Intentional Product Manager

From IC to Director: The 3 Narrative Shifts That Separate $250K PMs from $500K Leaders

Google

McKinsey & Company

Shobhit Chugh

Founder at Intentional Product Manager (ex-Google)

required at each PM level transition — and why "bigger stories" isn't the answer

The 3 narrative altitude shifts

How to tell the same experience as a $250K story or a $500K story

How to uplevel

Why hiring managers write "strong IC, not senior enough" about PMs with 15 years of experience

Failure patterns

that lets you calibrate your story altitude in real time

The Interview Agility framework

How to stop getting downleveled

Sell your ideas, manage up, gain buy-in, and increase your impact. Sharpen your skills via hands-on exercises, deep dives, scripts, and more

Co-founder of Maven (a16z, First Round)

Anthropic

Atlassian

DoorDash

Wes Kao

Co-founder of Maven. Co-founder of altMBA. Followed by 300k+ operators in tech

Cohort 9 (October)

Cohort 11 (May)

Update: The March cohort is sold out. The May cohort is now open for enrollment. Over 1,500 tech operators have taken this course. If you've been thinking about joining, I'd love to see you in class.___If you're a high performer, you likely got to where you are because of your raw talent and ability to execute.But now that your scope has grown, your ability to increase impact depends on how well you influence others.No one teaches you how to do this beyond the basics...Until now.In this 2-day intensive course, you will learn practical ways to:<ul><li>Influence stakeholders to get buy-in</li><li>Prevent avoidable back-and-forth, friction, pushback</li><li>Write/speak more clearly and concisely</li><li>Pitch your ideas to increase chances of getting a yes</li><li>Appeal to impatient executives with high expectations</li></ul>During the course, you will drink from the firehose.You won't become a different person overnight. But my goal is to help you dramatically improve your competence and confidence in a condensed period of time.You and your team can move faster. You can prevent avoidable friction.You can accomplish more of what you want--and have more fun in the process.

Strong communication is a force multiplier

Present to your CEO to maximize highly-visible moments

Managing up in day-to-day interactions

Frame your ideas and give the right amount of context in any situation

Identify ways to improve your own writing

Influence up and sideways to get things done

There's a difference between "I know this" vs "I do this."  This course is for operators who are strong and want to get even sharper.

You are open-minded and intellectually honest

This is not for you if you want a slower-paced course over several weeks. This is a 2-day intensive designed for busy operators.

You are looking for a condensed, intensive experience

This is not for you if you expect to become excellent in communication overnight. You will need to practice ongoing to build muscle memory.

You will continue practicing after the course

Senior individual contributors (ICs). Marketing leads, PMs, engineers, program managers, UX designers, etc. Minimum 3+ years of experience.

People managers and leaders (heads of, team leads, directors). You run a team and have to get buy-in upwards and x-functionally.

Teams who want shared language so you can move faster, give feedback faster, have shared expectations, and persuade folks outside your team.

Master the psychological triggers and strategic alignment frameworks used by VPs and Directors to assess leadership potential.

Cohort 9

Ex-Amazon Director/General Manager

Amazon

Microsoft

Apple

Mike Li

Ex-Amazon Director/General Manager of CO | Entrepreneur | Executive Coach

Cohort 8

Cohort 10

Most professionals spend a decade trying to guess the unspoken rules of the Executives. This course compresses that 10-year learning curve into a single experience. We shift your trajectory from an overlooked contributor to a reputable, confident leader by putting you in the 'hot seat.' You won't just learn the theory and frameworks of influence. Through well-designed simulation sessions, you will build the muscle memory required to lead through friction, manage up with ease, and level up your career trajectory.<ul><li>Live-Fire Simulations (4+ Hours): The Role Play Lab. You’ll step into the "hot seat" to role-play your toughest upcoming meetings. I will push back, challenge your logic, and help you pivot in real-time.</li><li>Strategic Combat Q&amp;A (6+ Hours): Bring your real-world "Managing Up" roadblocks. We’ll deconstruct your specific stakeholder dynamics and script your next move.</li><li>The Foundation (Self-Paced): 29 Modules &amp; 48 Lectures. Master the mechanics of influence on your own time so we can spend our live sessions doing the real work.</li></ul>

Build Executive Presence Into Your Muscle Memory

Manage up your leadership & stakeholders

Strategic Influence & Reframing Conflict

Leading & Facilitating Effective Meetings

Students must have proficiency in Business English. This course will focus on communication strategy, not basic grammar or vocabulary.

