Heemang Parmar

Work as a general management leader and product management expert with entrepreneurial teams responsible for creating disruptive new business solutions. I can also participate in recruiting, interviewing, and vetting potential entrepreneurial team members.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct customer development and market research required to validate product/market fit and develop the business model for the new venture
• Scope out proof of concept (POC) , minimally viable product (MVP), and product roadmap
• Design and pilot operational processes required to successfully serve customers with product
• Work with Incubator to define key performance indicators, success metrics, and milestones
• Develop a go-to-market strategy including sales, marketing, comms, and policy
• Develop a budget that includes POC costs, long-term forecast, and resources required to achieve plan
• Recruit initial team of ~5 people (depending on the project budget) with the skills required to launch (eg. product, design, engineering, operations, policy etc.)

Other Responsibilities Include

• Regular reporting to leadership on progress against your goals
• Advise leadership on how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our internal processes so that you can maximise your team’s productivity
• Work with other EIRs, Venture Directors, and team members to support one another and collectively solve common issues
• Establish strong working relationships with core product, engineering, operations and other supporting functions across the company (including policy, comms, HR, finance, legal and others)
• Provide your perspective on other new ventures we should consider, as well as how we strengthen the overall Opia labs business.
• Participate in the Quarterly Review and other regular processes where we will review the progress of your venture

What You Will Need

• You will be experienced in building and growing a new product from scratch into a thriving business - as a startup leader, entrepreneur, general manager or respected product leader
• You have a strong vision for what your product should look like, both today and in 10 years from now …
• You are able to inspire people to join you - quick, smart internal and external recruiting will be critical to your success
• You have a strong sense of ownership - the buck stops with you!
• You are focused on results and you will be required to make measurable, steady progress towards your objective of proving that this is the right bet for Opia Labs to be taking in a world of infinite opportunity and limited resource.
• You have the ability to establish internal credibility with peer managers both inside and outside your immediate team.
• You respond well to complex situations, working across the organization and with customers and partners to solve problems
• You move quickly and have the confidence to act decisively when needed.
• You are committed to attracting and retaining the brightest minds from all backgrounds, while cultivating the power of a diverse organization.

• Determine your target customer. Work to identify the target customer who represents the users that will most likely benefit from your product.
• Gather intelligence.
• Focus on a single vertical.
• Specify your value proposition.
• Measure your product-market fit.
• Avoid complacency.

• Identify the buying center and personas.
• Craft a value matrix to help identify messaging.
• Test your messaging.
• Optimize your ads based on the results of your tests before implementing them on a wide scale.
• Understand your buyer’s journey.
• Choose one (or more) of the four most common sales strategies.
• Build brand awareness and demand generation with inbound and/or outbound methods.
• Create content to get inbound leads.
• Find ways to optimize your pipeline and increase conversion rates.
• Analyze and shorten the sales cycle.
• Reduce customer acquisition cost.
• Strategize ways to tap into your existing customer base.
• Adjust and iterate as you go.
• Retain and delight your customers.

• Develop an understanding of the existing business (including products/services, customers, competitors, the overall market and trends) through careful research and analysis of all business units
• Understand how major stakeholders are thinking about the company’s direction, generally and in reference to specific initiatives, through interviews with these stakeholders
• Review and refine the company’s sales forecasting model and pitch deck, providing edits or reworking the materials entirely, as needed
• Develop accurate benchmarks to guide in the projections
• Work alongside the executive team to define the pitch used in investor meetings; practice the pitch with the executives and help the management team preempt investor questions
• Pressure test every aspect of the client’s business ahead of fundraising meetings

• Create an inspiring team environment with an open communication culture.
• Set clear team goals.
• Delegate tasks and set deadlines.
• Oversee day-to-day operation.
• Monitor team performance and report on metrics.
• Motivate team members.
• Discover training needs and provide coaching.

Validate your business idea before spending big money on it. Additionally, I can help you with user research, identifying the size & demography of your target audience, prototyping, building MVPs, and go-to-market strategies.

