AmplifyPM

Founded AmplifyPM to transform great Product Managers into even greater Product Leaders.

AmplifyPM was born from a synthesis of my passion for teaching and a recognition that too many PMs hit career roadblocks from a lack of key leadership skills (that nobody ever teaches). AmplifyPM leverages my over two decades of experience building products and high-caliber teams at world-class companies to empower PMs with the essential skills for success. Learn more at AmplifyPM.com.

Founder

Google

Led Google's Messages & Rich Communication Services (RCS) team - Android’s equivalent to iMessage.  RCS brings rich messaging to 1B+ Android Messages users across the globe.  Managed a team of product managers and led a 300+ person org with a $xxxM annual budget.

Previously, built Google's OTT Comms growth organization from the ground up.  Drove product strategy for user retention & acquisition, experimentation frameworks, and growth analytics.  Mentored other teams within Google on establishing growth teams.

Group Product Manager

Product Manager

Bazaarvoice

Led the company’s top product initiatives to create a defensible content & developer ecosystem and build a specialized data asset to enable the company’s next phase of growth.  Led multiple vendor and acquisition evaluations from opportunity analysis through launch to accelerate time-to-market in key business areas.

Director of Product Management

TrialPay, Inc.

Launched and managed products at a venture-backed alternative payments company. Built and managed a new business vertical to increase conversions through a proprietary incentive platform. Led product efforts to build an e-commerce engine from the ground up. Participated in both early & late-stage sales and business development deals as founding member of the sales engineering team. Worked closely with the founder and executive team.

Senior Product Manager

Yahoo!

Worked on Yahoo's next-generation Search Advertising Platform as a member of the Project Panama Team. Responsible for key backend components (e.g. editorial & geo-targeting systems). Led initiatives to streamline common development processes and improve poorly designed components; received recognition of accomplishments within 6 months of joining the team.

Software Engineer

Oracle Corporation

Worked with the iStore group to provide B2B and B2C e-commerce solutions. Led a high-visibility, high-impact project within 3 months of joining the team. Also worked with the DataGuard group to provide disaster recovery solutions for Oracle databases.

Zaplet, Inc.

Built consumer and enterprise software at a venture-backed software company.  Designed and implemented integral components of the Zaplet enterprise platform using Java, JSP, Enterprise Java Beans, and XML.  Scaled various processes as the business grew (e.g. new-hire training, documentation & coding standards, etc.).

You’re a great Product Manager.

You know you’ll be an even better Product Leader. But...

Why is it so hard to make the leap from PM → Product Leader?

Hard Truth #1:
Opportunities for advancement in product management are scarce. Product teams are typically smaller, and when leadership roles open, the competition is fierce. You need to be primed and ready for when your chance comes.

Hard Truth #2:
The skills that make you a stellar PM won't necessarily make you a stellar Product Leader. Leading 100 people isn't the same as leading 10; it requires a significant evolution of your skill set.

So, what skills do you need? How do you acquire them?

That's where I come in!

I’ve been building products for over 25 years, and have grown from leading a small team of 5 to leading a 300+ org at a top-tier company. I became a Product Leader by navigating the very same obstacles facing you today.  

My mission is to help great PMs like yourself transform into outstanding Product Leaders.

You can do it! There are immediate steps you can take starting today to set yourself on this path.

Follow me here on LinkedIn to discover how.


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🔥 If you *really* want to fast-track your career, visit: amplifypm.com/transform

I quit Google because I was frustrated.

So I decided to do something about it.

At Google, I spent years stuck as a Senior Product Manager – working hard, delivering results, doing everything right – yet somehow not moving up.

Every review cycle ended the same way:
“You’re doing great work. Keep it up.”

But “keep it up” doesn’t get you promoted.

It took me a long time to understand why.

That next leap – from PM to Product Leader – is a big one.

It’s the one that trips up even the smartest PMs.

The rules change – and no one tells you. You can’t lead 100 people the same way you lead 10. It’s about mastering entirely new skills and adopting entirely new mindsets.

But again – no one ever tells you that.

No one ever teaches you how to make the leap. I had to figure it out through trial, error, and a LOT of frustration.

When I finally made the leap –
I became a Group PM at Google, leading my own PM team and an org of 300+ people.

And from that new vantage point, I saw it clearly:
An entire generation of talented PMs, stuck exactly where I had been.

