Pm Product Strategy

---
name: pm-product-strategy
description: Product strategy frameworks for startup and product teams. Covers vision, competitive analysis (Porter, PESTLE), market sizing, SWOT, personas, BMC, Lean Canvas, pricing, PRD, and user stories.
---

# Product Strategy Skill

Consolidated product management frameworks from phuryn/pm-skills. Use this skill when developing product strategy, analyzing markets, building business models, or defining product vision.

## Product Vision

A compelling product vision answers: "How can we inspire people? What are we aspiring to achieve? What values do we uphold?"

### Characteristics of Effective Visions
- **Inspiring** — motivates teams toward genuine commitment
- **Achievable** — grounded in realistic resources and market conditions
- **Emotional** — creates meaningful connection with stakeholders
- **Memorable** — communicable in a single sentence

### Development Process
1. Review company mission, product information, and market landscape
2. Identify core problems being solved and for whom
3. Envision the ideal future state for customers and the organization
4. Draft 3-5 vision variations with different angles
5. Select the strongest option with clear rationale
6. Validate alignment with company values and market opportunities

Vision is a living statement that evolves with strategy. It is distinct from strategy, objectives, and roadmaps.

## Product Strategy Canvas

Develop strategy across nine dimensions:

1. **Vision** — inspiration, aspirational goals, core values
2. **Market Segments** — customer problems via Jobs to Be Done; identify initial target segments strategically
3. **Relative Costs** — position between cost optimization (Southwest model) and premium value (Starbucks model)
4. **Value Proposition** — "What before / How / What after" structure examining customer situations, solutions, outcomes, and competitive alternatives
5. **Trade-offs** — what the product explicitly will NOT pursue, creating strategic focus
6. **Key Metrics** — North Star Metric and quarterly One Metric That Matters (OMTM)
7. **Growth** — acquisition strategy, scaling approach, unit economics
8. **Capabilities** — required competencies, build vs. partner decisions
9. **Defensibility** — network effects, switching costs, IP, market entry barriers

Validate strategy through hypothesis identification and low-effort experiments. Revise quarterly.

## Market Sizing (TAM / SAM / SOM)

### Seven-Step Framework
1. **Market Definition** — establish boundaries, customer segments, geography
2. **Top-Down Estimation** — narrow from total industry size using available data
3. **Bottom-Up Estimation** — build from unit economics to cross-validate
4. **SAM Scoping** — identify realistically serviceable portion of TAM
5. **SOM Estimation** — achievable share over 1-3 years based on competitive position
6. **Growth Projection** — forecast market evolution with drivers and trends
7. **Assumption Mapping** — surface and validate underlying assumptions

### Required Output
- Market definition with problem space and constraints
- TAM with top-down and bottom-up estimates, reconciliation, annual revenue opportunity
- SAM with serviceable portion percentage and reasoning
- SOM with competitive position basis and achievement timeline
- Summary table comparing current and 2-3 year projections
- Key assumptions with confidence levels and validation methods

Always use dual estimation approaches for triangulation. Cite data sources explicitly.

## SWOT Analysis

### Framework Structure

**Internal Factors:**
- **Strengths** — unique capabilities, brand recognition, customer loyalty, technology advantages, operational efficiencies
- **Weaknesses** — resource constraints, infrastructure gaps, limited market presence, cost challenges, outdated systems

**External Factors:**
- **Opportunities** — growing market segments, technological advances, regulatory shifts, expansion into adjacent markets
- **Threats** — emerging competitors, shifting preferences, technological disruption, regulatory risks, supply chain vulnerabilities

### Process
1. Identify 5-7 items per category with specific evidence
2. Cross-reference: how strengths address opportunities, how weaknesses create vulnerability to threats
3. Determine strategic direction:
   - **Build** — leverage strengths + opportunities
   - **Defend** — address weaknesses + threats
   - **Pivot** — use opportunities to reshape competitive dynamics
   - **Exit** — if competitive position deteriorates significantly

Update SWOT quarterly aligned with market conditions.

## User Personas

### Building Effective Personas
1. **Research** — interview 5-10 users per segment; analyze behavioral data
2. **Identify Patterns** — cluster by goals, pain points, and behaviors (not demographics alone)
3. **Define Each Persona:**
   - Name, role, and context
   - Primary goals and motivations
   - Key pain points and frustrations
   - Current workarounds and tools
   - Decision-making criteria
   - Success metrics from their perspective
4. **Validate** — test personas against real user behavior; update with new data

### Jobs to Be Done (JTBD)
Frame personas around jobs: "When [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome]."