• Planning
• Risk management
• Performance management
• Coaching
• Collaboration
• Data analysis
• Crisis management
• Creative problem solving
• Ethics development
• Market leadership
• Creating value
• Globalization

• Determine and define project scope and objectives
• Predict resources needed to reach objectives and manage resources in an effective and efficient manner
• Prepare budget based on scope of work and resource requirements
• Track project costs in order to meet budget
• Develop and manage a detailed project schedule and work plan
• Provide project updates on a consistent basis to various stakeholders about strategy, adjustments, and progress
• Manage contracts with vendors and suppliers by assigning tasks and communicating expected deliverables
• Utilize industry best practices, techniques, and standards throughout entire project execution
• Monitor progress and make adjustments as needed
• Measure project performance to identify areas for improvement

• Conducting extensive primary and secondary research.
• Staying up-to-date on consumer research and market trends.
• Analyzing research, data and trends.
• Creating competitive reviews and situational analyses.
• Identifying insights, challenges and opportunities.
• Developing brand architecture, positioning and strategy.
• Writing compelling brand stories.
• Meeting and presenting to clients.
• Briefing and collaborating with creative teams.
• Leading ideation and brainstorming sessions.

• Product vision - why do you want to build the product?
• Strategy - how do you want to put the vision into action?
• Roadmap - what will the timeline look like? (setting a detailed plan)
• Tactics - how to release the product? (what iterations are needed)
• Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) - are the assumptions valid? (frequently checking, testing, and recommending improvements)

• Create an inspiring team environment with an open communication culture.
• Set clear team goals.
• Delegate tasks and set deadlines.
• Oversee day-to-day operation.
• Monitor team performance and report on metrics.
• Motivate team members.
• Discover training needs and provide coaching.

Validate your business idea before spending big money on it. Additionally, I can help you with user research, identifying the size & demography of your target audience, prototyping, building MVPs, and go-to-market strategies.

Set product strategy

Understand customer needs

Create the product roadmap

Prioritize features

Release customer experiences

Measure product success

Responsibilities

• Define the product vision and set the long-term direction
• Conduct market and competitive research
• Work closely with customers, prospects, and partners to capture their needs
• Build the near-term product roadmap
• Prioritize and score features based on customer and business value
• Document new features for implementation
• Support non-technical teams (sales, marketing, support)
• Write acceptance criteria
• Attend iteration demos
• Demonstrate the latest iterations to customers and gather feedback

Responsibilities

• Communicate the product vision and business intent to the development team
• Lead technical requirements gathering, consulting with internal stakeholders
• Groom the product backlog, breaking down epics and estimating user stories.
• Attend scrum meetings including sprint planning, standups, and retrospectives
• Document user story details, create mockups, and work with UX on design

Framework/Methodologies

Tools I Use

Deliverables

• • User Research
  • Roadmap
  • PRD
  • BRD

Product Marketing Manager Skills and Qualifications:

• Foundational marketing and campaign management experience
• Project management skills
• Strong organizational and communication skills
• The ability to analyze relevant information and make informed decisions
• The ability to prioritize tasks and responsibilities across projects

These individuals are responsible for crafting a story about the product that will entice potential customers to purchase the product, and collecting customer feedback after launch.

When the product is being prepared for launch, the product marketing manager (or team) will be brought into the process to educate the public about the value and benefits of the offering so they can convert potential customers into raving fans.

To do this, the PMM will focus on three levels of the sales funnel:

1. Acquisition: Bringing awareness to your product through content such as social media, copywriting, and blogs. This requires the product marketing manager to determine what type of campaign needs to be done, create a budget for the marketing endeavors, craft a project plan to map out when this content will be released, and oversee a team who will create the desired content.
2. Engagement: Building trust and creating conversation with potential customers through events, campaigns, and specific calls to action.
3. Conversion and Retention: Converting potential customers into paying customers for one-time purchases and keeping existing customers loyal through subscription models or add-on purchases (when appropriate).

Market strategy expert: Market strategy lays the foundation for market success. It is the high-level thinking, planning, and research that happens before a product goes to market. The Product Marketing Manager has an in-depth knowledge of target markets and how to best introduce the product into each market. Product Marketing Managers use market research and competitive analysis to develop market strategies.

