Your company's investment level in a product fundamentally changes what your job looks like as a PM or PMM. John and Nate break down how your priorities shift across the spectrum: high-growth products chasing new customer acquisition, retention-focused products where stability is king, and that tricky middle ground where the product has value but go-to-market isn't working yet.

Plus, where should you put your most experienced people? On retention products or growth products? What skills do you actually build in low-growth roles?

Side topic: the reality of VP-level context switching—bouncing between three-year vision and this week's execution, across products with completely different business models, while staying sharp for C-suite conversations.

New episodes every Tuesday. Find us wherever you get your podcasts, or visit productischange.com for all episodes and YouTube shorts.

New Episodes every Tuesday

Videos and clips available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GettintoMarketPod

Nobody likes having hard conversations at work. Whether it's telling customers the feature they requested isn't going to make it into the product, pushing back on scope creep from other teams, or explaining why you can't take on that "quick favor" that definitely isn't in your goals—these moments are rough. But they're also unavoidable.

This week, John and Nate talk through the two categories of tough conversations that come up in PM and PMM roles: external conversations with customers (outages, delays, bad news) and internal cross-functional battles. We also explore why being honest is almost always the right move, even when it's uncomfortable, and how to navigate the "it's not in my goals" problem without burning bridges.

Also covered: power tool battery platform lock-in, New Year's resolutions, and the fact that John Lennon was an objectively terrible person.

Your job is real, but your role is negotiable.

For video, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXSGm0RUDxo

New Episodes every Tuesday

Videos and clips available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GettintoMarketPod

We're ending the year with an extra-long bonus episode - 71 minutes of pure Disney chaos with zero product management frameworks. Nate and Kyrie just survived separate Disney trips with their kids, and John shares his deeply weird childhood Disney experience courtesy of his parents' Amway business.

We talk about Disney's Lightning Lane system (a UX disaster), whether Disney adults are okay (jury's out), Expedition Everest making an 8-year-old pass out, the worst custom t-shirts we saw at Magic Kingdom, and why Epcot doesn't count as international travel.

This is not a normal episode. There's minimal talk about PM/PMM work. It's just three friends processing expensive vacations and questionable life choices. Think of it as our holiday gift to you - or punishment, depending on how you feel about Disney people.

Normal professional discourse resumes in January. Happy holidays from Gettin' to Market!

The Audio the Imagineers: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/twenty-thousand-hertz/id1171270672?i=1000732003957

New Episodes every Tuesday

Videos and clips available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GettintoMarketPod

Can you win with a mediocre product? If your go-to-market is sharp enough.

This week John and Nate are digging into the uncomfortable truth that not every product deserves to win, but plenty of them do anyway. Whether you're dealing with something faulty you haven't fixed, a solution without a real market, or just losing in competition, your go-to-market strategy can still move the needle.

John and Nate break down what "go-to-market" actually means beyond the buzzword (spoiler: it's not just marketing), how your organizational structure shows up in your website (Conway's Law in action), and the competitive advantages hiding in plain sight when you nail your ICP and messaging (while competitors burn cash targeting the wrong people).

Plus: the typewriter origins of double-spacing, why being nice is more productive than being right, and an unexpected PSA about gun safety during the holidays.

New to the show? Check out productischange.com to learn more.

Resources mentioned on this episode:

https://martinfowler.com/bliki/ConwaysLaw.html

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216238758-make-it-punchy

New Episodes every Tuesday

Videos and clips available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GettintoMarketPod

You took the job. Day one hits. And you realize: the product is bad. Maybe it's broken, maybe it's losing to competitors, or maybe there's just no market for it. Now what?

Nate and John break down the three types of bad products you'll encounter, how to diagnose which one you're dealing with, and what to actually do about it. From fixing broken functionality to pivoting when there's no market fit, this episode covers the scenarios most PMs face but few want to admit.

Plus: why job hopping might be your best education, the Batman effect on public transportation, and why $100K doesn't mean what it used to.

New website: ProductIsChange.com

New Episodes every Tuesday

Videos and clips available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GettintoMarketPod

You've got a great idea. Now comes the hard part: getting the right folks to care. Nate and John break down what it actually takes to sell an idea internally—from understanding whether you're solving a real problem to navigating the organizational politics that can doom even the best proposals.

They explore why most internal pitches fail, how to build credibility before you need it, and the difference between having an idea and having a strategy.

Plus: lessons learned about B2B pricing thresholds and the myth of learning styles.

New Episodes every Tuesday

Videos and clips available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GettintoMarketPod

Your manager just left, a reorg shuffled the deck, or a new leader landed on your team. Now what? Nate and John break down the first 30 days with a new manager—what actually matters, what you should avoid, and how to set yourself up for success when the reporting lines shift. From the "managing up with data" playbook to why your first impression matters more than you think, this episode covers the unspoken rules of navigating leadership transitions. Your job is real, your role is negotiable.

New Episodes every Tuesday

Videos and clips available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GettintoMarketPod

What tools are PMs actually using to get work done? John walks through his everyday tech stack: OmniFocus for personal tasks, Jira for team coordination, Confluence for documentation. But it's not about the tools themselves. It's about knowing when to use them and when they're getting in your way.

We dig into the AI creep happening across these platforms, the temptation to automate everything with Claude, and why John's implementing a "swear jar" for AI-generated content that nobody bothers to read. Plus: lessons learned from assuming "this will be quick" in meetings (spoiler: it never is) and economic warning signs hiding in plain sight.

New Episodes every Tuesday

Videos and clips available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GettintoMarketPod