## Business Model Canvas

Nine building blocks for how the business creates, delivers, and captures value:

### Creating Value (Left)
1. **Key Partners** — strategic partners, suppliers, joint ventures
2. **Key Activities** — critical processes (production, problem-solving, platform)
3. **Key Resources** — physical, intellectual, human, financial assets

### The Value Proposition (Center)
4. **Value Propositions** — problems solved, needs satisfied, quantitative vs. qualitative value

### Delivering Value (Right)
5. **Customer Relationships** — personal assistance, self-service, automated, community
6. **Channels** — awareness, purchase, delivery, after-sales (direct vs. indirect)
7. **Customer Segments** — mass market, niche, segmented, multi-sided platform

### Financial Viability (Bottom)
8. **Cost Structure** — fixed vs. variable, cost drivers, cost-driven vs. value-driven
9. **Revenue Streams** — pricing mechanisms, LTV, unit economics

**Viability test:** LTV > 3x CAC.

### When to Use
- **BMC** — established businesses, corporate strategy, investor materials
- **Lean Canvas** — startups, hypothesis testing, faster iteration
- **Startup Canvas** — new products needing strategic clarity alongside business model

## Porter's Five Forces

Assess competitive intensity and industry attractiveness:

1. **Threat of New Entrants** — barriers to entry (capital, regulation, brand loyalty, economies of scale)
2. **Bargaining Power of Suppliers** — few suppliers = high power; many substitutes = low power
3. **Bargaining Power of Buyers** — low switching costs or many alternatives = high buyer power
4. **Threat of Substitutes** — alternative solutions that fulfill the same need differently
5. **Industry Rivalry** — number of competitors, growth rate, differentiation, exit barriers

Score each force (Low/Medium/High). High total = less attractive industry. Identify which force to address first.

## PESTLE Analysis

Six macro-environmental factors that affect strategy:

- **Political** — government stability, trade policy, tax regulations, labor law
- **Economic** — GDP growth, inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, consumer spending
- **Social** — demographics, cultural trends, lifestyle changes, education levels
- **Technological** — R&D activity, automation, tech maturity, disruption potential
- **Legal** — consumer protection, employment law, data privacy (GDPR, CCPA), IP
- **Environmental** — sustainability regulations, climate impact, resource availability

## Lean Canvas

One-page business model for startups (Ash Maurya adaptation):

| Block | Question |
|-------|----------|
| Problem (top 3) | What are the top 3 problems? |
| Customer Segments | Who has this problem? Early adopters? |
| Unique Value Proposition | Single clear message: why different and worth attention |
| Solution | Top 3 features for each problem |
| Channels | How do you reach customers? |
| Revenue Streams | How do you make money? Pricing model? |
| Cost Structure | Fixed + variable costs, burn rate |
| Key Metrics | One metric that matters right now |
| Unfair Advantage | Something that cannot be easily copied or bought |

## Pricing Strategy

- **Cost-Plus** — cost + markup %. Simple but ignores value perception.
- **Value-Based** — price reflects perceived value to customer. Requires user research.
- **Competitive** — match or undercut competitors. Risk: race to bottom.
- **Penetration** — low initial price to gain share, raise later. Risk: hard to raise.
- **Freemium** — free base + paid premium. Key metric: free-to-paid conversion rate (2-5% typical).
- **Usage-Based** — pay per use. Aligns cost with value. Risk: unpredictable revenue.

Rule of 100: for prices under $100, show % discount; over $100, show $ amount off.

## PRD Structure (Product Requirements Document)

1. **Problem Statement** — what problem, who has it, evidence of demand
2. **Goals & Success Metrics** — measurable outcomes, north star metric
3. **User Stories** — "As a [user], I want [action], so that [outcome]"
4. **Requirements** — functional (what it does) + non-functional (performance, security)
5. **Out of Scope** — explicitly what this does NOT include
6. **Design & UX** — wireframes, user flows, interaction patterns
7. **Technical Considerations** — architecture impact, dependencies, migration
8. **Timeline & Milestones** — phases, MVP scope, future iterations

## Usage

Start with vision + market sizing → SWOT for position → personas for user grounding → Strategy Canvas → BMC/Lean Canvas for viability. Revisit quarterly.

*Sourced from [phuryn/pm-skills](https://github.com/phuryn/pm-skills) (MIT License)*