My goal as a coach is to help you succeed as a product leader

I act chiefly as a trusted partner to support your decisions, challenges and growth, but I also offer direct “been there, done that” guidance and templates when appropriate.

In other words, I try to balance your development as a product leader with pragmatic advice that helps you simply get sh*t done faster, right now.

How coaching works

Following a free exploratory call to assess fit, every coaching engagement begins with an initial assessment — I ask you to complete a detailed questionnaire as part of this process — followed by a kickoff call to agree on your most important product-related needs and priorities.

We then use recurring weekly coaching sessions to review and drive progress on those priorities, and new priorities that emerge, while reserving a bit of time each week to discuss whatever else is on your mind.

I also budget time for targeted follow-up work between sessions.

Focus areas

Every client’s needs are different, but common priorites include:

Strategic context

  • Product Vision

  • Product Strategy

  • Product OKRs

  • Path to product-market fit

People

  • designing team size, structure and capabilities

  • job descriptions, interview plans, onboarding

  • coaching and managing product people

Stakeholder collaboration

  • relationship between product and “the business”

  • working with go-to-market teams

  • executive team alignment & decision-making

Discovery practices

  • opportunity prioritization & framing

  • customer interviewing

  • prototyping

Personal effectiveness & balance

  • Time management & focus

  • Co-founder relationships

Moving to the product operating model

  • change management

  • almost everything else on this page :)

I work on a monthly retainer basis (minimum commitment of one quarter), which includes:

  • Weekly 1-hr coaching sessions

  • Targeted follow-up work between sessions (approximately 2 hours/month)

  • Unlimited emails

Engagement Structure

  • “It felt like all upside. I never felt like it wasn't a good match or good use of my time, even though I was often completely jammed with meetings. There were times I wish I had carved out more time before meetings to sharpen my thoughts, share more docs, etc. But even then, it felt valuable.”

    Co-Founder & CEO, post-Series A SaaS

  • “I think the biggest benefit has been having someone who speaks my language and is outside my org to support me. Josh takes the place of a CPO or senior leader I would be reporting to in terms of guidance and development, as there is no one above me who has formally done product management…Josh can speak authoritatively on both tactical and strategic topics of product management.”

    VP, Product, post-Series C B2B proptech SaaS company

  • “I thought that we would be mostly focusing on the process of finding PMF. But in reality, I think I've up-leveled my general-purpose product skills. In particular, the work we've done on Product Vision & Strategy was really valuable. This is something that I've always considered a strength of mine, and I didn't fully appreciate how I had another gear that I could reach here.”

    VP, Product, post-seed B2C AI-driven ecommerce

  • “I really appreciate the ad-hoc discussion and sounding board for items that are challenging and top of mind for me. Each time I've walked away with valuable insights and actions.”

    CPO, enterprise fintech

  • “Josh's mentorship, coaching and advice over the last decade has been instrumental in my development as a product leader and human being. His approachability and ability to provide critical feedback - without making it feel critical - has always motivated me to apply his guidance and actionable suggestions with enthusiasm. Because of his experience as an executive at early and growth stage tech companies, his product-specific (and more general) guidance was always a combination of both what I needed at the time and what I needed to think about moving forward. I will always be grateful for our conversations and relationship.”

    VP, Product, post-Series A B2C healthcare marketplace

  • “Josh is one of those rare talents: someone who has the big resume but also the humility to mentor with empathy. His ability to take complex, principles-driven concepts about how to build great software product and translate that into actionable guidance for product leaders just starting their journey is a special thing.”

    Jake Foster, Operating Partner, Technology, Level Equity