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Financial Fluency for Product Leaders

4.7

(15 ratings)

·

4 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

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

Course overview

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

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 decisions

Class 2: Best practices for modeling, using models for alignment, and communicating your analyses to the C-Suite/board

Class 3: Revenue models, packaging/bundling, and pricing

Class 4: Business valuation, differences in owner/investor classes, and why this is crucial for product leaders to understand


The classes themselves are 90 minutes, with an additional weekly Q&A session (optional) and take-home assignment.


Each week there is a modeling exercise. We begin classes 2, 3, and 4 with a detailed examination on an optimal way to approach the analysis. Our focus isn't on the spreadsheeting but rather (a) how to think through critical risks, opportunities, and assumptions, (b) forecasting possible scenarios, and (c) examining how it might be best presented to a senior audience.


The Q&A sessions are open-ended. Topics we've covered in past include:

- how these concepts can help you diligence a company you are thinking about joining

- differences b/w how these concepts might apply in startup vs scale-up vs large-enterprise contexts, as well as innovation vs product-improvement contexts

- real examples of how making a financial case enabled an important project to get approved

- a challenge a member of the cohort is tackling at work


NOTE: this class is a "partner" class with my Modeling Business Impact class on Maven (https://maven.com/giff-constable/intro-to-business-modeling) — it doesn't matter which one you do first.

Who is this class designed for?

01

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

02

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

03

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

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

This course includes

8 interactive live sessions

Lifetime access to course materials

In-depth lessons

Direct access to instructor

Projects to apply learnings

Guided feedback & reflection

Private community of peers

Course certificate upon completion

Maven Satisfaction Guarantee

This course is backed by Maven’s guarantee. You can receive a full refund within 14 days after the course ends, provided you meet the completion criteria in our refund policy.

Course syllabus

Week 1

Oct 15—Oct 20

    Oct

    15

    Class 1: How income statement tells a story (and can also mislead)

    Tue 10/154:00 PM—5:30 PM (UTC)

    Oct

    18

    Roundtable 1

    Fri 10/185:30 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)
    Optional

    Assignment: Which project do you recommend?

    1 item

Week 2

Oct 21—Oct 27

    Oct

    22

    Class 2: How a leader uses models to inform, align, and drive decisions

    Tue 10/224:00 PM—5:30 PM (UTC)

    Oct

    25

    Roundtable 2

    Fri 10/255:30 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)
    Optional

    Assignment: Price Increase Modeling Exercise

    1 item

Week 3

Oct 28—Nov 3

    Oct

    29

    Class 3: Revenue models and pricing

    Tue 10/294:00 PM—5:30 PM (UTC)

    Nov

    1

    Roundtable 3

    Fri 11/15:30 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)
    Optional

    Assignment: Model the impact of design

    1 item

    Pre-watch on business valuation

    1 item

Week 4

Nov 4—Nov 8

    Nov

    5

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

    Tue 11/55:00 PM—6:30 PM (UTC)

    Nov

    8

    Roundtable 4

    Fri 11/86:30 PM—7:30 PM (UTC)
    Optional

4.7

(15 ratings)

What students are saying

Intro to the class

Here's 1 min and 30 seconds on what this class is about!

What people are saying

        Giff really bridges the gap between theory and real-world application. Instead of drowning us in abstract concepts and jargon, Giff would bring these vivid, relatable examples into the classroom. This approach made the subject matter come alive and helped us see its relevance in the world beyond the textbooks. It wasn't just about memorizing facts.
Cindy Liang

Cindy Liang

Sr Product Mgr, EzCater
        Giff's experience in the finance and product leadership worlds give him the subject matter expertise to teach this course. When you combine that with his teaching and mentorship experience, it's truly a perfect storm. Take this course!
Daniel Pardes

Daniel Pardes

VP, Digital Product, Away
        Giff is a brilliant teacher. He makes complex and challenging topics accessible by framing them around his own experiences. His teaching is incredibly practical and grounded in reality; it’s easy to put his advice into proactive immediately. Giff is also thoughtful and patient; it’s clear he wants to be as helpful as he possibly can.
Florence Jumpp

Florence Jumpp

Sr Product Manager, Runa
        Giff is an engaging instructor and facilitator in addition to being an accomplished product executive. One of his super powers is designing courses to elicit sharp insights and reflections from the group, ensuring that you will learn from the diverse perspectives of the product leaders in your cohort, while soaking up Giff's considerable wisdom.
Brian Orloff

Brian Orloff

Principal Product Mgr, Amazon

Meet your instructor

Giff Constable

Giff Constable

Giff Constable has coached hundreds of actual and aspiring product leaders as both a practicing executive and as a highly-rated teacher at NYU's Stern School of Business, Product Faculty, and also in private workshops to companies like Mayo Clinic, Priceline, Hearst, American Express, Steelcase, and many more.


Giff Constable was the Chief Product Officer at Meetup, the CEO of Neo Innovation, and VP of Product at Axial. He is the author of Talking to Humans and Testing with Humans, both core curriculum in university entrepreneurship and product programs around the world.


However, before all the product work, he was an investment banker at Broadview Jefferies helping tech companies sell or go public, and also led sales and business development at several startups. Along that journey, he learned how companies are valued, the importance of revenue model on product success, and how to use finance to make product, design, and engineering stronger inside an org.

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

Financial Fluency for Product Leaders

Cohort 6

$800

Dates

Oct 15—Nov 8, 2024

Payment Deadline

Oct 15, 2024

Don't miss out! Enrollment closes in 6 days

Course schedule

90min live class / week + office hours

  • Tuesdays: 90 min class

    12pm - 1:30pm Eastern

    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.

  • Fridays: 60 min optional Q&A

    1:30pm - 2:30pm Eastern

    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.

  • Take-home assignment

    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.

Free resource

Modeling 101 Tutorial

If you haven't spent a lot of time modeling out initiatives in spreadsheets, this free tutorial, built in Google Sheets, will expose you to best practices and the most common approaches and formulas you'll use.

Get this free resource

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens if I can’t make a live session?

I work full-time, what is the expected time commitment?

Do I need to be a spreadsheet jockey?

What level of financial knowledge do I need already?

I have an MBA. Will I find this class useful?

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

Financial Fluency for Product Leaders

Cohort 6

$800

Dates

Oct 15—Nov 8, 2024

Payment Deadline

Oct 15, 2024

Don't miss out! Enrollment closes in 6 days

$800

4.7

(15)

·

6 days left to enroll