The Kickstart Kit

7 proven strategies to
transition to Product Manager
role without prior experience
 Hello there,
I'm glad to have you here!

By downloading this guide, you decided to start your journey to one of the most exciting
roles in tech teams and startups right now - The Product Manager role.

I transitioned to product management from the consulting industry, and I remember how
stressful this process was for me. You most likely feel uncertain whether this is the right
move for you, and you are overwhelmed with tons of information about the new career.
You may also feel unsure where to start to get the right experience and look for guidance
and support.

This guide is here to help you begin this challenging journey. Here you'll find strategies to
transition to your first role in Product - those that helped real people - like me and my
mentees - to move to Product Management from various backgrounds, including Consulting,
Engineering, Design, Operations, Finance, and more.

I'll also answer some of the most common questions I hear from people when they ask me
how to get into product management.

Let's get started!

Anna
 Chicken &
Egg dilemma
Some time ago, I surveyed a community of almost sixty thousand PMs. I asked them a
simple question: "What were the main obstacles that kept you from getting your first
job as a Product Manager?". Not surprisingly, most of the replies were about lacking
relevant product experience as the main obstacle to starting a PM career.

So we have a classical "chicken and egg" problem here - to land a job, you need relevant
work experience, but to get this experience, you need to get the job first...

I was also on the "other side" when I became a hiring manager and started looking for
people for product teams. So I understand why prior experience is de facto a prerequisite
for hiring teams. Product Managers are in charge of the key ingredient of every successful
business - its Product. They are directly involved in making core strategic growth-driving
decisions. So it's not surprising that hiring teams want to find candidates who can perform
from day one and are less prone to making inaccurate judgments on which product
direction to take.

Now that we better know the reasons behind the "chicken and egg dilemma," let's think
about how you can close this skills gap.
You don't need to start the career
transition from the ground up

Let's think about it.

Product Managers (PMs) build and launch products from scratch or improve and

Mindset tip
grow existing products or processes. They do many things, from strategizing on
what product direction to go to planning and executing product development tasks.
Product Function also collaborates closely with many other teams - Product
Designers, Software Engineers, Sales, Marketing, Customer Success, etc. - who
are their partners (or "stakeholders") for product development.

To do all this, a Product Manager needs to have a very diverse set of skills, and
many of those skills are cross-functional. And there is a high chance that you, who
are currently working in other functions, already have some of the skills that a
Product Manager needs!

These are so-called "transferable skills" - the skills you already have and can
apply to the Product Manager role.

How cool is that?

Let me give you an example from my journey to Product Management from

Consulting.

My role back then was "Management and Technology Consultant." My typical task
was to help clients to solve their burning business problems. It involved analyzing
the situation in detail, working out solution alternatives, and finally developing and
launching one of the solutions. The final solution could include a software product
and recommendations on a business process change.

When I was analyzing how my Consultant's experience is related to the Product

Manager role, I realized that I was in charge of creating the very first version of
a product from scratch. All of the tasks I did as a Consultant turned out to be very
similar to those a Product Manager takes care of. However, as a Consultant, I
wasn't in charge of any further improvements to the Product and any strategic
decisions regarding its long-term future. These were my skills gaps as a PM back
then.
You don't need to start the career
transition from the ground up

Understanding that I have clear, transferable skills towards the new career
defined how I approached the job search process.

Mindset tip
From then on, I knew that I was not starting my career all over again but had
solid skills and experience that I could bring to the table. This knowledge
gave me enormous confidence during job interviews and, frankly, was one of
the reasons I got that very first job as a PM.

Of course, my Consultant's example may be ideal, and you won't necessarily have
that many transferable skills. Maybe you can relate your current skills to only some
parts of the Product Development Process.

For instance, let's say you work in Sales or Customer support. It means that you
deal with customers a lot; you most likely know their needs, wants, and
expectations. And if you work in a product company, you are probably the one who
already works closely with a Product team, e.g., you share customer requests and
feedback with them. So you bring these skills forward on your product interviews as
your key selling points.

