to understand how other depts operate/motivated

— Pradip Khakhar (@pradipcloud) February 20, 2020

If you have any comments feel free to tweet ☝️.

We hope to see you at Product Impact 2020.

🙏 Check out our Product Impact 2020 FAQ.

First, we introduced Product Impact 2020 in October (ish) of 2019. This article lists the most popular questions people have asked as a FAQ.

Product Impact 2020 is A 1-day conference where you’ll hear from amazing speakers AND participate in interactive sessions where you’ll learn by doing!

Product Impact 2020 FAQ

Why are you charging for video access?

We would love to share the videos for free. However, as a small company, it costs us to create Product Impact 2020. Video production costs are one of the many costs that need to be budgeted. You can read some of the Behind the Scenes of what goes into creating a conference.

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What are the ticket types

Product Impact 2020 has two ticket types. If you are in NYC or plan to travel to NYC for Product Impact 2020 on April 01, 2020

Tickets

Video only – $95

Regular Ticket – $295

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Who are you?

Hi, 👋 I’m Pradip Khakhar the founder of The Product Angle – a place to Level up your Negotiation & Product skills, and connect with other Product People.

You can learn more about me and my background here.

You can read about some customer stories here.

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What is The Product Angle?

The Product Angle is a place to Level up your Negotiation & Product skills, and connect with other Product People.

To learn more about why we started The Product Angle and the problem we are trying to solve here.

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Product Impact 2020 FAQ

Why is there only one Product Manager at a Product conference?

Yeah seriously, we were asked this question.

We believe and advocate there is an opportunity to learn from other cross-functional team members. Let’s bring other cross-functional team members’ viewpoints into our curriculum, training materials, and coaching sessions.

That’s exactly what we did. Our diverse Speakers are NOT all Product People/ Managers.

If you are interested in learning from other cross-functional team members (Marketing, Engineering, and Community. Design, etc.) then this is the event for you. (Learn more here.)

Product Impact 2020 is a 1-day conference where you’ll hear from amazing speakers AND participate in interactive sessions where you’ll learn by doing! Click To Tweet

To learn about the thesis behind Product Impact 2020 read this.

By now you may have heard that at Product Impact 2020, we will be hosting the next product debate. However, if you have not heard about Product Impact 2020 check out the conference here.

Overview

First, for the Product Impact 2020 Debate, we will have a fun and engaging discourse about a topic related to product design. Also, two debate teams are presented with a resolution, and each team will have a set period of time to present arguments. Therefore, the goal is for debaters to get together and present compelling arguments and share their insights with the audience.

Debate Topic

We asked The Product Angle community to vote for the topic that would like to hear debated at Product Impact 2020. The options were:

1. Product Managers need to have deep technical knowledge of the product in order to be effective
2. APIs are perfect for every product
3. Coding is the best way to build prototypes
4. UX Metrics is the best way to ensure your product is a success
5. Market Research is UX Research
6. Something else

The topic that received the most votes is:

Coding is the best way to build prototypes.

Thank you, to all the people who voted.

Preparation work

Team members will be presented with the resolution and debate rules well in advance. Debaters will also be encouraged to do some research and prepare for the debates. During their preparation, the organizers may provide additional resources to help in their research.

Time limit

The debate will last approximately one hour.

How the debate works

During the debate, two teams are presented with a resolution (topic), and each team has a set amount of time to present their arguments.

Therefore, one team argues in favor (pro) and the other argues against (con).

When a team has the opportunity to present their arguments, the team can either designate one team member to speak for the entire team or, each team member can speak during the allotted time.

Three rounds

The Product Impact 2020 Debate will consist of three rounds, which will include:

Round One (Nine minutes)
Team “pro” will make opening arguments for the resolution
Team “con” will make opening arguments against the resolution

Round Two (Nine minutes)
Team “pro” will present their rebuttals
Team “con” will present their rebuttals

Round Three (For the remainder of the hour)
The moderator will cross-examine each team in the final round
During the cross-examination, the moderator will allow the audience to ask questions.
Both teams will have five minutes to present their closing statements
The audience will vote for their winning team (by applause)

The debate team

Pro – Coding is the best way to build prototypes

Tremis Skeete

Senior Product Analyst @Paralect

Tremis Skeete is a Senior Product Analyst at Paralect, a product engineering company with headquarters in Minsk, Belarus. He has been a design leader and strategist focusing on web application development, UI/UX design, and product discovery.

Previously, Tremis led digital design projects at Zel Technologies, a Virginia-based technology services company, and held roles at organizations which include Experis, the Altria Group, New York City Department of Education, and Hampton University.

He’s currently one of the more prolific writers for Product Management Insider, a publication created by Alpha, makers of the Alpha insights platform. He’s also best known for his work with ProductTank New York City, Mind the Product, Product Coalition, and the New York Product Conference.

Tremis also earned his Product Management certification from the Product School in New York City.

Erin Essex

Director of product design and UX at Shutterstock

Web apps to native apps, SaaS to CMS, data analysis tools to drone calibration tools, Erin has designed for them all. With a background in Psychology Erin’s approach to designing user, experiences are unique. She takes this knowledge to build human-centered, empathetic, and sticky experiences that impact user behavior and enjoyment. She has a passion for research, testing, and experimentation to find the right solution for the user and the product.

Erin currently works as a Director of UX and Product design at Shutterstock on a handful of products including the mobile apps, Shutterstock Editor, and the enterprise experience. She has also worked with brands such as MLB Digital Academy (in partnership with MLB.com), Oskar Blues Brewery, USA Football, Precision Hawk (drone tech), and with pro athletes such as Rashad Jennings (NFL and recent DWTS 2017 winner) and Vincent Lecavalier (NHL).

