What Top Product Leaders Do Differently (And Why It Matters) 

Paul Nicholls, Director, Product & Tech, Zeren shares key insights on what sets top product leaders apart—from avoiding blind spots in commercial strategy to hiring challenges, navigating investor expectations, and the traits that define success in today’s market.

1. What is the biggest blind spot product leaders have when it comes to commercial strategy, and how do the best ones overcome it?

This is a really good question, and it’s quite a complex one. To keep it simple, the biggest blind spot is not having a deep enough understanding of their end-to-end go-to-market processes. There are a few things within that. 

How do you overcome this? Firstly, do you really know your commercial counterparts? Do you spend enough time with them? Being honest about that is important, especially in what is already a busy job for a product leader. In the last couple of years, there’s been a real focus on profitability. Are you fully aware of your revenue team’s focus, challenges, and goals? 

One way to think about this: it’s table stakes to be customer-centric as a product leader. But in a world where we’re focusing more on profitability and sustainable growth—being much more aware of the numbers rather than growth at all costs is essential—are you really thinking about your revenue colleagues and how they approach these goals? 

A few things that help: get on more sales calls, buddy up with them, do more stand-ups, reviews, and internal demos. Are you equipping your sales team to be technical enough about the product? If that’s not possible, join more calls. Get down to the details—do you understand how those people are bonused and how that impacts commercial strategy, runway, and ROI? 

The best product leaders balance decisions based on data and intuition—also known as product sense. They know their competitive landscape inside and out. When they need to rely on intuition, they can, and that understanding helps inform their commercial strategy.

2. Product leaders want autonomy, but investors want results. How do great leaders navigate this tension without losing control of their roadmap?

Autonomy is often one of the most important requirements when we ask product leaders what they’re looking for in their next role and career. Most software businesses say they’re product-led when they have the autonomy and freedom to solve problems—but the reality can be different. 

When there’s a focus on profitability and sustainable growth, or reacting to customer demands to stay afloat and keep customers happy, it becomes a delicate balancing act. Autonomy can ebb and flow. There’s a greater need for transparency—managing this tension by being honest, clear, and succinct in communication is essential. Transparency with investors and internal colleagues helps maintain control and autonomy. Being honest, empathetic, knowing your data, your customer, and your market is critical. 

Prioritisation also plays a role. Whether you’re a mission-based team, a scale-up focused on a core area, or a smaller business spinning multiple plates, driving outcomes is key. 

Ultimately, this drives stakeholder buy-in and trust in your ability. In a time when investors are more sensitive about where money is being spent and the ROI on that investment, relentless prioritisation in decision-making is essential. Many can empathise with that. With the shift toward profitability over the last 18 to 24 months, these skills will serve product leaders well when investors are increasingly demanding—helping them retain autonomy. 

3. Where do you see the biggest talent gaps in product leadership today, and what are companies struggling the most to hire for?

There are two areas I’d highlight. 

The first is finding a true player-coach—someone senior enough to add value beyond just their product team at a strategic level, almost at a board or executive level in some cases, while still being hands-on enough to have credibility and be execution-focused. In a market where there’s been some strategic leadership bloat, we’ve seen tough decisions being made over the last couple of years. Most companies from an R&D, tech, and product perspective are not hiring or building large product and tech teams right now, except in a few obvious industries. So leaders need to be able to do it all. Finding a true player-coach is still tough. 

The second is finding someone who has gone through a real growth journey in the last couple of years. There’s been a lot of turbulence—major tech layoffs—so finding someone who has actually weathered that storm is challenging. A common requirement for us is finding candidates who have taken a company from Series A to C or post-product market fit, from $2-3 million in revenue to 10x that, reaching $20-30 million. There are simply fewer candidates with that experience in recent years because of the market turbulence. That drives up demand. 

The talent pool hasn’t changed, but the number of people who have successfully navigated growth or shifted toward profitability has tightened. Hiring managers are struggling with this. Despite some still feeling like it’s a buyer’s market with a lot of great tech and product talent available, these two areas remain the hardest to hire for.

4. What’s the one trait you see in the best product leaders today that wasn’t as important five years ago?

This is a tough one, and others might have different views, but in my opinion, product leaders today have a much better understanding of other functions across the business, making them better generalists and less specialised. That’s not a bad thing—any great product leader should be able to expand their horizons. 

As an example, we’re seeing more and more product leaders—VPs, senior directors, and even C-level executives—expanding into or becoming more qualified for MD, GM, CEO, or COO roles in tech companies because they’ve had to broaden their expertise. The rise of the CPTO role is a good example, where individuals with a tech or product background are taking on bigger remits and responsibilities. 

It’s essential that product leaders have a solid understanding of commercial teams too, like customer success, and newer areas like RevOps. In summary, great product leaders today are stronger generalists than they were five years ago, and that’s been the biggest shift. 

5. When a product leader doesn’t succeed in a new role, what are the most common reasons—and how can companies avoid making the wrong hire? 

We’ve talked about transparency, which is critical when we speak with senior candidates and clients, but another key factor is chemistry—specifically, the chemistry between a product leader and their founder or line manager. If there’s an initial spark, it’s essential that they spend as much time as possible talking, getting to know each other, and understanding how they think. 

This is especially true with founder-CEOs who remain closely involved in product, particularly in shaping the vision. Hiring a first product leader is a big decision, and a lack of alignment is one of the main reasons why people part ways after 12 months—often amicably, simply because it wasn’t the right match. 

Being upfront about challenges—whether its financials, runway, customer churn, internal politics, or team dynamics—is crucial. And beyond that, companies need to be clear about why they need a product management leader. Do they need a true product leader, or are they actually looking for a transformation leader? Or do they just need someone to execute their vision for the next 12 months? Timing is everything. 

If a company isn’t quite ready to give up control, they may not need a more senior product leader yet. In that case, a senior IC, senior PM, or lead/staff-level individual might be the better fit—someone autonomous who can help drive things forward while staying very execution-focused in the first instance – growing into a more senior role over time. That’s something we always encourage companies to be mindful of.

Paul Nicholls specialises in placing top product and tech leaders. Contact Paul to discuss your hiring needs and how Zeren can support your growth with the right leadership.