Welcome to episode #18 of IoT Product Leadership, a podcast featuring in-depth conversations with product leaders on what it takes to build great IoT products. I’m your host, Daniel Elizalde. 

 

I have a very insightful show for you today. My guest is Jim Semick, Co-Founder and Strategy Officer at ProductPlan.

 

Jim is a seasoned Product Leader with experience in startups and large corporations alike. He is recognized as a Product Management Thought Leader, not only because he is the co-founder of ProductPlan, one of the most prominent Product Roadmap software companies out there, but also because he is passionate about sharing best practices and pushing the Product profession forward.

 

In this episode, Jim shares valuable advice on how to manage the innovation process. We discuss his approach for validating your hypothesis, defining business models, and gaining support within your organization.   

 

I learned a lot by talking to Jim in this episode, so if you are launching a new product within a startup or even within a large organization, I’m sure you’ll find Jim’s advice to be very valuable and actionable. 

 

 

About Jim Semick: 

 

Jim is passionate about software product management and designing successful business models. For over 15 years he has helped validate and launch innovative software products that are used today by millions of people. Prior to founding ProductPlan, Jim was part of the founding team at AppFolio, a vertical SaaS company (IPO 2015), helping develop multiple products. Prior to AppFolio, he validated and launched GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting, and GoToWebinar (acquired by Citrix).

 

 

About ProductPlan:

 

ProductPlan makes it easy for teams of all sizes to build beautiful roadmaps. Thousands of product managers worldwide–including teams from Nike, Microsoft and Spotify–trust ProductPlan to help them visualize and share their strategies across their entire organization. With our intuitive features, product managers spend less time building roadmaps and more time shipping products.

 

 

Topics we discuss in this episode:

 

• Jim shares his background and about ProductPlan.
• ProductPlan’s approach to IoT solutions.
• How to approach market validation.
• The dos and don’ts of interviewing customers.
• How to develop the monetization strategy for a new product.
• Why companies should create a separate team to validate and build a new product idea.
• How to get internal buy-in within your organization.
• Advice for Product Leaders who are new at developing IoT solutions.

 

To learn more about Jim and ProductPlan:

 

• ProductPlan
• Jim on LinkedIn
• On Twitter @jimsemick
• ProductPlan Blog