Where are our past winners now?
The patterns hiding in our award alumni
While we finalize this year’s Product Builder Awards selections, I went back and looked at what happened to our past winners. Three patterns stood out, and they say something bigger about where product careers are headed.
The first: a significant share of past winners are now Chief Product Officers. If that’s you, congratulations, you earned that award a hundred times over.
The second: many of them are becoming founders. Building got so much easier with AI that there’s no reason a strong product person can’t start their own company anymore.
The third is the one I keep thinking about. Winners are moving from large companies to small ones. Many big companies have resistance to a transformation that’s already inevitable, so the best product builders have decided they can drive more change from outside than from inside.
If large companies keep losing their best innovators, they’ll have to buy their way back to relevance. This makes the move a lot more calculated than it looks. Spin off, build the company, get acquired by your former employer, and end up with more impact than you ever would have had staying put.
If any of this resonates, especially the M&A part, reply to this email and let’s have a conversation.
Know a VP, Sr. Director, or Head of Product who’s setting the standard? Nominations are open for the Product Leader Awards. Winners join me for an in-person VIP celebration this September. Click the banner above to nominate.
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