Roles and teams
Head of product
Also calledVP of product, Chief product officer, CPO
The leader who owns product strategy for the whole company, the operating model the product org works by, and the hiring bar for every PM.
The head of product spends most of the week on strategy, the people in the product org and the relationship with the CEO and other executives. Their job is to make sure the company invests in the right bets and that product has a real voice in those decisions.
In an early company the founder usually holds this role. A dedicated head of product tends to appear once there are enough product managers to need a function, not just a team.
Common mistake
Still writing specs because the team is thin. Every hour spent there is an hour not spent on strategy, hiring or the leadership team.