Artificial Intelligence is reshaping corporate power structures, thereby elevating the role of product managers. As a result, Fortune 1000 companies with CPOs have increased 10x in 3 years and are financially outperforming their peers. The CPO Alpha Effect is a powerful, data-backed framework showing why product leadership is now a leading indicator of outperformance.
AI is also compressing innovation cycles. Traditional signals for alpha such as sales traction, have become lagging indicators and waiting for them means missing the upside. But spotting product innovation is tricky. The future belongs to Product Investors who recognize value creation before it’s visible, and consistently yield 3x more outliers per fund. Put simply: Product is the new Alpha.
If you’re like the brilliant CEOs in our portfolio, your top priority is mastering your go-to-market (GTM) strategy. However, traditional GTM tactics like cold calling and email blasts are becoming obsolete. Today, few people answer desk phones, and AI-generated emails have overwhelmed inboxes, making it difficult to stand out.
So, how do you acquire enterprise customers when these channels fall short? The answer lies in leveraging your product as a distribution channel. Introduce a high-quality product into a community, and professionals will naturally refer it to one another. This approach is both effective and cost-efficient.
As traditional sales and marketing tactics struggle to keep up with changing consumer habits, product managers have taken center stage.
CPOs drive digital transformations
Budgets shift away from traditional buyers (CMO, CIO)
Enterprise sales now target CPOs as buyers
Budgets shift away from traditional buyers (CMO, CIO)
Traditional lead gen tactics are ineffective (call, email)
Enterprise sales now target CPOs as buyers
Product has emerged as a major distribution channel for the next generation of companies like Amplitude, DigitalOcean, Groq, and Canela. They invited us to invest and consider us one of their most valuable investors because we provide exclusive access to over 500,000 product managers through our phenomenal partnership with Products That Count, a non-profit dedicated to helping everyone build great products. This product ecosystem accelerates execution, increases sales, and attracts top-tier talent.
Take the Product Awards, which celebrate the best products based on months of meticulous research and insights from thousands of product
leaders. The 7th annual Product Awards boast over 9,000 nominations, a 10X increase in 5 years. This surge underscores that innovative, product- driven companies are unlocking unprecedented efficiency and productivity.
Company building has evolved dramatically, akin to the shift from on-prem to cloud two decades ago. Mastering the product-first approach can be transformative, unlocking new growth opportunities and providing a significant competitive advantage.
Get to know our Product Advisory Board and read about the crucial role of product in modern enterprise GTM strategies in our white paper.
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