Capable, ambitious, and exhausted from playing a game whose rules no one had ever explained.

And I knew I could help.

That’s why I started AmplifyPM.

To help PMs make the leap faster – without the years of guesswork.

To teach the skills that truly unlock leadership.

Because no one should have to spend years trying to figure this all out on their own.

. . .

Are you in the same position as I was? Stuck at Senior PM? Wanting to grow?

You don’t have to do it alone. I can get you there, faster.

I put together a 36-page guide on what it REALLY takes to become a Product Leader – plus 5 practical strategies to start right now.

These are the same strategies I teach in my private 1:1 coaching. It’s the clarity I wish I had when I felt stuck at Google.

To get it, comment “GROW” below (to help me spread the word – thank you!).

Be sure to connect with me on LinkedIn or send me a DM, so I can reply with the deck.

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UPDATE:  due to the high demand 🙏 , LinkedIn thinks I am spamming people with all of the DMs I am sending! If you want the free guide, please visit: 👉 amplifypm.com/subscribe
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Roshan Gupta

Follow me to go from PM → Product Leader 🪜 | Founder of AmplifyPM (ex-Google, Meta, Yahoo, startups) | I grew from leading a team of 5 to leading a 300+ org. I'll show you how to do the same.

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At Google, I turned a $20M budget into $120M.

I did it with one simple reframe.

Instead of asking:
“How much do you want to budget for this initiative?”

I asked:
“How much do you want to grow this year?”

Same conversation.
Completely different reaction.

When you frame a proposal around cost, people look for ways to shrink it.

When you frame it around growth, people look for ways to fund it.

- - -

How did I do it?

I mapped the impact if the initiative succeeded:
→ How would it grow the product?
→ How would it help other orgs succeed?
→ How would it accelerate future initiatives?

Then I quantified the value:
→ For direct impact, I measured revenue.
→ For indirect impact, I used proxy metrics (time saved, churn reduced) and translated them into dollar value.

Finally, I calculated dollar value returned per dollar invested.

The discussion quickly shifted from:
“Can we afford to?” →
“Can we afford not to?”

- - -

Whether you’re pitching a budget, a project, or a promotion – the principle is the same:

👉🏽 Don’t sell effort. Sell outcomes.


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🔥 Fast-track your way to Product Leader with courses, Maven classes, and 1:1 coaching (see featured links in profile).

Most PMs think they’re good at prioritization.
They’re not.
They’re good at justifying what they already want to build.

Prioritization meetings end up being theater.

If you want to get better at prioritization, ask these 3 questions before you greenlight anything:

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1️⃣ Is this the *most* important problem to solve?

It’s not enough to solve a customer problem.

Are you solving their most urgent problem?

You can spend months, even years, solving a customer pain point.

Then you launch...and crickets. Lackluster adoption.

Make sure you’re building a painkiller, not a vitamin.

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2️⃣ What’s the cost of waiting?

We often prioritize features as if their value is static.

But great opportunities are not static. They decay.

The market shifts. Competitors move. A user's pain becomes another company's solution.

Don’t just calculate the cost to build something.

Calculate the cost to delay it.

Then decide – is this a "now or never" opportunity, or an "anytime" feature?

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3️⃣ Why us?

You don’t have to solve everything your customer struggles with.

You have to solve what you’re uniquely positioned to solve.

Trying to do it all kills your differentiator.

And if you must address a particular customer pain point, don’t just think “build”.

Think “build, buy, or partner”.

- - -

Did I miss any important questions to ask when prioritizing?

Early in my career, I thought motivation was simple.
Pay people well.
Give them bonuses.
Give them fancy titles.
Done.

And for a while – it worked.
People hit deadlines.
Projects shipped.
The metrics looked great.

Until one day, it didn’t.

The spark was gone.
People were showing up, but not lighting up.

Then I joined the messaging team at Google – and was tasked with fixing “quality issues”.

It wasn’t glamorous work. It was the kind of project that could quietly drain morale if you weren’t careful.

That’s when I realized: external rewards only take you so far.
What teams really need isn’t another perk – it’s a purpose.

So I shifted my focus:

👉🏽 I reminded the team how their work connected to something bigger – billions of people communicating across the world.

👉🏽 I made appreciation a daily habit – not just during review cycles, but in the moment.

👉🏽 I made sure everyone knew their contribution mattered.

The result?
Engagement soared. Collaboration deepened.
We didn’t just hit our goals – we found meaning in the work again.