Or let's say you work as a Project Manager now. In this case, you are powerful at
the execution side of things - you know how to prioritize tasks, manage resources
and scope of work, and deliver under tight deadlines. These skills will be relevant to
you as a Product Manager at the Product Development stage when the entire
Product team focuses on building the right solution.

I think you got the idea of what transferable skills are. And here is the last piece of
good news here - the more you research about product management and put your
learning to practice, the more understanding you'll get about your transferable skills.

And speaking about practice - let's see what's strategies are available for you to
cover the skill gaps and make your profile shine. 👇
7 strategies
to transition
to Product
Manager role
 Introduction
Before you start...

This is by no means a comprehensive guide to making a career transition, but I've

intentionally designed it that way. So instead, this guide is here to give you an
overview of what's possible and where you can start your journey to one of the
most exciting careers out there.

There's no magic pill, hidden secret, or quick fix - the only way you can start a
new career, grow, and succeed is by taking action.

And, on that note, let's start taking action, shall we?

 Strategy One:
Transfer
internally to a
PM role in your
current company
Internal career transfer is one of the popular ways of getting into Product. Depending
on whether you already work in a product company or not, here is what you can do:

Scenario # 1 - you already work in a company with a Product function in place

Product function by nature is the one that connects other functions, so, likely, you are
already working with PMs, and you are part of the product development process! You

Strategy One
just need to become a slightly bigger part.

Try to find an opportunity to be closer to the PM's work in your organization, take the
initiative - and rest assured, that kind of initiative would be well received! From my
experience, I guarantee you that PMs always have tons of things to investigate and
research, and they would gladly use the opportunity to delegate to someone eager.

Let's take some practical examples to give you an idea of where to start.

You now work in Sales or Technical Sales or Customer support:

Use your customers' knowledge and learn how the product team prioritizes their
requests and why not all of them eventually go to the product roadmap.
Try to participate in meetings with your product team to learn and give feedback
based on your customer knowledge.

You now work in an internal function such as Finance, Legal, or HR:

Take part in the internal product initiatives such as "alpha testing" of a product
(test done by internal users before releasing new versions to the public).

Scenario # 2 - your current company don't have a product function in place

No worries, because you can get ahead with your product skills even in this case.

First, I suggest you think about internal processes within your company you could
improve. Think about your team or department - is there anything you could change in
the existing methods to increase their efficiency? If your idea is solid, you can put
together a brief proposal on how to make the change. If the proposal is accepted, you
can get an excellent opportunity to develop product skills and get your first product
case in your portfolio. And of course, don't be shy to participate in idea implementation
yourself!
The second path you can consider is to check if your company has a Business
Transformation department or team. These groups are in charge of introducing
new digital technologies through changing existing business processes, and now
they exist in many companies.
The Digital Transformation groups do tasks very similar to what Product
teams are doing - they create new products or services to delight their customers
(in this case - the company's internal users).

Strategy One
For instance, the Digital Transformation group might be in charge of replacing a
time-consuming manual process of supplier's invoices registration with an
automated one, when a special software type called RPA (Robotics Process
Automation) will read an invoice and extract the data.

You can think of a Digital Transformation team as an internal product team within an
organization. And by the way, the team structure somewhat resembles the structure
of a "traditional" product team. It is cross-functional and consists of Solution
Architects, Business Experts, Agile coaches, UX/UI Designers, Software Engineers,
and more.

If your company has this Digital Transformation team, try to create an opportunity
to work with them since it can move you ahead with your product career.

Pros Cons
It's less stressful of all - you know The transition can take a long
a company, its Product, and the time due to internal
team. competition or lack of available
It can be a quick win if a spots.
company prioritizes internal You might get a lower salary in
promotions instead of hiring comparison to making an
externally. external transition.

Good fit for:

Product team members:
Software Engineers. Scrum masters.
UX Designers. Product Owners.
QA Engineers. Agile coaches.
Your turn!

It's time to think if this strategy can work for you.