English Proficiency:

Students should be currently working in or seeking roles that require regular interaction with international or English-speaking teams.

Professional Experience:

A willingness to shift focus from mere language fluency (grammar, accent) to strategic impact (structure, delivery, and cultural decoding).

Mindset:

This course is designed for high-performing leaders who realize that technical excellence is no longer enough to move the needle.

You should enroll if you feel your contributions are overlooked or underestimated in high-stakes meetings or email chains.

ICs/managers who are ready to start mastering strategic communication to build credibility and influence your career trajectory

Your continued career growth depends on changing how you work from what brought you success early in your career. 

Executive Coach, former Google leader

Bain & Company

Instacart

Rubrik

Snowflake

Eric Nehrlich 

ex-Google Chief of Staff, Executive Coach, Author of You Have A Choice

January 2026 Cohort

April 2026 Cohort

Early in your career:-- You are rewarded for working harder and independently solving problems.-- You earn more credibility by knowing more and demonstrating domain expertise.-- You get more scope (and promoted!) by taking on more with a “can-do” attitude. But your career will plateau unless you learn to:-- Build and lead teams and systems to solve problems rather than do the work yourself.-- Collaborate with other leaders to manage trade-offs across different domains.-- Deliver results through others by mobilizing and coordinating people across different functions and perspectives.This course is for you if you feel stuck in your job or career. Perhaps you are a senior individual contributor or a front-line manager who keeps getting passed over for the next promotion with feedback about being more strategic, or having more presence or influence. Or perhaps you have earned more scope but are drowning under the work, seeing no way to get it all done.

The next level of your career requires embracing new mindsets and skills.

Scale your leadership to create greater team and company impact

Increase your confidence and executive presence.

Greater influence across the leadership team. 

How to deliver on complex projects without control

Handle difficult conversations and political situations

A path for continued career growth without working unsustainable hours.

This course is for those who have grown through their early career, and want to grow their impact beyond what they can do as an individual.

10+ years of career experience

You're a senior IC or front-line manager wondering what you have to do differently to get to the executive level.

Your performance feedback no longer celebrates your expertise and effort, and instead focuses more on strategy, influence, and presence.

You are working harder and longer but falling further behind. Doing more isn't sustainable so you need to find a new way to get things done.

Stop over-explaining and start guiding decisions. You'll become the professional who walks into senior rooms and walks out with a yes.

Cohort 2

24-Year Banker -> Presentation Expert

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Commerzbank

Royal Bank

MaryBeth Hazeldine

24 years at JPMorgan, PwC, RBS. Now training executives to win decisions.

Cohort 1

You've done the work. You know the material. You've prepared the slides.And yet the decision stalls.Polite nods. Reasonable questions. Then: "Let's take this offline." "We'll circle back." "Good discussion."Translation: No decision today.If this keeps happening, it's not because you lack expertise or presentation skills. It's because the way you're structuring your message doesn't match how senior people decide.Here's what nobody tells you: executives make their decision in the first few minutes, then spend the rest of the time looking for reasons to trust that instinct—or doubt it. When you lead with context, build to your recommendation, and back it up with extensive data, you're triggering doubt, not confidence.The unspoken question in their mind: "If they need this much explanation, is the recommendation actually solid?"This course gives you a different approach—a system built on how decisions actually happen in senior rooms. You'll learn to structure your message so that "yes" feels like the obvious, low-risk choice.Not through tips you'll forget under pressure. Through a repeatable system that works even when you're tired, rushed, or facing pushback.

Executives decide before your presentation ends. Structure accordingly

Structure presentations that win decisions

Remove the anxiety before you even start

Build credibility without over-explaining

Choose proof that reassures, not proof that defends

Handle pushback without becoming defensive

Use AI tools without sounding generic or losing authority

<code>You present to executives, boards, or steering committees—and need decisions, not "good discussions." Your credibility is on the line.</code>

You pitch to clients and present recommendations for a living. Stalled decisions cost you deals, revenue, and repeat business.

You're in relationship management, business development, or sales—presenting to win deals, budgets, or strategic alignment.