Increasing Product Manager impact through Strategy, Continuous Discovery, & OKRs

I am a Certified Strategy Professional, ICAgile Certified Lean Portfolio Manager and Certified Professional in Business Agility Foundations (BAF), Certified OKR Coach, Senior Agile Leader, Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), as well as a Certified Scrum Master (CSM), with over 15 years of experience in coaching, innovating, executing, and delivering end-to-end digital and mobile solutions for Fortune 200 clients in the banking and financial services industry. 

I'm currently Principal Design Enablement Manager, Design Excellence & Operations (DeXOps) – KeyXD Team at KeyBank, where we centralize and support KeyBank's world-class design function. 

My core competencies include Strategy, Product Management, Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), Continuous Discovery, solution development and delivery, Agile leadership, solution innovation, PMO leadership, SDLC management, information architecture, iOS and Android application development, delivery management, program and project management, budget and resource management, user experience enhancement, client engagement leadership, client relationship management, and technology team leadership. 

I am passionate about building great products that leverage Lean and UX-driven, Design Thinking-centered approaches to deliver measurable client-focused business outcomes. I am also an author and public speaker, sharing my insights and best practices on Product, Strategy, OKRs, and Agile delivery.

All views expressed are my own.

Michael Goitein

Y Combinator partners ripped first-time founders Alexander Danilowicz & Teddy Ni for having "the silliest startup idea they'd ever heard."

Two years later, Magic Patterns hit $1M Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) with two founders and zero employees.

And they did it by doing something most AI startups refuse to do:
𝗥𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀. 𝗟𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺.

That decision explains why they're now generating $500K in ARR per employee, while competitors burn through venture capital in a vain attempt to serve larger Total Addressable Markets (“TAMs”).

Magic Patterns users are obsessed with its ability not only to speed up design, but for something that sounds impossible until you see it happen.

In this week's Product Strategy Decoded, I break down the strategic choices two frontend engineers made to build what VCs now value at over $6M:
→ The critical capability most AI design tools completely miss 
→ Why saying no to a larger user base created a compounding competitive advantage 
→ The metrics they track to nurture free users into 50-seat enterprise accounts

Read the full story & subscribe here:

Enterprise Product, Strategy & Continuous Discovery

Open article: How Magic Patterns Hit $1M ARR By Turning Away Most Of Their Potential Customers by michaelgoitein.substack.com

How Magic Patterns Hit $1M ARR By Turning Away Most Of Their Potential Customers

The $200M Product Strategy Lovable Uses To Become The Last Piece of Software You’ll Ever Need

Lovable.dev’s Co-Founder & CEO Anton Osika Reverse-engineering the choices powering Europe’s most successful startup ever in its quest to remove the final barrier to startup success Saving lives and generating $500,000 in funding—without writing a single line of code. Brazilian growth marketer Sabrine Matos was devastated by the tragic story of a woman murdered by her partner, a man with a violent criminal record she never knew about....

Open article: The $200M Product Strategy Lovable Uses To Become The Last Piece of Software You’ll Ever Need by michaelgoitein.com

The $200M Product Strategy Lovable Uses To Become The Last Piece of Software You’ll Ever Need

Don't be fooled: Strategy and Planning are NOT same thing.

Why? Just think about the difference between Product Management and Project Management:

Project Management works with planning to manage WHAT WE CONTROL
• Focuses only on inward-facing work
• Uses 𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘴 to see what's happened in the past
• Uses Planning to orchestrate our own people and resources
• To deliver features

Product Management works with strategy to influence WHAT WE DON'T CONTROL:
• Client behavior
• Uses 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 to imagine a different future 
• Design a set of strategic choices to compel clients to change what they do
• These successful changes achieve outcomes

The hard truth? 
The most perfectly-planned and executed projects mean nothing if they don't change how our customers behave

You always need both – Strategy AND Planning.
But don't confuse them, and never start with planning

Start by understanding whose behavior needs to change.

I break both down here in this clip from my podcast interview with Jay Stansell via Product Coalition

Is your product strategy nothing more than a jumble of random features?

Or are you achieving outcomes to move the needle against your company's overarching strategy?
#ProductStrategy #LeadershipInsights #BusinessSuccess

Gamma’s Genius Strategic Shift
Too many companies adopting AI tend to think in terms of binary, either/or options.

Either build expensive proprietary AI stacks, or connect to existing LLMs to bolt superficial AI functionality onto existing products.

Gamma discovered a third path. They built a genuine competitive moat by developing a sophisticated AI orchestration capability that no one thought could be a differentiator.

Gamma is proving you don’t have to be first-to-market or best-funded to succeed. 