And I learned a lesson I’ll never forget:
Bonuses fade. Purpose sticks.

If you want lasting motivation –
Don’t just reward effort.
Remind people why their work matters.


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🔥 Fast-track your way to Product Leader with courses, Maven classes, and 1:1 coaching (see featured links in profile).

Stop complaining about reorgs.
You think leaders can't make up their minds.
That's a naive view. (I was guilty of it, too)

Yes, it's frustrating.
One year, it's "flatten the org!"
The next, it's "add layers to scale!"
Then back again. It feels like whiplash.

Here's the truth:
There is NO perfect org structure. Zero. Every structure is a trade-off.

A reorg isn't (usually) a sign of indecision.
It's a strategic choice to solve the *most pressing problem* the business faces *today*.

It’s a purposeful choice to optimize for one thing (like speed) at the expense of another (like scale or career pathing).

Look at Google flattening layers now.
Why? Speed. Agility. Especially around AI.
They're knowingly sacrificing scale for speed, to accelerate decision-making where it matters today.

But watch what happens.
In a few years, the pain will shift.
Google’s flat org will hit its scaling limits.
Career paths will stall.
And guess what? Layers will likely come back.

And that's okay.

Orgs oscillate between structures.
It’s annoying, and it’s disruptive.
But it’s almost always necessary.


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🔥 Fast-track your way to Product Leader with courses, live Maven classes, and 1:1 coaching (see featured links in my profile).

Open article: Google's great flattening has hit managers in its ad unit by businessinsider.com

Google's great flattening has hit managers in its ad unit

Stop chasing a people management title.

I see so many talented PMs do it.

They feel stuck, so they obsess over getting direct reports.

They believe it’s the only path to:
→ More scope
→ More credibility
→ More impact

But this obsession makes us blind.
We miss the leadership opportunities right in front of us.

You don’t need a title to lead.
You need to learn how to bring out the best in people.

Want to start today?

Find an aspiring or junior PM and offer to mentor them.
→ Guide them through a tough stakeholder map.
→ Help them reframe a tricky presentation.
→ Listen as they navigate a project setback.

This is hands-on leadership training – for *you*:

→ It forces clarity. Explaining your judgment exposes gaps – and sharpens your frameworks.

→ It builds resilience. You’re reminded how many hurdles you’ve already cleared.

→ It trains real management muscles: goal-setting, feedback, coaching, sponsorship.

- - -

Mentoring isn't just an act of generosity.

It's a powerful tool for self-reflection, skill development, and rediscovering your own strength.

So remember – you don't need direct reports to learn how to lead.

You just need someone to guide.


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🔥 Fast-track your way to Product Leader with courses, Maven classes, and 1:1 coaching (see featured links in profile).

The strongest professional relationships aren't balanced. They're radically unbalanced.

Great networkers don't aim for 50/50 give-and-take.

They aim for generosity.

They operate on an 80/20 model:
→ 80% of the time, they're finding ways to be helpful.
→ 20% of the time, they're making an ask.

What does "being helpful" look like?
It doesn’t have to be complicated.

→ Share a relevant article without being asked.
→ Make a helpful introduction.
→ Publicly praise someone's work.
→ Offer 15 minutes to brainstorm a problem.

The best networks are built on a foundation of generosity.


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🔥 Fast-track your way to Product Leader with courses, Maven classes, and 1:1 coaching (see featured links in profile).

Every PM should learn how to sell.

Not in the “quota-carrying” sense – but in the understand-your-buyer sense.

Because building a great product isn’t enough.

You also have to launch it, position it, and *make people care*.

And that means getting smarter about understanding not just your users' pain, but their intent to solve it.

. . .

I built the 2×2 grid below to help PMs think through their product positioning:

😡 Urgent Pain (High Intent, High Friction)
These users are on fire and looking for a fire extinguisher now. Your job is to show them you have the water. They want a proven solution from an expert.

🤔 Frustrated (Low Intent, High Friction)
These users are in pain but aren't actively trying to solve it. Maybe they don't believe a solution exists. Your job is to amplify their pain and show them a path to a better future.

😎 Future-Focused (High Intent, Low Friction)
These users aren't in pain today, but they're ambitious. They want to get ahead. Your job is to sell them an edge, a competitive advantage.

😐 Indifferent (Low Intent, Low Friction)
Not your audience. Move on.