Set 30 minutes aside and think through the opportunities you have to work
closely with your Product team or take the initiative and introduce process

Strategy One
improvement.

A quick tip: you will more likely need to come back to this section several times
to figure out what transition strategies work best for you. That's okay, and for
now, write down the initial thoughts you have. You will refine them later on.
 Strategy Two:
Transfer to a
position adjacent
to Product
function first and
then to a PM role
This is a variation of the first strategy that helps you to transition to the Product
Manager's role in two steps:

Step One: you transition to the role within a Product team to have a chance to work
hand-in-hand with them.
Here are some examples of possible transitions:
Business development.

Strategy Two
Business operations.
Customer Success.
Customer Support.
Tech Sales.
Project Management.
Consulting.
QA Engineering.

You work in one of these roles for one to three years and stay close to PMs as much
as you can, learning the specifics of their work.

Step Two: once you gain some transferable skills and understanding of the end-to-
end product management process, you are all set to look for a PM role - either in your
current company or externally.

Pros Cons
Allows smooth career transition Requires significant
with less stress from getting into time commitment
a completely new career. and motivation.
Helps to understand better the
end-to-end product
development process and roles
of many teams involved.

Good fit for:

For people at the beginning of their career (~1-5 years of
experience).
For those who didn't have a chance to work with product teams or
in product companies before.
Your turn!

Write down your initial thoughts about this strategy - do you think it can work for
you?

Compare this strategy with the previous one - which one looks better for your

Strategy Two
goals?

As always, you don't have to decide anything right now - just put down all your
thoughts and then come back to think through them again.
Strategy Three:
Join a business
incubation
program
I started recommending this strategy to aspiring PMs fairly recently after I went
through the business incubation program myself with Antler in 2020 and realized it
could be a perfect training wheel for future PMs.

Business incubators are specially designed programs that help young

entrepreneurs to find co-founders, come up with business ideas and get initial
ideas' validation. Oftentimes business incubation programs are organized by
universities and accept students only or fresh graduates. Also, some venture

Strategy Three
capital firms run incubators to find investment opportunities. If they believe in the
team of co-founders and the problem they are tackling, VCs may invest in
exchange for an equity stake.

Business incubators do not require participants to have any working prototype or

first product version. Instead, as the name suggests, they help incubate an idea
from the first brainstorming session through problem validation to building
an MVP (Minimum Viable Product). Also, they help in acquiring the first
customers.

You are probably getting a bit frustrated and thinking about how these programs
can be relevant for you? You want to become a product manager after all!

I think you will understand how this program can be helpful for you after looking at
the advantages section below.👇

Pros Cons
Heavily focused on product Rigorous and
discovery and design - essential competitive application
activities of a PM's job. process.
Allows working with multiple teams Primarily designed for
on different problem statements future startup founders.
and product ideas. Required a participation
Includes learning component (e.g., fee and commitment to
masterclasses from program invest time weekly to
coaches). work on projects.

Good fit for:

People who seriously consider starting their business after PM
career.
Those who want to experience what it takes to work in early-stage
startups.
Your turn!

As always, don't forget to write down your initial thoughts about this strategy - do
you think it can work for you?

What do you think about the idea of joining an early-stage startup as their first PM?

Strategy Three
Or you may be more keen to work in big companies and more mature products?

Write down everything coming to your mind here, and come back later to review
and adjust.
Before we continue talking about other strategies of getting into Product role, I'd like to
share with you three biggest myths I see hanging around the community of aspiring
product managers.

Important Note
Myth: I need to have technical skills to become a
Product Manager. So I need to learn how to code!
01

Reality: Coming from a technical background is not a

prerequisite anymore.

Yes, some companies historically prefer to hire Product Managers

with technical backgrounds and degrees in Computer Science.
However, others (and this number is growing steadily) look for
candidates with "non-traditional" backgrounds - from
journalism, art, fashion, law, and many more.

