Welcome to ProductFTW: a unique newsletter about product management in technology startups. ProductFTW is exclusively advice about how to get shit done because, in the end, product management is about shipping valuable software. Everything else is noise.

We want to help product leaders be successful by giving realistic approaches that aren’t for giant tech companies. We know you don’t have a full-time product designer on each team. We know your software probably hasn’t been used by millions of people worldwide–yet. We’re here to bridge the content gap from building your product and team to scaling it.

Some Background

In 2020, I started CardsFTW, a newsletter on all things related to payment cards. My friend and colleague Peter had told me to stop sharing my thoughts on an internal Slack channel and start sharing with the world. 

I didn’t think much would come of it, but today, it has more than 2,000 subscribers and has led to meaningful conversations, relationships, and business deals.

When I started Totavi in the spring of 2023, my goal was to build a sustainable and affordable consulting business, primarily for startups, that would help them conquer their product challenges. While the majority of our business is in fintech, it isn’t all we do–with a substantial portion of our revenue coming from non-fintech products and executive coaching.

Our clients often ask us for product-related advice, but offering quick references is challenging because they don’t align with our viewpoint or are unrelatable as a startup. We noticed there is a content gap.

Our Goals for ProductFTW

We have an awesome team of voices that will be contributing to ProductFTW. Ellen, Zach, Jessica, and I first worked together as a team at Bankrate. I was the Chief Product Officer, and this trio represented the best three product managers. Since then, we have been fortunate to reunite at Apto (all four of us) and Totavi (sorry, no Zach). Now, we are reuniting to put this together with much more experience than when we met almost a decade ago.

We will write about realistic approaches to products that aren’t for giant tech companies. We know you don’t have a full-time product designer on each team. We know your software probably hasn’t been used by millions of people worldwide yet. Those are great environments and have their challenges.

We will write about our experiences as founders, the first (or only) product people at a company. We’ll share our favorite stories. We’ll talk about building a product org or rebooting an organization. We’ll also share our failures. It should be fun(ny).

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