. . .

As a PM, you spend a lot of time on the "what".

Don't forget to obsess over the "who" and the "why now".


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🔥 Fast-track your way to Product Leader with courses, Maven classes, and 1:1 coaching (see featured links in profile).

Want a FREE 30-minute 1:1 Product Leadership coaching session?

I’m giving 4 away 👇🏽

Here’s why:

On Tuesday, November 18th, I’m hosting a FREE Maven lightning lesson on how to crush your PM interviews with powerful narratives.

I’ve invited Nancy Chu – a highly respected coach who’s interviewed hundreds of PMs and helped them land offers at top-tier companies – to teach you how to build interview stories that stick.

Top-tier PM interviews aren't won with frameworks – they're won with powerful leadership narratives. Strategic stories that signal scope, judgment, and cross-org influence. If you want to stand out from generic candidates, you WON’T want to miss this talk.

Even if you can't attend live, you'll get access to the recording.

Register for free: https://lnkd.in/dMSNZUe4

. . .

HOW TO ENTER THE COACHING GIVEAWAY (2 WAYS):

1) Repost this post, or
2) Publish your own post and tag me.

I’ll pick 4 people at random in 7 days.

Don’t get picked? I’ll still make sure you walk away with something valuable. 😉

Thanks for your help, and see you on Nov 18!

Which decision-maker are you?
The Maximizer or the Satisficer?

One will stall your career. The other will accelerate it.

. . .

The Maximizer is obsessed with finding the "perfect" option.

But the "perfect" option doesn't exist.

So they create a mythical choice in their head – one with all the upside and none of the downside.

Then they exhaust themselves and their teams, comparing every real-world, imperfect option against this fantasy.

The result: analysis paralysis, second-guessing, and burnout.

. . .

The Satisficer has a different goal.

Not "perfect". But "good enough".

They define their criteria upfront.

The moment an option meets that standard, they commit.

And they move forward, confidently, without guilt or regret.

. . .

Early in your career, being a Maximizer can feel like a strength. It feels like diligence.

But as you move into leadership, it becomes a fatal flaw.

Great leaders don't have the time or resources to chase a mythical perfect choice. They need to make good decisions that create momentum, now.

Don’t be a Maximizer.
Stop comparing your options to a mythical ideal.
Define your criteria, make the call, and move on.


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🔥 Fast-track your way to Product Leader with courses, Maven classes, and 1:1 coaching (see featured links in profile).

What does parenting children have to do with managing your team?

More than you think.

There are 3 types of parents – and 3 types of managers.

1️⃣ The Helicopter

They hover over every task.

They review every doc.

They jump in to fix every mistake.

Their team moves – but only when they’re watching.

2️⃣ The Snowplow

They clear every obstacle in advance.

They protect their team from discomfort, conflict, or failure.

It feels supportive – until the team faces a problem alone.

3️⃣ The Lighthouse

They don’t hover. They don’t clear the path.

They guide from a distance. Illuminate the goal. Warn of the rocks.

They show direction, but let others choose the path.

- - -

The results?

Helicopter and Snowplow managers create dependency.

The team feels untrusted, loses confidence, and can't solve problems without you.

Lighthouse managers create capability.

The team learns to navigate, builds confidence, and finds their own way to the destination.

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It's tempting to hover or to clear the path. It makes you feel needed. It reduces short-term risk.

Don’t do it.

Smooth seas don’t make for skillful sailors.


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🔥 Fast-track your way to Product Leader with courses, Maven classes, and 1:1 coaching (see featured links in profile).

Product Management books sell you a beautiful lie.
On the left: textbook version of PM.
On the right: real life.

You can study all the frameworks you want – JTBD, OKRs, RICE, MoSCoW, AARRR, and more.

You can memorize how to “do it right”.

But then reality shows up:
Stakeholders change priorities.
Customers contradict their own feedback.
Your MVP slips.
And suddenly, your perfect process looks more like the orange cat on the right.

That’s not failure.

Because Product Management isn’t just a science.
It’s an art.
It’s judgment under pressure.
It’s trade-offs with incomplete data.
It’s staying calm when your beautiful theory melts in production.

Learn the frameworks – they’re useful.
Just don’t mistake them for experience.

The messiness IS the job.

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🔥 Fast-track your way to Product Leader with courses, Maven classes, and 1:1 coaching (see featured links in profile).

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