I recall my conversation with the head of the recruitment team at

one of the leading tech giants in South East Asia. Their product
organization has over a hundred employees distributed across
several countries. She told me that one of the key elements of their
hiring strategy is to find people of different backgrounds who
can bring a diversity of opinions and new perspectives to their
products.

It is a very logical and far-seeing approach to hiring. Product

Managers are directly involved in making core strategic growth-
driving decisions. And to do so, they need to be strong at a great
variety of non-tech skills such as business and people skills.
 Myth: I need to complete my MBA to get into
product management.

Important Note
02

Reality: Getting an MBA is neither a prerequisite nor a

guarantee to get a PM job.

MBA is one of those strategic projects you can do once in a

lifetime and that you need to plan very carefully. It's a huge
investment - both in your time and money - so you have to have
crystal clear answers on why you are doing the program and your
expectations. Lastly, an MBA degree pays off more in the long
run, so please don't expect immediate results just after the
program. Moreover, you may find yourself falling behind your
peers since you were out of the workforce for one or two years.

If you are now thinking of doing an MBA with the ultimate goal
of getting into a Product role, please stop and consider other
strategies first. You can get there much faster, and this guide
gives you plenty of proven strategies on how to make a move.
Yes, I know you see those magical words in many job descriptions
for product roles - "MBA candidates preferred" - but believe me,
this is not a must-have requirement. With MBA or not, you will
have to answer questions about your experience and
challenges solved (or products built).

I remember my first interviews for product roles after graduating

from an MBA program in 2017. Of course, my hiring managers
wanted to know about my experience building products, failures,
and success stories in the first place. Yes, my MBA degree
probably gave me some extra points, but I'm confident that I
wouldn't be able to get a job without having previous
experience building products.
 Myth : I need to have a product certification to get

Important Note
into product management.
03

Reality: It doesn't matter what kind of certification

you have. What matters the most is that you can
answer the question "Show me what you have built"
from your hiring managers.
Certification can be a great way to prove your skills and receive
recognition in the professional community. Sometimes, it's mandatory to
be allowed to do a job or get a career promotion.

However, there is no requirement for aspiring PMs to have any

certification to enter or transition to a career in Product.
But surprisingly, one of the first things people ask when they start
researching how to get into Product is what kind of certification they need
to get to the role. Unfortunately, it seems like many aspiring PMs treat
certification as a "magic pill" that can quickly solve their problem and get
guaranteed results.

I know that I'm repeating myself, but let me reiterate one more time this
very important point - conceptual knowledge alone won't count when it
comes to the product manager role. Unless a certification program
doesn't have a substantial practical part for you to apply theories,
frameworks, and tools, you won't be able to build a convincing story during
job interviews and will be struggling to do your job.

So please don't fall in love with any particular certification program as an

ultimate and only solution to bring you to the Product world. Practice is the
key, so focus heavily on applying theories to create or improve things -
with or without a certification program.
Strategy Four:
Volunteer in a
startup
I've decided to include this strategy here since I often get questions from aspiring
PMs if it's worthwhile to volunteer to help a startup build a product in exchange
for an opportunity to learn and practice?

Well, it's definitely a better option than just passively reading books or watching
videos, but your takeaways will be pretty limited. Startups, by nature, have very
unstructured ad hoc processes. Without previous experiences of being a PM,
you'll be struggling to grasp your end-to-end responsibilities and expectations from
the role.

Strategy Four
Also, in a startup, you are often playing multiple roles, and borders between roles
are blurry. For example, when I joined a growing startup as a Product Director, I was
not only in charge of driving several product teams but also worked as a PM in one
of the teams. Unfortunately, we didn't have the resources to hire a dedicated PM
back then, so naturally, I've decided to multitask and play that role as well.

Lastly, early-stage startups (series A) usually hire their first dedicated PM to help
founders, mainly with the execution side. Product function starts contributing to
founders’ vision, strategy and deciding on the next “big idea” during the Growth
phase (series B and beyond).

So unless you have to volunteer to build something truly groundbreaking, I'd

recommend you to consider and try out other options for your first role in
Product.