Marketing expert: In conjunction with the marketing communications department (also known as marcom), the Product Marketing Manager’s goal is to convince customers to demand or pull your product through to sale. As a Product Marketing Manager, you know marketing principles and techniques to create a marketing communication sequence that leads to sales.

Marketing program guidance: In conjunction with the Product Manager, the Product Marketing Manager outlines the product positioning which articulates the value proposition. This is further detailed in the messaging which links each feature to a customer-oriented benefit.

Supporting sales: Sales convinces customers to buy your product; they generate market push. To do so effectively, sales folks need great sales tools. For example, they often need good product training, a solid product presentation, and a compelling demonstration. A Product Marketing Manager knows what sales tools salespeople need to get their jobs done and what points to emphasize so that the sales pitch is more successful.

Responsibilities

• Product messaging and positioning – Develop product positioning and messaging that resonates with customers and differentiates our product from its competitors
• Content Development – Conceptualize and craft educational product and solution content for a variety of platforms
• Market, customer, and competitive analysis - Be the authority on the customer, the industry trends, and the other industry players
• Sales enablement – Craft region-agnostic high-value sales tools, training, and collateral
• Demand generation – Develop and implement strategies to drive awareness and demand
• Evangelism – Serve as a company spokesperson and go-to product expert.

• Gathering all market information
• Working up detailed user/customer/buyer personas
• Developing product pricing strategies and structures
• Developing and managing the product roadmap
• Managing the product backlog
• Synthesizing all internal and external stakeholder input on features and priorities
• Performing win/loss analyses
• Conducting competitive research
• Implementing and then analyzing customer surveys
• Overseeing the creation of sales and marketing tools
• Working with public relations team (or an outside firm)
• Working with analyst relations firm
• Creating and delivering training for sales and support

Skills & Competencies

• Demonstrated success in positioning and launching differentiated products that meet and exceed business objectives
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, possibly including some copywriting skills
• Subject matter expertise in the particular product or market. This should include specific industry or technical knowledge
• Deep understanding of how a product is sold and the channels they are sold into
• Excellent teamwork skills
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority. The ability to influence and work collaboratively with sales, marketing and Product Management is especially important

Scope & Key Deliverables

• Market strategy document
• Launch plan
• Marketing plan (participate in the creation of)

Required Experience and Knowledge in the Product Manager Role

• Develop and evolve market segmentation for each product offering
• Analyze sales data and channel information and then create plans to improve product line sales most likely using marketing and sale techniques
• Create consistent positioning statements, messaging and the associated proof points. This source material is used by marketing to generate public-facing marketing collateral
• Write compelling copy for different collateral types and audiences
• Create and present information about products and the markets these products serve
• Represent the company at all times and with virtually any audience to explain the customer-led benefits of the product line

Prototyping

Why prototype?

“Prototypes are visions of the future — some way of being able to see and experience the future of an idea [where doing so in words would fall short].”

1. Reduce business risk.
2. Develop worthy solutions that solve real problems.
3. Communicate and demonstrate the solution to the business.
4. Obtain customer feedback.
5. Gain insight.

What do I do?

• Understanding and articulating your strategic intent
• Identifying and defining customer problems, needs and wants
• Defining and validating how your product innovation will create lasting value for your customer & business
• Develop low & high fidelity prototypes
• Define product requirements and work with your internal teams to develop and implement these

User Research

What is User Research?

User Research enables teams to uncover user needs, behaviors, and motivations by gathering data in a structured way, analyzing quantitative and qualitative data to better understand how people work and experience our products.

By better understanding our users, we can improve existing applications, generate new ideas, and spark innovation by:

• Ensuring we’re focusing on solving the right problem(s) and increasing product-market fit
• Assessing and measuring outcomes to ensure products and services meet the needs of our Creators
• Modifying, refining, and continuously improving our offerings

Research is about uncovering users’ needs, not asking users what we should build.

• Analyzing the technology environment
• Analyzing enterprise specifics
• Analyzing and documenting requirements
• Setting the collaboration framework
• Creating a solution prototype
• Participating in technology selection
• Controlling solution development
• Supporting project management