You just need to make smarter strategic choices around AI integration while mastering the product-led growth basics of viral loops and community development.

Can competitors copy your best features? Yup. Who cares? Let them.

But can they replicate your entire ecosystem's interconnected success? Much harder.

Building an ecosystem requires fundamental business model and process changes most companies simply can't or won't make.

It's like trying to rebuild Amazon's delivery network in your garage. Theoretically possible, practically impossible.

While you're busy A/B testing features to optimize tiny gains, your smartest competitors are thinking differently, building enabling structures and processes, and striking key partnerships.

Which approach are you taking?

AI is making us mentally "obese," and nobody's talking about it. The closest parallel? Walking.

In some parts of America, you literally can't do anything without getting in a car. No walking. No biking. Just cars to go anywhere and do literally everything.

And it's turned America into a hotbed of obesity, triggering a nationwide health crisis.

And the same thing is happening in slow-motion with AI right now.

When we outsource every mental task to AI, from writing a simple email to brainstorming and creative thinking, we're creating mental "suburbs" where our brain cells start to shrivel and die from lack of use.

The solution isn't avoiding AI. It's being strategic and finding balance.

Figure out the places to use AI to "drive" to destinations that would waste your time. 

But make sure you're still taking regular mental "walks" and solving problems yourself.

Our brains, like our bodies, need regular exercise to stay strong.

What's one mental task you've committed to doing without AI assistance? 

Comment below.

As an author and creator, I've learned the hard way how incredibly time-consuming Infographics can be to create.

When done well, they show complex concepts at a glance.

When done poorly, they overwhelm or confuse, rather than add value. 

In my latest article on Magic Patterns revolutionary AI-driven design approach, I needed to quickly sketch out the concept of "shift-left" for product teams.

This is a tale of three images.
1. 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟭: 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲'𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗡𝗮𝗻𝗼 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼: Nails it out of the gate, but oddly throws in "cite" everywhere, and inexplicably places it against an 1849 gold rush-era map background
2. 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟮: 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲 "𝗙𝗶𝘅𝗲𝘀" 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗽𝘂𝘁: Anthropic's Claude is great at so many things, especially editorial feedback. But this is so comical it's embarrassing.
3. 𝗜𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝟯: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: Bringing the first version into Affinity Photo, cleaning up the "cite" references, and adding the correct Magic Patterns logo.

This is the final version that appears in the article, linked in the comments below.

Google's Nano Banana first pass on the article infographic

The final version, taking the Nano Banana version and cleaning it up in Affinity Photo

How did Perplexity take on Google? It’s a strategy lesson that goes way beyond search.

When the category leader drifts from what made them successful and customer experience begins to go downhill, opportunities emerge for challengers to refocus on those customer needs.

The pattern repeats across industries:
* Netflix vs. Blockbuster (convenience vs rewind fees)
* Uber vs. Taxis (frictionless mobile app experience vs. unpredictable, rude, & dirty taxi rides)
* Airbnb vs. Hotels (unique vacation experiences vs soulless & standardized rooms)
* Substack vs. LinkedIn (genuine conversations & connections vs. algorithms that only favor advertisers)

The key is recognizing when the category leader has slipped for one core user group, and optimized for their business model over customer value.

• Identify the drift
• Focus on one problem for one key but forgotten
  user type
• Delight that user with clarity and speed
• Scale your advantage before the category leader responds

👆 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝗽𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗹 and let me know what opportunities you spot in the comments.

𝗣.𝗦. If strategic insights like this are valuable to you, join 850+ product leaders and startup founders getting my weekly "Product Strategy Decoded" newsletter 
→ Real strategies, real insights, real results 
(link in bio)

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗱? 𝗗𝗿𝗼𝗽 𝗶𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 👇
#ProductStrategy #Strategy #Innovation #Startups #Google #Perplexity #BusinessStrategy

mg_psd_carousel_perplexity

Failed founders obsessed with their product "Vision" spend more time perfecting their logo than understanding customer needs.

Here's a brutal quiz question that reveals if you're trapped in abstract product vision-thinking:
1. Can you name your 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 and the 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺 your product solves 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮? 
2. Or do you only talk about why users 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 want your product instead?

If you're struggling with the first part, you're doing product research to “validate,” not discover. 

You're looking for confirmation, not truth.

The most dangerous phrase in startups: 
"Users just don't understand our vision yet."

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁?

Atlassian’s $975 million acquisition of Loom happened not because of Loom’s original, official strategy. 

It happened because of the revealed strategy, overwhelmingly driven by user behavior.

Loom originally started as a set of connected developer tools. 

You could share chunks of code, do pull request reviews, really integrate collaboration for engineering teams. Video was one small part of it.

