Cohort 4

Get hands-on learning the essential financial skills you'll need to succeed as a product executive.

Giff Constable

Financial Fluency for Product Leaders

As a product leader, you're not expected to be an accountant. However, finance is the common language at the C-suite and board. To succeed, you need fluency in relevant aspects of corporate finance. Without it, you won't be taken seriously. This class will expose you to the essential areas in a rigorous manner. The class is a mix of lecture and structured exercises/cases based on real scenarios. We'll then constantly tie our financial analyses back to strategic product decisions. Ultimately this is a product leadership class, just with a focus on finance. Class 1: Learn how an income statement tells a story and feeds into product decisionsClass 2: Connect the dots between product metrics and financial metricsClass 3: How financial models can defuse executive politics and impress your boardClass 4: Business valuation, differences in owner/investor classes, and why this is crucial for product leaders to understandClass 5: Revenue models, packaging/bundling, and pricingClass 6: A final class on modeling and thinking through the financial impact of product initiatives The classes themselves are 90 minutes. For the first 4 weeks, we'll have an open roundtable for discussions on Fridays. Each week there is an assignment to get you thinking about the topic for the next class. In this class, you'll be doing a bunch of financial modeling exercises. You aren't expected to be a spreadsheet pro, but these are muscles you want to learn how to flex and to strengthen. Students are welcome to explore using ChatGPT to tackle problems. You'll learn why modeling is an essential tool for: (a) thinking through critical risks, opportunities, and assumptions, (b) forecasting possible scenarios, and (c) getting the C-suite and board aligned. The Q&amp;A sessions are open-ended. Topics we've covered in past include:- differences b/w startup vs scale-up vs large-enterprise contexts- workshopping a current workplace challenge- how these concepts can help you diligence a company you are thinking about joining- and of course, tips on the weekly exercise Grounded in Real ExamplesThe instructor, Giff Constable, has led product and engineering teams at the startup stage as well as with millions of users at the global level. He's also been in the CEO seat and had to manage a board. The examples we cover and exercises we do are all grounded in real world challenges he faced. A Final CommentAfter teaching 7 cohorts of this class, I've seen many PMs, designers, and engineers who are comfortable thinking about strategy, customer needs, and usage metrics, but somehow quite intimidated by financials. The truth is that finance isn't any harder. A base level fluency will go a long way in building your confidence and comfort, and that in turn will give boards and CEOs the confidence that you are the executive they need.

If you want to succeed in the C-Suite and in front of a board...

Mid-to-senior product managers who want to speed their path to a leadership role.

New product VPs who want to shore up gaps in their skillset and be more successful in the hot seat.

Design and engineering leaders who want to increase their influence over strategic business decisions.

Who is this class designed for?

What will you gain by taking this class?

Be seen by the CEO, the board, and other execs as a strategic business thinker, not just a product thinker

Build fluency, and thus credibility, in the common language at the C-suite

Build more compelling cases for your product initiatives, improving alignment with other execs

Expand your "systems thinking" beyond product features to the entire business model

Ultimately, level up a critical skillset you'll need in order to succeed as a product executive

We're going to examine several mock P&amp;Ls, find relevant insights, and then debate critical decisions you would make as a product leader given the insights you've spotted.

Class 1: How does an income statement tell a story?

We're going to touch upon modeling best practices, dive into a detailed scenario, and discuss the (oft-misunderstood) best way to share your analyses with executives and board members.

Class 2: Best practices for modeling and communicating your analyses

It's increasingly falling upon product leaders to (re)design how a company makes money. We will examine the pros and cons of different revenue models, talk through a real-life case where product had to change an established revenue model, and then get hands-on building an analysis for a board on a proposed pricing change.

Class 3: Revenue models and pricing

Class 4 cracks open the black box of how businesses are valued, the different classes of business owners, and how this can help you become more strategic with your roadmaps and more aligned with your CEO and board.

Class 4: Business valuation and what this means for product leaders

Course syllabus

Intro to the class

What people are saying

Meet your instructor

90 minutes of hands-on, case-based learning and group discussion around one core topic. For this cohort, classes will be held Oct 3, 10, 17, 24.

Tuesdays: 90 min class

A chance to meet with Giff and other peers in the cohort and dive deeper into anything covered in the Tues class and the take-home exercises.

Fridays: 60 min optional Q&A

The best way to learn these concepts is to do them. After each class, you'll be given a structured assignment and classes 2, 3 and 4 begin with a detailed walkthrough on a recommended approach to each one.

Take-home assignment

Course schedule

Frequently Asked Questions

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This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Active hands-on learning

You’ll be interacting with other learners through breakout rooms and project teams

Interactive and project-based

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