 Hello everyone. I'm Namrata Rao and I'm here to talk to you today about how does product management, especially in the B2B space, differ between small enterprises and large enterprises. Without further ado, let me share the agenda with you today. The agenda for today starts with first my introduction. I'll talk to you about my journey that has led me to even talk about this topic. Then it will be the peeling the onion process, if you will. I'll start off with talking about what does B2B even mean. And then move on to talking through how does product management really fit in and what changes between a small and a large enterprise within B2B. Moving on, I'll be talking through to you about my learnings along the way and finishing it off with some of the key takeaways that you can probably take from here to your workplace. With that, let me start by talking through who am I. I'm Namrata Rao. I was born and raised back home in India. I completed my undergraduate in engineering there in the field of computer science. Post that began my journey as a QA engineer. And while working as a QA engineer, I wanted to expand my knowledge further and also expand my territory, if you will, in terms of the different cultures in different countries and what does that look like. This led me to Bristol. At Bristol, I completed my master's in wireless communications and then went on to a company there that was later acquired by Intel to work as their consultant. And this was in the mobile cloud computing space. Moving on when I landed in Singapore, I wanted to try out something new. That led me to two things. One, joining a startup and two, having a venture of my own. Both of these experiences really shaped me to get more inclined towards getting into a space that would let me bring in my technical knowledge and business acumen together to serve customer needs. At that moment, I didn't know what this area was called. Landing then in US, especially in the Silicon Valley, got me to this space called product management. I started my journey back in a startup here called Comfy. It began as an engineering manager, but quickly it moved to the space I wanted to be in product management. Most of my experiences that I'll be talking through to you today, especially working in a small enterprise with stem from my experience back at Comfy. Moving on, I've been working at many of the mid to large enterprises there is we were Cruz JLL. It has really shaped my experiences and shaped me even as a B2B product manager to be talking to you about this topic. So without further ado, let me start with the most basic of it all. What is B2B? Now, all of you here who are attending this session, of course, know that B2B is business to business B2C is business to consumer. And the other one that has come up in lieu of all the other models that have come up is B2B to C, which is business to business to consumer. Now, although there are so many other models in in market today. The B2B and B2C is most widely spoken of. And just as their names here, the crux remains very simple. There is a business that's offering a product and or service to another business, or there is a business that's offering a product and or service to a consumer directly. As with product management, it always starts with customer. So the last X, if you will, of whether it's a B or a C shapes who the customers. And what does it look like when we talk about B2B or B2C. So when you think of B2B, the companies in this space are HP Enterprise or AWS. When you think of B2C, then there are companies like Uber. And why do these companies fall in either of these. Let me talk you through a significant example keeping customer in focus. So in a B2B model, similar to an AWS, Amazon has AWS. And they are a business who are now selling AWS to another business. And when they're selling to another business that business is now comprising of their customer, who is going to make the buying decision based on a sales process that involves a lot of components going through it. And plus that decision is made in tandem with what their model looks like, what they are looking for and how they are trying to solve the need for their customer. So the approach here is different. And the way the customer manages or makes those decisions are very different. But at the same time, if you look at a B2C company like an Uber. There, we are I as a user and making individually the decision, first of all, to use Uber versus the other right sharing apps that exist. And when I make that decision, I'm making that decision most often, or, you know, even impulsively in cases of say Uber eats when I have to get something delivered to my home. There is some calculation you might argue but it's not as much as probably in the case of a business when they are making an investment. This is where the approach to customer and how a customer makes a decision really matters. You might think, why is this so important for a product manager when there are so many other aspects that we can talk about in terms of difference between a B2B and a B2C. This is really critically important because knowing how your customer operates is what is going to define how we as product managers not only build the product but make sure it reaches out to our customers in the best way possible. And the interesting thing here that you will see me talk through is how this is the main factor that changes things between a small enterprise and a large enterprise. There are many other aspects here than the three that I have mentioned, which will play to how product management differs between these two landscapes. These three are critical because they form the foundation. So what do I mean by that? For example, when I joined Comfy and became their product manager, it was a startup and it was one of the few times that they even had a product manager. Given this, there was no set process, even to the case of how a product requirement is written or what goes into a product requirement. How does that process work end to end for building and collaboration? We always continuously evolved on how those requirements are written, how the communication goes, who needs to be involved when it was a journey as we went along. And this not only showed up in product requirements, it was also part of up until the point of launch, which cross functional team gets involved. How do we communicate what is the usefulness or impact of that product? Who do we get in touch with? How do we get the word out? What goes into it? What are the different components? There's all a journey as it is in a startup. Whereas when I came to large enterprises like WeWork and JLL, there was machinery in place, if you will. Because at that point, these companies have been at it for a really long time. And they have set templates, set processes, set of expertise and people involved who know who have done it many a times before. And it's all about knowing and following that process to be able to do it. And that's one of the primary differences where things pre-exist versus where things need to be put into place, put into motion and knowledge sharing needs to be done to make it concrete. And this then conveniently permeates into the role of ownership too. And you might wonder how. So it simply comes down to this. At Comfy, we had a principal product offering, which was a mobile app. And then there was an insights product that would go with it. Whereas when I came to WeWork or even JLL for that matter, there are a suite of products. And I am either responsible for a particular portion of a product or only a single product out of the mammoth range that they have to offer to the customers. So in this case, what then happens is your scope changes. And depending on what your scope looks like, the kind of ownership that you have here is also different. So for example, at Comfy, whenever there was a launch or when we knew what we are offering to a customer was the single point of contact. And I would know everything about it. What the product