One of the SaaS blogs I read recently made a point that’s quietly shaking the industry: the traditional SaaS exit playbook—the one where you grow to $20–50M ARR and wait for a buyer—isn’t working anymore. For years, that model was predictable. Build a solid B2B SaaS product, hit your growth targets, maintain decent unit economics, and either private equity or a strategic acquirer would show up. It was a well-understood game. That game has changed. In the first half of 2025, o

Every decently-run company tracks technical debt. Fewer track the debt that really limits growth: product debt. Product debt is what happens when features outlive their usefulness but stay anyway. When the product gets cluttered with exceptions, edge cases, and “just one more toggle” requests. It’s what happens when your product no longer reflects your strategy. The symptoms: Customers using 20% of the product but paying for 100%. Internal teams unsure which version is “right

Every CEO has been there: your biggest deal is on the line, and the prospect needs “just one feature. ”You look at the product team and say, “Can we make it happen?” They do — and it works. But a few months later, that feature becomes an orphan, your roadmap’s off track, and the product team’s sprint cadence now follows your top five accounts. You’ve crossed a subtle but dangerous line: your product team has become your sales team. This is one of the most common patterns in

The myth of product innovation is that it starts with brilliant brainstorms. In reality, your best product ideas usually start with your...

AI is everywhere in SaaS right now. But the winners won’t be the fastest to ship flashy AI features. They’ll be the ones who earn trust....

Budget season is here, and for many CEOs—especially those in private equity–backed software companies—the big question isn’t whether to...

In too many companies, the relationship between “the business” and “IT” looks less like strategy and more like pizza delivery. The...

Every CEO has seen it: the big roadmap slide in a quarterly board meeting. Rows of features, delivery timelines, maybe even a color-coded...

High-visibility moment:  SaaS leader Confluent  recently faced a steep stock drop—despite beating quarterly estimates—because their cloud...

Most great products begin the same way: with a founder who’s obsessed. They understand the customer inside and out. They make roadmap...

You’re planning the pit stops. But do you know where you’re actually going? In my experience the most common confusion in product teams...

In product teams, working through unavoidable ambiguity is part of the job. But ambiguity in hiring is something we can and should...

You may have heard "Product sense" used to describe high-performing PMs who just seem to “get it”—those who know when to push back, when...

In today’s SaaS landscape, capital efficiency is the new growth at all costs. For product companies navigating late-stage or growth-stage...

Product teams are typically pulled in every direction and can do far too many things and none of them well. When product teams struggle,...

Ever been asked by a board member "So when is the product done ?" or, what they really mean, "When is this spend over and we get to enjoy...

As CEO, you rely on your product team to drive clarity, prioritize smartly, and build the right things. But here’s a quiet risk in plain...

If you’ve ever thought, “Isn’t Agile just how Product Managers do their job?” then you’re not alone. The truth is, Product Management...

Like any function in a growth stage Product company, the product team frequently needs to wear multiple hats until growing revenue allows...

For some reason, even "Product" companies are not immune from the trap of covering product part-time. These are all real examples I've...