In late 2014, my partner Paul and I realized something. We both considered ourselves to be “product people” — both of us working in product roles at two different companies in Northeast Ohio. But we both felt… a bit lost. I’d love to tell you that from the minute we had “Product” in our titles, we were the most confident, knowledgable, insightful product managers that ever graced Slack channels. But, the reality was far from that.
We both confided in each other that we felt like we were “faking” it. Sure, our employers were happy with our work. And we were producing great products that our respected customers appreciated (and even better, paying for!). But we both felt like there was so much to learn as product people, and neither of us was sure where to start. We both traded some helpful resources we’d find online every now and then. But what really helped us both were our conversations about becoming better product people. Running ideas by each other. Offering feedback to each other as peers. Finding and sharing talks of product leaders we respected.
Then it clicked for Paul and me: What if we could create this type of collaboration among product people? What if we could create a place where this happened at scale?
Fast forward a bit… and we created that very place with INDUSTRY: The Product Conference in the Fall of 2015. 300+ product people came from 20+ states and several countries to be among their peers, learn from the likes of Nir Eyal and others, and find some inspiration to be a better product person. INDUSTRY continues to grow, with 1,300 attending in 2019.
We wanted to find a way to keep up the kind of collaboration we saw at INDUSTRY going all year long. So with that, we’re really proud to share a way for product people to learn, connect, and find inspiration from other product people all year round:
Join the Product Collective community.
The premise is simple: By becoming a member of Product Collective, you can access information and a network that can help you become a better product person.
- Take in fresh, informative product-specific content through our weekly newsletter.
- Learn from product practitioners during our monthly Product Interviews.
- Connect with other product people in our invite-only Slack community.
- Receive member-only opportunities related to INDUSTRY: The Product Conference, where we meet each year.
We thought about what type of value a membership like this would have for a product person. After all, if somebody learned just one thing they could implement in a given year during one of our webinars or posts, and it made an appreciable impact — a $500/year membership could be considered a value. We really believe that.
Even still, we decided on a price tag that we both felt strongly about: $0
We decided this not because of the value we’re delivering or even affordability. But really, we have one goal: To build the strongest community of product people in the world. If we can build up this community, we really believe that we, as a collective group, can shape the way that modern product management is practiced. And for that reason, we want to make it as easy as possible for other product people to join us in helping achieve that.
Does this sound like something you want to be a part of? Join Product Collective today!
