In this episode of the Product Thinking podcast, host Melissa Perri welcomes Ying Chen, Chief Product Officer at Quantive, onto the show to discuss her career in product management and the differences between working in large enterprises and startups.

Ying speaks in depth about how she is a builder at heart and enjoys both the larger-scale and smaller-scale environments because each offers different learning opportunities. 

She explains how in enterprise companies, product managers have the chance to work with experts in various functions and learn what "good" looks like in a mature organization. On the other hand, startups allow product managers to wear multiple hats and get closer to the entire operating model of a product. 

She discusses how in enterprises, strong communication and alignment skills are essential, while product managers in startups are required to be comfortable with multiple roles and tasks.

The role of a product manager is ever evolving and Ying emphasizes the importance of understanding the business side of product management, as well as offering valuable advice for those wanting to advance their career in the field.

Ying sees the value of working in both startups and enterprise businesses. She recognizes that there are great learning opportunities to be harvested from each, and it isn’t as clear-cut a decision for an aspirational product manager to say, ‘clearly I want to work at the biggest company I can’. From Ying’s perspective, working with startups asks more of a product manager, giving them the chance to wear lots of different hats. Trying out both is a good idea and it will let you see which environment energizes you the most.

Managing and fostering innovation in the larger enterprise companies can be difficult. There are so many moving parts and convincing enough people of the need to experiment when things are already functioning fairly well can seem impossible. Ying has a background in psychology and a particular penchant for experimentation. She notes that the focus in startups is often on rapid experimentation and finding product-market fit, driven by the need for quick validation with limited resources. Enterprises, while having more resources, face the challenge of integrating innovation into their established processes without disrupting their current operations. Ying stresses the importance of trying to maintain flexibility and the ability to pivot based on new insights, regardless of the organization's size.

Ying discusses the trend of combining general manager (GM) responsibilities with product leadership roles. She notes that this hybrid role is becoming more common as organizations recognize the need for a cohesive strategy that aligns product development with market execution and business objectives. Taking on this new kind of position requires a deep understanding of business metrics, go-to-market strategies, and organizational competencies. Trying to evolve your skills away from purely product and research-based competencies into more commercial skills is important here. Ying emphasizes the need to grasp revenue growth and customer retention, highlighting the evolving expectations from product leaders to drive holistic business success.

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