Growth Product 🌱 vs. Core Product 🔨 | The Differences You Need to Know!
Growth versus Core Product, which one is the right one for you. In this issue, I break down what is growth product and how it differs from traditional product management.
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Wait . . . There’s More Than One?!?!? 🧮
When I first started researching product management, I thought there was only one form. However, now that I’ve been in the product space for over a year, I’ve discovered that there are many variations of the beloved profession. For example, platform, growth, core, and even technical, to name a few. The two variations that I’ll be analyzing today are of the most popular, which are growth and core.
Now when you think of product management, you’ll probably think of someone who creates the product vision, develops a roadmap, works with their eng and design team to build the product and then launch it. This is typically what someone who works in core product does. Growth product managers, on the other hand, are more focused on optimizing metrics for a suite of products. These product managers will be heavily involved with experimentation and data analysis.
I asked some mentors what growth product management meant to them and here’s how they described it:
My friend Gail reveals great insight that not only will Growth PMs focus on optimizing metrics, but these metrics are focused on acquisition to grow the user base. Additionally, Growth may work with the marketing department to make sure initiatives align with acquisitions strategies. My friend Chris has more to add on the subject -
If you’re a growth PM, you’ll be working very closely with your PMM (Product Marketing Manager). A Product Marketing Manager is responsible for the product positioning of a product and making sure audiences understand the product’s value. The Growth PM acts as a glue to better connect product and marketing. So if you’re someone who enjoys acquisition strategies and handling marketing initiatives, growth PM may be a great option for you. Lastly, here’s what my friend Liz has to say about growth -
From the three opinions provided above, being in growth relies heavily on metric optimization, co-ordinating with product ops and PMMs, and lastly, acquiring users in strategic and creative ways.
My Experience in Growth 🧑🏽💻
I had the opportunity to intern as a growth PM for Loblaw Digital this winter (one of Canada’s largest grocery chains). More specifically, I worked under the growth team on their grocery delivery app. Having completed my past co-op in core product, I came in not knowing what to expect. What I learned is that being a growth PM entailed getting to know the metrics of my product and figuring out how to grow them.
Lesson 1: Stats and Experimentation
What I first really want to emphasize when being a growth PM is the amount of stats and experiments that you should be prepared to run. At LD (Loblaw Digital), I was consistently running A/B tests for different feature releases and analyzing them using Bayesian Statistics. Additionally, I learned about audience management and how to allocate traffic amongst an experiment’s control and variant(s). I had previously taken stats classes and even ran A/B tests at previous co-ops, but this was the first time I ran the entire process myself. As you can imagine, I was very appreciative of my team because they were extremely patient when I was learning. If you do decide to apply for a role in growth I recommend 1) Taking some sort of stats or consumer research course 2) Leveraging platforms such as Looker or Adobe Analytics and 3) Reading up on OKRs and Metric Prioritization
Lesson 2: Impact on Everything, Owner of None
If you enjoy drafting the strategy behind one specific product, then growth may not be right for you. Personally, I really enjoyed the idea of building a product or feature from conception to release and definitely missed that process in growth. By being a growth product manager, you’re consistently measuring features from other product teams and helping them validate their ideas, which provides a different type of satisfaction.
Because you’re validating a lot of ideas via experiments or metric measuring, you’ll also have to facilitate difficult conversation when a feature inevitably does not perform as well as expected. This can be hard at times, but the way I see it, it’s better to patch a hole early than let it turn into a leak.
Lesson 3: Convincing Is Half the Battle
When I talk about product, I always talk about how PMs have to be great at influencing other functions in an org. But, growth PMs have to be amazing influencers when telling PMs what metrics to prioritize, what experiments must be conducted, and what is truly worth releasing. It’s a different degree of influence and something I did not realize coming into the role. Not all PMs want to run experiments or beta test their feature and you’re going to have to convince them as a Growth PM that it’s a necessary step.
Looking back on my experiences, I’ve really gained a better understanding of the metrics and stats that latter up to understanding users. Doing so has also made me appreciate core product even more, as I believe I am much better suited to that sector of product. If you’re thinking of going into growth, I would definitely think about your strengths and see if they align with the definitions and lessons above.
Resources for Growth 📕
On Data Analysis and Growth
Lean Analytics - Book on Breaking Down Metrics
Looker Course - Basics on Looker
Bayesian Statistics - A General Article to Get You Started
Growth @ Facebook - Video from YC on Growth from VP of Growth @ Facebook
On General Product Prep
Try Exponent: A PM website home to questions, company guides, and helps facilitate 1:1 interviews with other aspiring PMs.
Tech Talk for Non-Developers: A course dedicated to demystifying technical concepts for product managers in a more digestible way. (Fun Fact: I did this course and it helped a ton with my first PM job!)
Request a Topic 🎙
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Coffee Program and Thank You ☕️
Thank you for taking the time to read this month’s issue! I’ll see you next month :)
Personal thank you to my editors (Cat, Anne, and Lucus) for taking the time to read each issue before it goes out to the amazing readers!
I’m going to go make some coffee. You should too! Feel free to use the scan below to buy yourself some coffee on me at Starbucks. As always, please be respectful as to the amount you’re purchasing <3
~ Tyler
super valuable read -- thanks tyler 🙏🏼