Avoiding the 'Feature Factory' Trap with Partho Ghosh

Innovation Talks

Partho Ghosh is a customer-centered, data-informed product executive and GM who specializes in B2B SaaS, MarTech, product-led growth, and creating measurable product processes that lead to efficient growth and market fit. He is the VP and Product & General Manager at SecurityScoreCard, the global leader in cybersecurity ratings, response, and resilience. He also serves as an advisor for OpenView, through which he advises on product-led growth. Before working at SecurityScoreCard, Partho served as a general manager for Hootsuite. Partho holds a Bachelor’s of Business Administration, Business Management from British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Partho joins me today to explore the “feature factory” trap and how having a clear product management lifecycle can help avoid it. He emphasizes the importance of future thinking in product management decisions, even when dealing with short-term revenue goals. He outlines his philosophy on product management and the “Build, Measure, Learn” principle. Partho also highlights the value of having a data-informed mindset and offers advice to product managers seeking leadership support.

“I’ve always used ‘feature factory’ in a negative connotation, but that might be unfair if you’re a scaling start-up. Founders need revenue growth, profitability, and to make ends meet.” - Partho Ghosh

This week on Innovation Talks:

● Partho’s background as a business analyst, his transition into product management, and diving into B2B SaaS

● The challenges of testing and validating the effectiveness of a free-to-sales motion in the self-serve space

● The importance of future-thinking in product management decisions

● Navigating organizational changes and cultural shifts

● Careers as marathons and the evolving nature of the professional journey

● The need for continuous learning in product management

● Embracing generative AI and how customer expectations around AI have changed

● The transformative nature of technological advancements

● Partho’s product development process and lifecycle

● The “Build, Measure, and Learn” philosophy

● The value of rooting decisions in data and why companies need to invest in analytics capabilities

● Experimentation beyond split testing

● Overcoming challenges in measurement and learning

● Allocating resources to data analysis and promoting a data-informed mindset

● The crucial role and challenges of collaboration within a product team

Resources Mentioned:

● Miro

● Figma

● Book: Testing Business Ideas: A Field Guide for Rapid Experimentation (The Strategyzer Series) by David J. Bland and Alexander Osterwalder

Connect with Partho Ghosh:

● SecurityScorecard

● SecurityScorecard on LinkedIn

● SecurityScorecard on Instagram

● SecurityScorecard on Facebook

● SecurityScorecard on Twitter

● Partho Ghosh on LinkedIn

This Podcast is brought to you by Sopheon

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