Con – Coding is the best way to build prototypes

Bianka McGovern

Vice President, User Experience at Goldman Sachs.

Bianka leads UX and operational projects within the Global UX team at Goldman Sachs. Before that, she built up the design practice at the Tax & Accounting division of Thomson Reuters.

She has spent most of her UX career in the Enterprise space, typical working on multi-layered platforms and redefining the experience of professional and operational workflows.

Bianka is passionate about taking a holistic approach to UX that fosters awareness of the many touchpoints in the experience ecosystem.

Henry Bruce

Director of Product at MIX

Managing the MIX Market suite of information service & analysis products for investors in the Financial Inclusion sector.

Led & advised companies from startups to multinationals in building successful customer-first products & teams.

Product Impact 2020

Finally, for additional information and tickets click here.

Are you a founder, entrepreneur or small business owner looking to grow your business in 2020? The Founder Fundamentals workshop series will help you level up your skills, assess problem spaces, evaluate trade-offs, execute more effectively, and ultimately grow your sales

We are super excited to announce that we have partnered with the Queen College Tech Incubator to provide a series of five workshops starting in March and running through till August 2020.

The five workshops are:
1. Use customer discovery for growth, March 05, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
2. Product Discovery, Build products people want to use and buy
April 02, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
3. How to build practical negotiation skills, May 07, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
4. Sales for entrepreneurs, June 04, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm
5. Effective Public Speaking, August 06, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

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Use customer discovery for growth

March 05, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Workshop description

The “old” way of doing business consisted of creating a business plan, developing a solution and then launching.

But what happens once you have launched?

What if it isn’t a product that people want. The “new” way to do business is to begin customer discovery work, run experiments, take those learnings and iterate.

You need to get outside of the building and go and talk to potential customers.

Start off by formulating a hypothesis around the problem space and use customer discovery
data collected to evaluate your hypothesis.

In this workshop, you will learn to appreciate your ideal customers and empathize with their pain points, what success looks like to them, and the journey they take to buy.

By the end of the session you will learn:
✅ How to ask questions that do not lead the customer to your bias
✅ Identify your ideal customer and their problems
✅ Determine if your solution creates value for the ideal customer
✅ To think about scaling

Sign up for Use customer discovery for growth workshop

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Product Discovery. Build products people want to use and buy

April 02, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Workshop description

As founders, you see problems every day and you know you can solve these problems.

Do you tend to jump into building a solution which can cost upwards in the thousands of dollars? Instead, focus on problem validation to reduce the risk of building something that nobody wants. Before you move into the solution space.

In this session, you will be presented with an ambiguous hypothetical problem and by the end of the session, you will have a better understanding of how to approach it, prioritize what to solve, and generate thoughtful solutions.

In addition, we talk about how to analyze constraints and explore potential metrics to measure success.

By the end of the session you will learn:
✅ How to identify and prioritize opportunities
✅ To identify, frame and evaluate trade-offs
✅ Focus on creating value and Impact
✅ Identify who to build for and what are their needs

Sign up for the Product Discovery workshop

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How to build Practical Negotiation skills

May 07, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm.

Workshop description

Most people tend to run rather than negotiate, and try to avoid negotiating at all costs. However, what people don’t realize is that we all negotiate regularly in both a personal and professional setting.

For example, persuading your significant other to spend Saturday afternoon watching the football game, asking for an extra $X as part of your job offer, increasing your client work rates, and so on.

Change your mindset and start to think of a negotiation as a discussion, and by the end of this workshop, you will walk away with actionable tools that you can start using immediately to negotiate confidently and effectively.

By the end of the session you will learn:
✅ What makes a negotiation “good” or “successful”
✅ The habits of effective negotiators
✅ The role of good communications in a negotiation
✅ Practice negotiating in an interactive simulated (mock) negotiation

Sign up for how to build practical negotiations skills workshop

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Sales for entrepreneurs

June 04, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Workshop description

Does this sound familiar?
You’ve worked hard and you know you have this amazing product or service, however, you are struggling to find customers willing to pay.

You are unable to grow your business at the pace you had hoped for. Sales is tough, you have to work really hard to get people excited and want to buy. The good news is that by making a few changes in how you think and organize your sales process, sales can be fun and rewarding (but still difficult).

In this workshop, we talk about identifying your target customers and their specific pain points. We show you how to map your offering to those pain points and create a process that clearly articulates how you can solve the customer’s pain point to increase your sales. Finally, we talk about creating a sales process designed for growth.

By the end of the session you will learn:
✅ An actionable repeatable step by step process to sales.
✅ The habits of effective salespeople
✅ How to stop “over pitching” and learn to start conversations
✅ Learn about cold emails

Sign up for sales for entrepreneurs workshop

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Effective public speaking

August 06, 2020. 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm

Workshop description

Similar to negotiating people generally tend to run rather than to speak publically.

However, the fact is that as founders, entrepreneurs, and small business owners you *need* to speak publicly. This could mean speaking at a networking event or at a conference with hundreds of people.

Or something in between such as presentations, group discussions, business meetings. During this workshop, we provide a safe and positive learning experience to empower you to develop your communication skills resulting in personal growth and confidence in business or personal settings.

This workshop will be active and you will be asked to come to the front and deliver a two-minute speech.

By the end of the session you will learn:
✅ How to tell an awesome authentic story
✅ To communicate your point across
✅ Manage any pre-speaking nerves
✅ Be less robotic and more genuine

Sign up for effective public speaking workshop

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