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Head of Product

Definition

Head of Product is the senior leader who owns the product management function at a company, most commonly at startups and scaleups between 50 and 500 employees. The role combines hands-on product strategy work with team building: defining the product vision, hiring and developing PMs, and establishing the processes that the product org runs on.

At this company stage, the Head of Product is often the first (and sometimes only) product executive. They report directly to the CEO and are the primary voice for "what should we build and why" in the leadership team. Unlike a CPO at a large company who delegates most execution, a Head of Product at a 100-person company is still in the details -- reviewing specs, talking to customers weekly, and occasionally writing PRDs themselves.

The role is distinct from Director of Product (who manages PMs within one area) in that the Head of Product sets direction for the entire product. It is distinct from VP of Product primarily in naming convention: European and smaller US companies tend to use "Head of," while larger US companies prefer "VP of."

Why It Matters for Product Managers

The Head of Product sets the culture and operating model for how product management works at the company. They decide whether teams use dual-track agile or shape-up, whether PMs own metrics or just features, and whether discovery is a real practice or a checkbox.

For PMs reporting to a Head of Product, this person is your advocate in leadership discussions. A strong Head of Product fights for PM involvement in strategic decisions, secures resources for discovery, and shields teams from executive whiplash. A weak one becomes a roadmap relay -- passing CEO demands to PMs without pushback or prioritization.

For PMs aspiring to this role, the transition is significant. You stop being measured by your product's metrics and start being measured by your team's collective output. The best Heads of Product hire PMs who are better than themselves in specific domains and create the conditions for those PMs to do their best work.

How It Works in Practice

  • Define product strategy -- Translate the company's business goals into a product strategy. Decide which user problems to solve, in what order, and how to measure success. Present this to the CEO, board, and the whole company.
  • Build the PM team -- Hire PMs, define roles, and establish the career ladder. At a 100-person company, this might mean going from 0 to 3 PMs in year one. Structure the team around product areas, not features.
  • Establish processes -- Decide how roadmapping works, how priorities are set, how cross-functional teams communicate, and how success is measured. The best Heads of Product create lightweight systems that scale as the company grows.
  • Stakeholder management -- Spend 30-40% of your time with sales, customer success, engineering leadership, and the CEO. Manage the tension between customer requests, technical constraints, and strategic bets.
  • Stay close to users -- Even at this level, maintain a regular cadence of customer conversations (at least 4-5 per month). Your strategic decisions are only as good as your understanding of user problems.

    • Common Pitfalls

  • Trying to be the PM for every product. The hardest transition is moving from "I make the product decisions" to "I make the decisions about who makes the product decisions." Delegate product ownership to your PMs and focus on coaching and strategy.
  • Over-hiring too fast. Adding 5 PMs before you have clear product areas creates confusion. Start with 1-2 senior PMs, give them real ownership, and only hire more when you have distinct problem spaces that need dedicated attention.
  • Neglecting upward management. Your CEO has strong product opinions. If you do not proactively share your strategy and reasoning, the CEO will fill the vacuum with their own product ideas, undermining your team's autonomy.
  • Building process before understanding the team. Do not impose a framework (OKRs, sprint ceremonies, discovery cadence) before understanding how the team currently works and where the real pain points are. Process should solve observed problems, not theoretical ones.

    • Related Concepts

  • Chief Product Officer (CPO) -- the executive-level role that Head of Product often evolves into as the company scales past 500 employees
  • PM Career Ladder -- the progression framework a Head of Product is responsible for establishing
  • Product Strategy -- the primary output a Head of Product is accountable for delivering

    • Related Terms

    Chief Product Officer (CPO)PM Career LadderProduct Strategy

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is the difference between Head of Product and VP of Product?+
    At most companies, the titles are interchangeable -- both refer to the person running the PM team. 'Head of Product' is more common at startups and European companies, while 'VP of Product' is more common at US companies with 500+ employees. The key difference is usually company stage, not role scope. At larger companies that have both, the VP typically reports to a CPO and owns a business unit, while Head of Product implies broader scope with a smaller team.
    When should a startup hire a Head of Product?+
    Usually between 30-80 employees, when the CEO can no longer be the de facto PM for every decision. The trigger is typically 2-3 product teams needing coordination, a roadmap that requires tradeoffs across competing priorities, or a CEO who is spending more than 40% of their time on product decisions that a senior PM should own.
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