But what Atlassian ended up acquiring them for was solving the problem of meetings.

What Loom became, and what Atlassian acquired, was async video messaging updates. 

Now woven into the fabric of every Atlassian product, whether Jira, Confluence, or anything else, you can find a little video icon, record a short clip, and that gives context. You don’t have to be great at writing. You record a short Loom clip that travels with that work unit, giving people context without you having to be there.

That’s been hugely successful for Atlassian in its drive to build a suite of “connected workplace” tools. 

Listen to Chris Tottman and I discuss this and many other pivot stories in this week's "Product Strategy Decoded" conversation.

There's always a hidden strategy controlling your organization– whether you like it or not.
Whatever bold transformation move you want to make, hidden gravity will pull everything back into the same old patterns.
It's the hidden habits of daily company life.
One way out?
Reverse-engineer your current strategic choices using the Strategy Choice Cascade.

My latest "Product Strategy Decoded" is a video podcast looking back over four totally different winning AI product strategies.

Open video: Video: How AI Strategy is Different on open.substack.com

Most SaaS companies are building products for the wrong person. And with AI, they’re taking off faster in the wrong direction, leaving millions on the table because of it.

AI and ML pioneer Gong figured this out in 2016. 

Their competitors still haven't.

Subscribe to Product Strategy Decoded this week, and learn how Gong:
→ Created an entirely new category with its product
→ Spotted the strategy choice mistake killing too many products’ value ceilings
→ Unlocked 50 percentage points of hidden growth for Demandbase
→ Continuously builds compounding advantages competitors can't replicate

Today, I’m showing 1146 people why optimizing AI for "user productivity" is a huge mistake, and what to do instead. 

Read the full story for free & subscribe here:

Open article: How Gong Created a $7.25B Opportunity By Realizing Sales Software Optimized For The Wrong Person Entirely by michaelgoitein.substack.com

How Gong Created a $7.25B Opportunity By Realizing Sales Software Optimized For The Wrong Person Entirely

SWOTs are totally worthless anyway, so you may as well let 𝗚𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮 do the heavy lifting instead of paying $$$

RIP Mckinsey.

Use these prompts to replace $500/hr consultants:

1. Go to gamma .app
2. Click on "Create with AI".
3. Paste the prompt you need:

✦ SWOT Analysis
Create a 10–12 slide deck titled ‘SWOT for [BUSINESS/PROJECT]’. Include: brief overview, goals, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats, top 5 priorities, 30-day action list.

✦ Competitor Comparison
Make a 10–12 slide deck ‘Competitor Snapshot: [INDUSTRY/REGION]’. Include: who the competitors are, price/features table, pros/cons, where we’re better/worse, and 3 moves to win in 90 days.

✦ Customer Persona
Build an 8–10 slide deck ‘Who We Serve’. Include: 2–3 personas with photo/quote, pains, goals, buying triggers, channels they use, and what message works for each.

✦ Value Proposition & Message House
Create a 8–10 slide deck ‘Why Choose [PRODUCT/BRAND]’. Include: problem in one line, promise in one line, 3 proof points, before/after example, short tagline options, and website hero copy.

✦ Go-to-Market Launch Plan
Produce a 12–14 slide deck ‘Launch Plan for [PRODUCT]’. Include: target customer, simple message, channels (email/social/partners), 4-week content calendar, small budget split, and launch checklist.

✦ Pricing Options
Create a 8–10 slide deck ‘Pricing for [PRODUCT/SERVICE]’. Include: good/better/best packages, what’s included, who each package is for, simple discount rules, and a clear recommendation.

✦ KPI Scorecard
Make a 8–10 slide deck ‘Scorecard for [TEAM/BUSINESS]’. Include: 6–8 must-have metrics, what each metric means, target vs current, how often to check, and who owns each metric.

✦ 30-60-90 Day Plan
Build a 10–12 slide deck ‘First 90 Days for [ROLE/PROJECT]’. Include: goals, quick wins, weekly rhythm, stakeholders, risks, and checklists for day 30, 60, and 90.

✦ Budget & Break-Even
Create a 8–10 slide deck ‘Simple Budget for [PROJECT/STORE/APP]’. Include: costs list, expected sales, break-even point, best/base/worst case, and money-saving ideas.

✦ Risks & Mitigations
Produce a 8–10 slide deck ‘What Could Go Wrong (and Plan B)’. Include: top risks in plain words, how likely/impactful each is (red/yellow/green), owner, and the backup plan.

In whatever you "create," what’s the “story” behind the value the person on the other side gets from it?

What benefits will your ideal customers receive from you?