Pros Cons
You work closely with the No established
founding team and have an structured processes are
opportunity to learn directly in place.
from them. Multitasking, many ad-
If you stick around, you can hoc tasks.
grow faster than when Focus on the execution
working in big established side of things (early-
companies. stage startups).

Good fit for:

Product Managers with at least one year of
experience working as a PM in a bigger company
It's your turn!

Write down your initial thoughts about this strategy - do you think it can work for
you?

Compare this strategy with the previous one - which one looks better for your
goals?

Strategy Four
As always, you don't have to decide anything right now - just put down all your
thoughts and then come back to think through them again.
 Strategy Five:
Starting up you
own business
I'll be honest with you - I rarely (or never?) see people who start a company out of the
motivation to become a PM. Being a founder is a far more challenging and
demanding job after all (I know this first hand since now I'm running my own Edutech
business).

However, there are many scenarios when you can find yourself in the PM's shoes
as a founder:
Often, a founder is the one who plays a PM role long enough before deciding to
hire their first external PM.

Strategy Five
In case your business gets acquired, you may receive an offer to continue
working in a new company in the PM role (you are the one who knows the
Product the best!).
Last but not least, you may end up in a PM role after deciding that founder's job is
not for you.

These are just some examples, but I think you get my point - founders may end up
being successful PMs.

I won't recommend this option just for the sake of getting a PM experience. You
may run your side project and achieve the same goals with less cost (we will cover
this strategy a bit later).

However, if you have the urge to start a business and maybe even have some good
problem statements in mind - think carefully - perhaps it's a good time to give it a
shot.

Pros Cons
You get far more extensive You have to deal with
experience as opposed to a many other tasks as a
stand-alone PM role. founder - from fundraising
to biz operations.
High risk of startup failure.

Good fit for:

People with an entrepreneurial mindset and higher risk tolerance.
So what you think?

Write down your initial thoughts about this strategy - do you have an urge to start
your own business any time soon? What problem statements do you have in
mind?

Strategy Five
 Strategy Six:
Join Associate
Product Manager
Program
Associate Product Manager (APM) programs are special new grad roles created to
nurture young and promising talents to become great product managers and leaders.
Programs are usually last for a few years and include several rotations with different
product teams. As a result, aspiring product enthusiasts get exposed to many different
aspects of Product Management, learn on the job and build a network of people from
Product and beyond.

Initially, the APM program was introduced by Google in the early 2000s to get access to
talents and train them into what Google thinks a PM should be. Later on, many leading
technology companies launched similar programs to help aspiring product enthusiasts

Strategy Six
get into product management.

The program is highly competitive, with thousands of applications submitted each year.

Here are some of the popular APM programs:

Google Associate Product Manager Program

Atlassian Associate Product Manager Program

Facebook Rotational Product Manager Program

Salesforce Associate Product Manager Program

Twitter Associate Product Manager Program

Pros Cons
Provides the well-rounded Requires a long-term
experience of working across commitment (12-24
multiple business units and months).
learning a range of skills. High competition with
Provides opportunities to get a job low acceptance rates.
offer after the program.

Good fit for:

Designed exclusively for fresh graduates and young professionals.
Your turn!
Write down your initial thoughts about this strategy.

If you are a fresh graduate or young professional, do you think it can work for you?

Strategy Six
As always, you don't have to decide anything right now - just put down your
thoughts and then come back to think through them again.
Strategy Seven:
Start your Side
Project
Finally, we are at the very end of our list, and here is the last strategy I want to
share with you today - building a Side Project as a way to get ahead with
product skills.

Strategy Seven
Let me start by telling you a story.

It happened to me during one of my product interviews (which I failed). I thought I

was prepared well - I knew my transferable skills (I've worked in tech consulting),
and I illustrated them with my past projects and achievements.
But suddenly my interviewer asked me - can you show us what you've built?
This question puzzled me - all of my projects were under Non-Disclosure
agreements, so I could not show much. And of course, back then, I didn't have
anything that resembled a product portfolio…

This lesson taught me a lot. I realized that to get into Product, I need to
showcase what I'm capable of as an aspiring PM. So I decided to build a
Product as my Side Project.

