The Backchannel: Confidential PM Cohort

New
·

14 Weeks

·

Cohort-based Course

A 3-month, weekly, curated small peer group for PMs to accelerate their career success with group discussion and expert mentorship.

This course is popular

3 people enrolled last week.

Course overview

Transform from a highly capable PM to a thriving and growing leader.

Confident Decision-Making: You'll work through real-world product challenges with expert guidance and peer feedback, helping you build the muscle for fast, well-informed decisions.


Career Clarity & Planning: Sessions will include forward-looking career planning exercises, giving participants actionable strategies to navigate promotions, job transitions, and long-term growth.


Elite Peer Network: Connect with a curated group of PMs from diverse tech companies, fostering deep connections that provide ongoing professional support beyond the course.


Real-Time Problem Solving: Bring live product or career dilemmas to the table and leave with tangible solutions, benefitting from a variety of perspectives and industry best practices.


Exclusive Expert Mentorship: Learn directly from Tom Leung, an industry veteran with Google and startup experience, ensuring you receive battle-tested advice tailored to your needs.


Safe, Confidential Space: The program’s strict confidentiality policy allows participants to discuss sensitive challenges openly, without fear of judgment or exposure.


By the end of the program, you’ll leave with sharpened product skills, a clear career roadmap, and the confidence to tackle complex product and leadership challenges head-on.






Backchannel is for L4-L7 product managers ready to tackle real challenges, grow strategically, and advance their careers.

01

PM's navigating a variety of challenges from work-life balance, to landing winning launches, to managing up and across.

02

PMs in tech who seek candid peer feedback, expert guidance, and actionable strategies to solve product and career challenges.

03

PMs from diverse companies and projects, sparking fresh insights, cross-pollination, and new strategies through shared experiences.

What you’ll get out of this course

Master Complex Product Challenges with Confidence

In each session, you’ll work through real-world product challenges brought by your cohort or yourself. Using frameworks, peer collaboration, and personalized feedback, you'll walk away with practical solutions you can immediately apply. Expect to sharpen your problem-solving skil

Gain Clarity on Your Career Path

Whether you’re aiming for promotion, pivoting roles, or leveling up in your current position, you’ll engage in structured exercises to map out 1- to 5-year career goals. Walk away with a clear, actionable plan and the feedback needed to make better strategic career decisions.

Broaden Perspectives Through Cross-Industry Insights

Exposure to peers from different companies and industries unlocks creative solutions and fresh strategies. Learn how product decisions vary across contexts and apply best practices to your own work. This cross-pollination will give you new ways of thinking that you won’t find wit

Refine Your Leadership and Influence Skills

PMs often face challenges in influencing without direct authority. In Backchannel, you’ll develop strategies for effective stakeholder management, learn how to navigate internal politics, and practice assertive communication. Build leadership skills essential for your next career

Unlock Growth with Actionable Feedback and Coaching

Feedback is essential for growth. Through Backchannel, you’ll receive honest, actionable insights from both peers and Tom Leung—an industry expert with decades of experience. Expect to make measurable improvements to your product skills and career strategy by the end of the progr

This course includes

12 interactive live sessions

Lifetime access to course materials

2 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

Nov 19—Nov 24

    Life Arcs and highs and lows Pt 1

    0 items

    Nov

    21

    Session 1

    Thu 11/2112:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 2

Nov 25—Dec 1

    Life Arcs and highs and lows Pt 2

    0 items

    Nov

    28

    Session 2

    Thu 11/2812:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 3

Dec 2—Dec 8

    Why did we go into PM? What makes a great PM?

    0 items

    Dec

    5

    Session 3

    Thu 12/512:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 4

Dec 9—Dec 15

    Current Roles and recent insights and challenges Pt 1

    0 items

    Dec

    12

    Session 4

    Thu 12/1212:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 5

Dec 16—Dec 22

    Current Roles and recent insights and challenges Pt 2

    0 items

    Dec

    19

    Session 5

    Thu 12/1912:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 6

Dec 23—Dec 29

Week 7

Dec 30—Jan 5

Week 8

Jan 6—Jan 12

    Current Roles and recent insights and challenges Pt 3

    0 items

    Jan

    9

    Session 8

    Thu 1/912:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 9

Jan 13—Jan 19

    Recent or current hard career decisions Pt 1

    0 items

    Jan

    16

    Session 9

    Thu 1/1612:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 10

Jan 20—Jan 26

    Recent or current hard career decisions Pt 2

    0 items

    Jan

    23

    Session 10

    Thu 1/2312:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 11

Jan 27—Feb 2

    Career Roadmap Pt 1

    0 items

    Jan

    30

    Session 11

    Thu 1/3012:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 12

Feb 3—Feb 9

    Career Roadmap Pt 2

    1 item

    Feb

    6

    Session 12

    Thu 2/612:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 13

Feb 10—Feb 16

    Career Roadmap Pt 3

    0 items

    Feb

    13

    Team meeting

    Thu 2/1312:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Week 14

Feb 17—Feb 23

    Cohort Selected Deep Dive Topic

    1 item

    Feb

    20

    Team meeting

    Thu 2/2012:00 AM—1:30 AM (UTC)

