Don't rush to hire your first PM
A memo to a new founder
A common misconception in early-stage startups is the belief that hiring a Product Manager (PM) will fix internal disorganization. In reality, PMs are most effective when a company has already established solid management skills and clear goals. Before hiring, focus on strengthening your team’s managerial capabilities, and, if you're not already product-driven, consider if and why you want to adopt a product-led approach.
A PM should be hired when you need someone dedicated to product responsibilities you once managed yourself but can no longer handle alone. Until then, consider bringing in a trusted Product Leader to help guide your company through its transformation.
What to do instead
Regarding managing your team, you can focus on the following areas:
Option 1: Learn some basic product management tools and try to fix the basics of your organization. If you can’t do planning and you call for an urgent meeting every time you have an idea, the PM won’t solve your problem. You should learn the following tools:
RICE for prioritization. You should be able to put your thoughts into a priority, with some criteria, before you go and disrupt your team. It’s important for you as well.
Shape up, or any other planning framework. Learn how you can use and empower your teams with some early thinking and collaboration, and then give them the time they need to deliver big wins. That doesn’t mean you should top progressive releases, that you aim for clear and bigger value.
Think with user journeys, to have a complete picture without breaking the experience. The first days of a Sprint, will help you map and work with your teams to prioritize based on complete experiences.
Option 2: Use a product leader as a consultant first. Engage a short-term product consultant to provide essential guidance without the full-time commitment, particularly useful in the early stages.
Regarding your product design and planning, you may fall under the following categories
Case 1: For Consumer Products - If you’re consumer-focused, bring in a Product Designer as early as possible. If a full-time designer isn’t feasible, consider a contract designer for key planning sessions (like those in Shape Up) to guide high-level product design.
Case 2: For Sales-Driven (B2B) Products - Build a usable product from the start, with minimal reliance on training or documentation. Ask yourself: would you use your product if it weren’t mandatory? Even if end-users aren’t the primary audience, usability will drive long-term benefits. Avoid excessive product debt, and consult Product-Led Growth (PLG) resources to guide this process.
Case 3: For Enterprise-Focused Products - Focus on creating a flexible platform that can adapt to diverse client needs. Be part of the team that prioritize features that bring high customer value and balance with company revenue, and ensure you have strong technical direction from an experienced architect or engineering lead.
For any approach, remember to price services separately from the core product. Product development should not subsidize ongoing service needs, as this will overburden your development team, leading to burnout and poorer product quality. If you want to be price-competitive, explain upfront the discounts you are offering on that level.
When to hire a PM
There is no common rule on when you should hire a PM. You may read Lenny’s analysis on when well-known startups hired their first PM, and why. Consider hiring a PM if:
You cannot find a product market fit, and you need someone to help you with it.
You want to transform from a sales-driven to a product-led one. This is the most challenging, and you need a Product Leader with experience. But most importantly, you have to back it up all in.
Break your product into domains and allow it to scale faster, because you use more resources.
You want to launch a new product or launch in a new market, and you need to hand over your current product to someone else.
You understand the main value the product creates, but you need someone to take care of all the details based on experience (e.g. onboarding, etc.).
You feel your product is getting noisy and bloated as time passes, and you don’t know what is used and why.
Onboarding your first PM
When you bring in a PM, treat them as a strategic partner, not just a task executor. PMs bring valuable expertise and require a collaborative environment to thrive. They are not project or delivery managers, nor personal assistants—they are strategic assets whose success depends on clear onboarding, alignment of expectations, and regular communication. You can read my relevant article for onboarding your PMs, to facilitate your PM’s onboarding.