I've built an app prototype for live group workouts with fitness instructors (yes, I
know, everyone is doing this now, but this idea was groundbreaking years ago). I've
been trying to solve a problem of people like me - consultants who travel for
business every week and couldn't maintain their fitness routine consistently. I was
so inspired by the problem and product idea that I even pitched it to an investing
firm (but didn't get their money).

After going through this journey and getting that very first product role, I can say
that working on a Side Project is my favorite strategy of getting into Product.
To give you more ideas and inspiration, let's go through some specific examples of
the side projects.

You can create a blog or YouTube channel and regularly produce content on
topics related to product management. For example, Prototypr.io, started as a side
project, delivers weekly digests with design news and tools.

Alternatively, you can register at Substack and publish weekly newsletters on

Strategy Seven
the topics you are passionate about (so that you can work on the project long-
term). For example, here is a weekly newsletter with a collection of remote product
management jobs - guest what? - it is started as a side project.

What else? You can participate in a community project and enhance existing
Products or services. For example, here is an example of a community project to
translate Notion help center to different languages. The project grew organically
and spanned across several countries.

Next, and this is especially relevant for aspiring PMs - you can build a product
from scratch, like a mobile app. For example, now I'm working on my next side
project and building an app to help aspiring PMs, designers, and engineers kick-
start their side project (spoiler: I'll be launching a product in beta version in March
2022, and you are invited to try it out!).

Let me stop here for now. You got my point - the variety of ideas you can consider
is limited only by your creativity and interests.
 However, one thing stays the
same across all successful
side projects - consistency.

You do this project to develop

and grow specific skills, and it

Strategy Seven
won't happen overnight.

Remember how much time you

spent polishing your driving
skills before finally feeling
confident and comfortable on
the road?

Same with the side project - so

take your time, overcome
challenges, and learn by doing.

Pros Cons
You showcase your skills and You have to commit to
creativity without committing consistently
anything apart from your time. building/improving a
You get experience in driving project over 6-12
strategic product initiatives. months.
It helps you understand what it It can be challenging to
takes to be in the PM's shoes and find project ideas &
make an informed career decision participants.
to join the PM tribe.
Well complements all previous
strategies.

Good fit for:

Everyone who wants to join the Product Management function.
At this point, I usually hear the following two questions:

How am I supposed to build all of this without

technical skills and knowing how to code?!

Real talk
The fact is that with the help of modern no-code tools - building a side project has
never been easier.
This is a popular and promising alternative to traditional software development for
non-techy people to build their own applications. We call them "Citizen
Developers" to emphasize that literally everyone can develop and launch an app
without coding nowadays.

Well, building itself is still done with code, but people simply don’t have to do any
coding themselves - no-code platforms have pre-built drag-and-drop building blocks
that have been coded to perform specific tasks. Citizen developers use these
building blocks like lego parts to design new web or mobile apps.

Of course, there is some learning curve here, and you need to invest time in making
yourself comfortable using the tools - but this time is nowhere near the
investment of going through a full-on coding course.

As someone who does not code, I have to say such removal of barriers for side
projects by the no-code community is groundbreaking. No more excuses for not
starting!

Should my side project be successful for me to speak

about it during my job interviews?

And by project success, we imply that it has achieved specific metrics - like a certain
number of customers using your Product or sales revenue.

The answer here is NO. Building a successful business is not your end goal.

The side project is just a "testbed" for you to go through all the stages of
building a product, learn by doing and then showcase skills to hiring managers to
get a PM job.

If the project fails, think of it as a successful case anyway as long as you can
reflect on the experience and explain why this failure happened and what you would
do differently next time.
Your turn!
Write down your initial thoughts about this strategy - do you think it can work for
you?