Post-course

What people are saying about Tom

        Tom brings curiosity, a startup mindset, and sharp intuition for asking the right questions at the perfect time, helping PMs gain insights and get unstuck. With deep empathy for users and real-world impact, Tom guides complex projects through internal challenges, building consensus, momentum, and strong customer relationships along the way.
David Schottlander Ph.D, CEng 

David Schottlander Ph.D, CEng 

Google Group Product Manager
        Tom is a gifted product strategist with a knack for breaking through complexity, aligning products to customer needs, and building cross-functional consensus. He brings sharp narrative skills, use-case focus, and steady leadership—exactly what PMs need to drive product growth and success in challenging environments.
John Moses

John Moses

VP, Oura
        Tom fosters product excellence, continuous growth, and strong cross-functional relationships. Through proactive discussions, office hours, and 1:1s, he shares his deep expertise to help others avoid missteps and achieve success. His insights and strategy keep teams motivated, aligned, and focused on delivering impact.
Brittney Crosby

Brittney Crosby

Pfizer Product Management Director
        Tom expertly manages conflicting priorities, balancing empathy with urgency to drive thoughtful decisions. His open-ended questions and cross-functional leadership ensure meaningful outcomes, not just outputs. A visionary and motivating leader, he fosters creativity, purpose, and fun in every collaboration.
Amy Keeling

Amy Keeling

Google UX Director
        Tom's class was the only one on Maven thus far that I wholeheartedly rate a full 10 out of 10. Through fun assignments, we got hands-on practice on dealing with ambiguous, high-stake reviews. Beyond product reviews, Tom's extensive insights have been enormously helpful for a mid-career PM like me.
Pat

Pat

Series B Startup
        Tom's expertise and experience lead to really insightful discussions. He creates a safe space to discuss opportunities and challenges. I grew very much in a short time.
Carmen W

Carmen W

COO, Health Unity
        Tom is a fantastic teacher. Not only does he have a wealth of product knowledge, but he is genuine curious about soliciting his students' points of view. The dynamic made for engaging and rich discussions.
Sonia

Sonia

Communications Lead, MasterCard
        My friend recommended to me and I pulled 2 other PMs from my company to take a class with Tom together :D Learned a lot and we got to critique each other's examples, and I agree with every single feedback Tom had to share as well.
Yiyang

Yiyang

Staff Product Manager, StitchFix
        I was impacted by one of Tom's courses to be more concise to create value in a PM review. A big plus about the course is Tom's feedback—feedback I trust. And Tom supported me during the live cohort and in my homework messages. Tom has awesomeness in everything of this course!
Trenton

Trenton

Former Product Manager, Conde Nast
        Tom is a superb product leader and entrepreneur. I have worked with Tom at Google, and seen his work at multiple startups. As a leader, he is unusual in being really good at both the strategic and the tactical levels. He leaves no stone unturned in trying to solve a problem -- while keeping all stakeholders on board...
Phil Mui

Phil Mui

SVP, Salesforce

Meet your instructor

Tom Leung

Tom Leung

Tom Leung is a former Google PM Director, executive coach, and top-rated mentor

Tom Leung is a seasoned product management executive with over 20 years of experience in the tech industry. A former Director of Product Management at Google, Tom has led large-scale initiatives at YouTube, Google Health, and other tech organizations. Throughout his career, he has driven transformational product strategies, aligning complex teams and processes to achieve business outcomes that impact millions of users worldwide.


In addition to his corporate leadership, Tom is a top-rated mentor and executive coach with a passion for helping product managers unlock their full potential. His mentorship style emphasizes actionable insights, candid feedback, and deep empathy for both user experience and business needs. As one of the original co-founders of the Harvard Business School Career Teams program, Tom has shaped the careers of countless professionals through thoughtful coaching, storytelling, and strategic problem-solving.


Tom’s collaborative approach and ability to foster strong cross-functional relationships have earned him praise from peers and mentees alike. Known for balancing curiosity with pragmatism, he is committed to building environments of continuous growth and product excellence. Tom’s teaching philosophy centers around empowering product leaders to make informed, strategic decisions—always with optimism, creativity, and a bit of fun along the way.

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

The Backchannel: Confidential PM Cohort

Cohort 1

$1,800

Dates

Nov 20—Feb 23, 2025

Application Deadline

Nov 15, 2024

Don't miss out! Applications close in 8 days

Course schedule

2 hours per week

  • Weekly Wednesdays

    4:00pm - 5:30pm PDT


  • Pre-Reads

    1 hours per week

    Tom will share occasional optional articles to read or suggested homework assignments in advance of each meeting.

Learning is better with cohorts

Learning is better with cohorts

Active hands-on learning

This course builds on live workshops and hands-on projects

Interactive and project-based

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

Learn with a cohort of peers

Join a community of like-minded people who want to learn and grow alongside you

Frequently Asked Questions

Stay in the loop

Sign up to be the first to know about course updates.

A pattern of wavy dots

Join an upcoming cohort

The Backchannel: Confidential PM Cohort

Cohort 1

$1,800

Dates

Nov 20—Feb 23, 2025

Application Deadline

Nov 15, 2024

Don't miss out! Applications close in 8 days

$1,800

8 days left to apply