How will your offer take them from darkness and despair, to light & future promise?

What’s their “hero’s journey?”

In other words, you may not need to invest in another guru, course, or certification.

Invest your time refining the "story" that helps the right people understand the transformational value you, your products, and services provide.

That’s something AI won’t easily copy anytime soon.

Now there’s real data to support what we’ve been seeing at all levels in product

The strategic gap between IC PM needs and product leadership 

Powerful insights with the usual witty memes we’ve come to expect from Jason Knight

Fractional CPO | Coaching, Training, and Scaling B2B Product Teams | Building AI Products Since Before it was Cool

I wrote this short newsletter article discussing one of the most interesting findings from "The State of B2B Product Management 2025" survey I've run with Saeed Khan. B2B IC PMs and B2B Product Leaders have very different opinions about how well the leaders are doing, and I'm fascinated.

Check out the comments for a link to my thoughts, alongside links to Saeed's deeper analysis of the data so far, and how to register your interest for the full report 👇

At noon ET today, I'll be hosting noted UK VC Chris Tottman as he shares his insights into "The Art and Science of the Pivot"  - join us if you can at 17:00 UK time, at 12:00 pm noon during your lunch hour here on the East Coast, or 9 am West Coast time:

Open article: LIVE SOON: Chris Tottman - Mike Goitein - Pivot Strategies Livestream by open.substack.com

LIVE SOON: Chris Tottman - Mike Goitein - Pivot Strategies Livestream

Adobe just paid a hefty price premium to acquire Semrush and integrate “Generative Engine Optimization” (“GEO”) into its products.
But the odds are against it ever seeing a dime of return on that investment.
Read the full story in this week's "Product Strategy Decoded" & subscribe here:
https://lnkd.in/e33Pnv5q

When should a startup pivot? To what, exactly?
Yesterday, I had the good fortune to speak with Notion Capital VC Chris Tottman
He laid out a set of brilliant, hard-won lessons gained over his successful career.

Listen and learn how to:
• Find problems worth solving
• Discover what's working vs. trying to prove your original idea was right
• Define the right market segment
• Reveal the strategy really driving your product's success

Read the full story & subscribe here:
https://lnkd.in/eVgNPfHN

Open video: The Art and Science of Pivots – Livestream with VC Chris Tottman on michaelgoitein.substack.com

The Art and Science of Pivots – Livestream with VC Chris Tottman

Is modern business addicted to data in the wrong ways? Roger L. Martin believes the excessive reliance on analytics in business stifles innovation by overlooking creativity and empathy. In this piece, I use examples of the iPhone and Aeron chair that succeeded despite poor data predictions, and lay out how Roger advocates for a focus on imagination solutions and community engagement over data.

Open article: Why The World’s Leading Strategist Says Data Is Killing Your Product’s Future by michaelgoitein.com

Why The World’s Leading Strategist Says Data Is Killing Your Product’s Future

Quanta Consulting

OUR CORE BUSINESS
Specialised consultancy focused on developing new leadership behaviours that deliver improved levels of employee motivation, customer satisfaction and financial performance.  We are driven by all things practical that deliver innovative and measurable results for clients.

OUR METHOD
We view companies as dynamic systems that can gain or lose 'energy' over time, where 'energy' equates to the ability to think, innovate and take action.  And the primary driver of all organisational 'energy' and performance is leadership 'energy'.

Quanta has evolved and customised 'energy' assessment tools to measure both leadership and organisational 'energy' as well as a unique and practical method for increasing organisational 'energy' and performance.

This method, called Fractal Methodology is based on biomimicry - the observation of patterns in nature and their application to human innovation, in this case specifically human behaviour - where the goal is to develop new 'muscle memory' in leaders that has a positive and measurable impact on company performance.

QUANTA IMPACT
Analysis of 700 leaders in the service industry reveals that 97% of participants improve their leadership performance by a minimum of 20% over a one year period, and that this translates into improved revenue of approximately 500,000 euros per leader.

GLOBAL FOCUS
John works with partners in South Africa and Europe, where there is a strong current focus in Prague and the Czech Republic.

Founder and Director

Hay Group

Director, Strategy, SA

Over the past two decades John has developed methods and tools that can dramatically change leadership behaviour and organisational performance.  His maverick approach has led to the practical evolution of the Intelligent Action Methodology which combines smart thinking with smart action to drive energy, innovation and performance, the foundation of all successful organisations.

John consults to companies, coaches executive teams, facilitates Intelligent Action programmes, lectures and gives talks in his specialised field.

John is currently writing a book on Code 15, the human algorithm that drives evolutionary creativity in individuals, teams and organisations.

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