Compare this strategy with all others that we covered - which one seems to be the
best for you? Then, can you prioritize them and select the top-3 strategies you are

Strategy Seven
ready to start with?

As always, you don't have to decide anything right now - just put down all your
thoughts and then come back to think through them again.
What's next?

So we've almost reached the end of this guide - thanks for reading this far!

From my past Consultant's life, this is the place where I usually give final
recommendations to clients (old habits die hard, I know).

So my final piece of advice to you is this:

prioritize and work on several transition strategies to manage risks and create
more opportunities for yourself.

I always try to have plans A, B, and C when dealing with challenging and complex
projects. Doing so helps me stay confident that I can achieve an outcome by going in
different directions without relying heavily on one specific implementation strategy. I
used this approach first time back in 2015 when I was working on my MBA applications.
I've divided all programs into three categories:
- My dream programs but highly competitive application process (Plan A).
- Good programs, but with less competition (Plan B).
- Programs where my admission is almost guaranteed (Plan C).

I've received an invitation from the Plan - B program, did an MBA, and achieved all
goals I set for this program. I even realized that the Plan A programs were unsuitable for
those goals, and now I am happy it didn't work out.

Imagine how frustrated and disappointed I'd be if I put all eggs in one basket and
applied to my dream schools only? So please, don't fall in love with one particular
path to product management, but find two to three alternatives you can focus on.
Prioritized list of Strategies

Prioritization
STRATEGY 1 Internal transfer

STRATEGY 2 G e t a d ja ce n t to P M r o le fir s t

STRATEGY 3 Bu sin e ss i n c u b a tio n p r o g r a m

STRATEGY 4 Volunteer in a startup

STRATEGY 5 Start a business

STRATEGY 6 APM program

STRATEGY 7 Start a Side Project

OTHER? Other ideas?

A sneak peek
at what's
possible...
Let's set you in motion and do one exercise that helps develop your product skills.

From all the strategies we've discussed so far, there is one that you can start with
right now. You can create a unique learning experience tailored to your needs and
lifestyle by working on your own side project. It's totally up to you how much time
you will invest into it, what problems you will choose to solve, what kind of solution
you will create, and how you will present the results.

Let's see how easy it is to get started with the side project by brainstorming a
problem you can solve.

Often, an idea of a side project lies on the intersection of three areas:

Passion/ Daily life

Hobby problems

Side project
Smth new
idea
you want
to learn

Start thinking about these areas and ask yourself questions:

"How might we…". For example, "How might we improve X"?… "How might we re-
imagine Y?"… "How might we find a new way to accomplish Z?").
Form a question that is not too broad, for instance, "How might we solve inequality?".
On the other hand, your questions shouldn't be too narrow as well, like "How might we
increase the profitability of car-sharing service?".

Initially, you will come up with narrow questions. Then, try to zoom out to focus on
a larger vision.

Write down all your ideas without overthinking if it is good or bad.

When you have your list, group similar ideas together and see if you can
get new ideas from these combinations.

Finally, select an idea or top-3 ideas you like the most!

Brain dump time!
Now it's your time to follow the three-step process of brainstorming a problem. Write down
all problems you can think of - and I mean ALL of them.

(Your brain is going to want to self-filter what you're writing. Don't let it! Write down any
ideas you have as you're brainstorming - even those you think are bad).
Want to keep
learning?
Join me at the Product Incubation Program that helps you get ahead with your
product management skills and experience by building your first Product for real
users in ten weeks without coding, overwhelm, and guessing what to do at each step
of product development.
As a result, you can showcase it in your CV, get invitations to product interviews,
speak confidently about your experience, and land your first role in Product
Management. The next cohort starts in March 2022!

Join our community of aspiring Product Managers at Telegram to ask questions and
interact with the PM tribe!

Find more advice on how to get into product management, grow, and succeed at my
YouTube channel.

Have any questions? Drop me an email at: contact@futureversity.io

Anna

Futureversity.io | contact@futureversity.io | Singapore

© Copyright 2022 FutureVersity. All Rights Reserved.