The 7 Pillars of Exceptional Product Strategy

Aakash Gupta
2 min readOct 3, 2024

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What separates successful product leaders from the rest?

Having a great strategy.

Here’s how you can build one that drives results, starting from Day 1.

This is the masterful approach of Ed Biden:

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗘𝗫𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗟𝗬 𝗜𝗦 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗚𝗬

What it isn’t — It’s not just deciding what you’ll work on or a list of tasks or ideas.

What it actually is — it’s about creating clarity and a game plan for driving the most value to users while maximizing the company’s goals.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟭: 𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗘 𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗚𝗬

3 core elements to ensure your strategy is foolproof for greater success:

1. Laser Focus
↳ Know what you will not do. Saying no to distractions is more important than you think.

2. High-Impact Work
↳ Follow the 80/20 principle. Focus on a small number of projects that deliver the most value to users and the company.

3. Synergy Matters
↳ The best product strategies combine efforts where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Your focus should be on the things that support the whole ecosystem.

If you want to read a full breakdown of these steps and access resources (cheat sheets, Miro boards, and more), check out the deep-dive.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟮: 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗚𝗬 𝗜𝗡 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗦 — 𝟭 𝗗𝗔𝗬, 𝟭 𝗪𝗘𝗘𝗞, 𝟭 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛

Creating a strategy doesn’t have to take months. In fact, product leaders often build them incrementally:

1 Day | Snap Strategy
↳ Start with a simple structure of what your strategy could look like. Focus on key objectives, users, and the first steps to test.

1 Week | Working Hypothesis
↳ Build that initial structure into a narrative you can test with stakeholders. Don’t go for perfection; use early feedback to refine and adjust your approach.

1 Month | Product Strategy
↳ Now, take your lessons, refine your plan, and upgrade them into a fully-fledged strategy.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝟯: 𝟳 𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗣𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗 𝗔 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗧 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗚𝗬

  1. Objective
    ↳ Define the core problem you’re solving and the impact it will have on users and the company.
  2. Users
    ↳ What are your target users’ needs and pain points? Make sure everything is perfectly aligned with what they want.
  3. Superpowers
    ↳ Figure out where you can create unique value and leverage your strengths to fill the gaps.
  4. Vision
    ↳ Ensure what you’re building gives you crystal clarity of what the future would look like for your users and the company.
  5. Pillars
    ↳ Identify the big initiatives that will move you closer to your vision.
  6. Impact
    ↳ Every initiative must be aligned with the whole ecosystem — users, stakeholders, growth, and more.
  7. Roadmap
    ↳ Plan out the next steps and create a clear roadmap for measuring progress.

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Aakash Gupta
Aakash Gupta

Written by Aakash Gupta

Helping PMs, product leaders, and product aspirants succeed

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