does, what is the way we get to market? How are we trying to find product market fit? What are the offerings? How do they work together? How do customers use it? Everything. But when I came down to JLL for example, my product was just a piece of the puzzle. So I was centered around what my offering is and how does my product work in integration or in lieu with other products that JLL has to offer. But then I am not the owner or have complete end to end knowledge about the other products that is required to work with mine. That's where I am collaborating with other experts, other owners or other product managers to even take my product to the market. And that's the difference in ownership that comes along between a small and a large enterprise. This then, you know, definitely gets into the impact piece too. Because as evidently, it can be seen when you are a startup, the product offering that you have is catering to a small set of users. So you are solving a specific problem really deep because that is your only product offering. I guess comfy, we were offering the mobile app that would let employees in their workplace manage everything. Whether it be temperature, lighting, booking meeting rooms, all the aspects. And that was the product offering. And it had this well-bodied set of things. And we had few users and few set of customers that it was catering to. So at that point, as a product manager, there is a lot of depth into that. But in terms of the coverage, it is not as much. The tables just turn when you get to a large enterprise. As I said at JLL, it was I was managing only a single product in line with others that were going with it. So although I was managing only a certain section, which dealt with portfolios. The other aspects that had to do with analytics or any other grounding platforms, backend platforms, it was being managed by somebody else. But we would go together as a package and the range and the number of customers that JLL has ranges in huge numbers. And that again changes the way a product manager talks about the impact that my contribution brings. So the individual contribution in a startup would be often knowledge domain and aspects in the buck stops there as always. But the reach is not so much. There is although it's the other way around in the large enterprises, the impact seems larger just given the numbers. So what did this all lead to? This led to some of these learnings where it was evident that some of the product management aspects that we've been hearing and implementing all along still stays true. It just needs to be tweaked a little bit. And what do I mean by that? For example, you need to know your customer. It's basic. It's a ground rule. But to my earlier point, it is important to understand the business aspect of it on how to reach the customer and how to make sure that your product gets out there in front of them. So for example, at Comfy, we had a single product and that involved making sure that, you know, I really knew my customer. There were also times when there was a direct line with the customer that I had, it could solve point issues or work with other teams real time to solve their problems. And that's what comes across when you're in a startup. And when you go to a large enterprise, it's a different strategy altogether. If I am looking at launching the same product, then it's not just enough for me to know a single customer or a set of customers that I am going after. It is about the breadth and the different channels that I need to look into. Whether it be go to market channels, route to market, what is the attached strategy for the product so that I can increase the run rate of the business. These are all the aspects that comes through in terms of the business and the product that I need to look at when I'm going, say, with a JLL or a V work versus a Comfy. So the fact that there is a single product and the number of customers that you have that ratio and how you deal with it, the approach changes when you have a portfolio suite of products and you have a lot more customers with a well oiled machinery within your organization to go with. And this machinery is what brings me to the last point of the team. Of course, you need to know your team, but the aspects of what does know your team mean. Again, tweaks a little bit between a small and a large enterprise. I always joke around that if you can't see it, then you're doing it in a product management world in a small enterprise, because you're not going to have an expert for every function. For example, product marketer is not a common thing in a startup. Then you are taking up that role. And if you're lucky enough to have a marketing person, a dedicated marketing person or even a team, then you're kind of sharing that responsibility with them and figuring out as you go on on how to go about this. In a large organization, you really must not be doing it. It's actually considered a failure if you're doing that because you have a specific role, you have a specific expertise. And as a product manager, my job is to focus on that. If I need a product marketer or if I need legal advice, then there are experts and I need to leverage their expertise to get it done. And that's why they exist. And that's why the way the organization works and is structured that I need to make use of it. So the mindset that you bring to the table definitely changes on where you're placed. So as we end our session today, I hope you can have these three key takeaways that would help you at your workplace. The first is just knowing the basic that yes, definitely B2B is what it sounds. It is selling your product and services to the other businesses. And as product managers, we are building products for those customers who are placed in as another business. And we are here to solve their problems and their needs. And between that itself in small and large enterprises, there are certain nuances for PMs like us that should be in the forefront. And the three aspects there as I discussed before is around the processes. Do you need to set it up in a small enterprise or do you need to figure out what that is in a large enterprise and make sure you follow it through. Leverage the people around you who are experts to help you build your product and take it to the market and help customers solve their needs. Or do you need to step up and take ownership of things end to end so that things move along. There's a sum of the mindset changes and nuances that you need to look into as a product manager. Last but not the least always remember that the basics of product management remain the same. We're here for the customer customer is always coming in first and solving their problems and providing them with impactful solutions and services is paramount. How we approach it is what makes the difference. As you leave the session today. I wanted to share with you some of the things that have helped me along this journey. Of course, everyone here must be aware of this really popular book by Marty Kagan inspired. Some of the aspects there that really helped me was when he brings about examples, even between B2B and B2C and the nuances there. And that really speaks to some of the things that even I have mentioned today and have noticed in my experience. The effective executive although is a much popular leadership book. I think it definitely applies to product managers, because we are leaders in our own right for the product that we build. And this lays out some practical suggestions that we can definitely take in in our day to day experiences. And last but not the least is this hugely popular podcast how I built this. Again, I know the focus here is on entrepreneurs and how they built their businesses. But there are points there which really strokes the entrepreneurial mindset of a product manager. It can definitely be helpful and be used in our function. I hope you had a good session today and can continue to stay in touch with my Twitter handle. Until we meet again. Have a great day.