{"id":15463,"date":"2016-02-12T11:58:16","date_gmt":"2016-02-12T11:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/?p=15463"},"modified":"2016-02-18T11:40:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-18T11:40:03","slug":"so-why-did-we-start-a-summit-for-product-managers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/so-why-did-we-start-a-summit-for-product-managers\/","title":{"rendered":"So, Why Did We Start a Summit for Product Managers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last year, my friend and now partner, Paul, and I did something that’s not exactly an easy feat. \u00a0We launched a national summit for product managers<\/a> (and other “product people”) essentially from scratch. \u00a0In fact, it was about this time of year in 2015 when Paul and I made the decision that we were “just going to do it.” \u00a0Did we know that it would be a success? \u00a0No way. \u00a0In fact, the reality was we had no idea if it could all work out.<\/p>\n

The result?<\/p>\n

We saw 250 people from 21 states and 7 countries make their way out to Cleveland, Ohio to give our first-year conference a shot. \u00a0I had personally never been to a single place that had more Product Managers, VP’s of Product, and other folks in product roles all converged in one single place. \u00a0Truth be told, Paul and I weren’t even sure if it would be a one-and-done conference — or if we’d continue it on. \u00a0But after Industry<\/a> 2015, the emails started to pour in. \u00a0People were interested in what next<\/em> year would be like. \u00a0Some even asked how they could buy tickets now<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong, we knew that we had a ton to improve on. \u00a0Before we left the venue, we all had ideas on how to make the 2016 experience even more special. \u00a0But the fact is, it didn’t take long for Paul and me (along with Rebecca and everyone else who rolled up their sleeves to make Industry<\/a> happen)\u00a0to realize that we were really onto something.<\/p>\n

But, why<\/em>? \u00a0Why did the world need a product summit taking place here in the Midwest? \u00a0Why did it matter to us<\/em>?<\/p>\n

I’m sure that Paul can share his own story, but for me — it all started with a death. \u00a0The death of eFuneral. \u00a0In fact, eFuneral was a startup that I co-founded and ran for 3 years with another partner. \u00a0It was an amazing experience, and we did help a lot of people. \u00a0But in the end, we ultimately failed.<\/a><\/p>\n

After eFuneral officially wound up, I remember asking myself: \u00a0Now, what? \u00a0What does a founder with a former startup under his belt do when the doors of that startup finally close? \u00a0One option is to start another company. \u00a0And some of my investors had encouraged me to do that, offering to back me in the process. \u00a0But I didn’t know what that startup<\/em> would be. \u00a0eFuneral was born because of a pain that my family experienced that was so deep, I just had to be the one to bring the solution to light. \u00a0I didn’t have another pain like to solve for, at least not yet.<\/p>\n

Then, I started getting emails from people saying that their company needed “somebody like me.” \u00a0After meeting with them, I realized that they saw me as an ideal “product person.” \u00a0Somebody that can navigate complicated waters, work cohesively with all sorts of different types of people, and ultimately — deliver on promises. \u00a0That’s what I did as a founder — and that’s what they felt they needed in a product role.<\/p>\n

Soon after, I accepted my first challenge post-eFuneral as Director of Product Strategy for a sports and entertainment ticketing technology company.<\/p>\n

I remember receiving the offer, accepting the role, and promptly Googling: \u00a0What does a Director of Product Strategy Do?<\/p>\n

I wasn’t exactly expecting to find the answers. \u00a0I knew I’d figure it out in due time. \u00a0But I was hoping I’d be able to find great blogs, interesting books, places to meet other “product people” like me, and other forms of content that might help me accelerate the loads of learning I was about to do.<\/p>\n

And I did find all of those things. \u00a0But when it came\u00a0to events specifically designed for Product Managers, there was really a big void. \u00a0Some cities had their own smaller meetups. \u00a0And there were a couple of conferences that looked interesting — but unsurprisingly, they were thousands of miles away from me in San Francisco. \u00a0And yes, there are other tech conferences. \u00a0Lots of other tech conferences. \u00a0But I was a bit discouraged that none of those were specifically designed for me<\/em>. \u00a0A product person living here in the Midwest.<\/p>\n

Soon thereafter, when I met up with Paul for lunch about a local startup event that he had just established (which I spoke at), we got to talking. \u00a0What if we thought bigger<\/em>? \u00a0What if this didn’t have to be a local<\/em> event? \u00a0What does the world really need<\/em> in another event?<\/p>\n

I found myself getting genuinely excited about the massive undertaking we would have to go through. \u00a0At one level, I have a soft spot for creating things out of essentially nothing. \u00a0But the task of creating Industry<\/a> was more than that, to me. \u00a0I consider myself to be a curious learner. \u00a0And now, I could have a front-row seat learning from the best product minds in the world. \u00a0Some view me as a connector, and it’s true that I get a lot of joy from connecting two people that could benefit from meeting each other. \u00a0This was now an opportunity to be that connector on a massive scale. \u00a0Who knows? \u00a0Perhaps at Industry<\/a>, somebody might find their next opportunity. \u00a0Somebody could find a co-founder. \u00a0Somebody may get interest from an investor.<\/p>\n

Fast forward to today:<\/p>\n

We just recently announced that registration is open for Industry 2016<\/a>. \u00a0We’re already at registration levels of where we were last July — so yes, things have certainly accelerated for us. \u00a0But the reality is, the rest of the year will<\/em> be a lot of work. \u00a0It will be a lot of early mornings, late nights, and uncertainty leading up to “showtime.” \u00a0I’m confident that this year’s Industry<\/a> will be the best product-focused event that anybody in the Midwest (and okay, I’ll say it… the entire U.S. and possibly the world) could go to. \u00a0But in order to make an event like this happen, it takes a lot of passion, perseverance, and a little bit of love.<\/p>\n

So why\u00a0are we doing this?<\/p>\n

In short, the next time that a Product Manager, VP of Product, Product Strategy type, or anybody\u00a0else like that\u00a0goes online and searches for a place for “product people”\u00a0— I’d love nothing more than for that person\u00a0to find Industry<\/a> and know that they have now have a home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last year, my friend and now partner, Paul, and I did something that’s not exactly an easy feat. \u00a0We launched a national summit for product managers (and other “product people”) essentially from scratch. \u00a0In fact, it was about this time of year in 2015 when Paul and I made the decision that we were “just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nSo, Why Did We Start a Summit for Product Managers? - Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/so-why-did-we-start-a-summit-for-product-managers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"So, Why Did We Start a Summit for Product Managers? 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