Product Lead Growth (PLG) It’s more about the mindset of the company than about the product. There’s a lot a company needs to do to succeed with a PLG strategy, and hiring product managers isn’t enough—it can’t even be the first step. However, having the ability to attract the right talent is critical.
For product development to become commonplace in cybersecurity, there must be sufficient product talent with the right mindset and maturity level required for PLG. However, cybersecurity is a deeply specialized discipline, so while specialized security knowledge is not mandatory, it can help ease the learning curve.
There is a fundamental challenge in hiring product managers in cyber security who have experience working with PLG. The inherent complexity of cyber security makes it difficult for outsiders to quickly gain ground. Companies understand that, so by default they tend to hire product managers with experience working in backend or security. And, product managers with cybersecurity experience often lack experience building an effective product culture or working in PLG companies in general.
It’s common to see cybersecurity startups trying to do two things at once. On the one hand, they understand that being smart, efficient and innovative is the only way to succeed. They want to embrace product-driven growth, try new ways to get in front of customers, and build a strong culture focused on adding value and solving tough problems.
Shortening the time to value seems to be the same regardless of the industry – don’t be fooled by the “15 years experience” argument.
On the other hand, they value industry experience, so they start hiring product, sales, and marketing professionals from large enterprise companies who come with preconceived notions of “how the industry works and what it takes to build/sell products.”
PLG is not what you get if you hire more experienced people from reputable cyber security enterprises. You will find the company.
Where to find product leaders who are passionate about PLG
We need to break our hiring habit to see more PLG startups in cyber security. Here are a few practical ways to do this.
Hiring people with no background in security
If you choose to hire only people with cybersecurity product management experience, you’re limiting your options to people who have worked at the large enterprises you’re trying to disrupt. Why do you think you should innovate after joining your startup?
While a strong understanding of security is essential for many technical product management roles, problem areas such as product adoption, activation, engagement and retention can certainly be handled by product leaders with experience in other industries.
