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: Connect the dots between product metrics and financial metrics

Class 3: How financial models can defuse executive politics and impress your board

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

Class 5: Revenue models, packaging/bundling, and pricing

Class 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&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 Examples

The 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 Comment

After 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.