Outcome Leader Coaching.

Scaling product teams and leading a product culture is hard.
As your coach and thought partner, I support, challenge and inspire you to achieve your goals. Product leader coaching unlocks your potential and, in turn, amplifies your team’s performance. 

Is coaching for you?

Many of my clients are starting or on the journey to becoming Outcome Leaders or product-led. Some people I work with are new to leadership, while others have many years of experience, but they all have three things in common:

  1. They have a desire to maximize their potential.

  2. Their ambition is related to product development.

  3. They are willing to ask for help and open to exploring ideas.

My clients are typically B2B founders, chief product officers (CPO), VP of Product, or the most senior product manager in the company.

Common topics that come up in coaching sessions include:

Creating a product vision, forming a product strategy, fostering alignment, overcoming low confidence or imposter syndrome, team topology, OKRs, hiring & firing, governance process, scaling, handling conflict, leadership style, negotiation, product culture and storytelling.

Some sessions can be very deep thought provoking while others are high-paced soundboarding or brainstorming. No two sessions are ever the same.

MEET YOUR COACH

Dave Martin,
Product Leader Coach

When choosing me as your coach, we will start with a free chemistry call to ensure we are a good fit. But why should you choose me at all?

I am a qualified executive coach with over 20 years of experience in product development and leadership. My leadership has a servant style that focuses on helping others succeed. In 2019, I left my last full time CPO role in a global ed-tech and followed my passion to be a product leader coach and trusted advisor.

During my career, I have led new product development from zero to millions of ARR and navigated the complexities of scaling high-growth products. I have also taken on challenging roles where transformation was required. I have played a strategic role in M&A to accelerate product strategy and supported multiple SaaS exits.

The formal stuff

  • As a young leader, I was trained in leadership and coaching at Rofey Park Institute in 2004.

  • In 2021, I qualified as an executive coach with AEoC.

  • Since 2018 I have coached over 5,000 hours with leaders from Gitlab, Adobe, Synk, Contentful, MentionMe, Ometria, Evotix, British Telecom, Entertainment Partners, and many more.

  • I run product strategy alignment workshops,

  • I have spoken for VC firms' events, major conferences, and communities, including SaaStock, Frog Capital, MindtheProduct, Productized and many more.

  • I coauthored the book The Product Momentum Gap.

  • “There have been numerous times where I've walked away from my sessions, mystified about how spot on he was in leading me through complex leadership struggles.”

    Kenny Johnston, Product Leader, Github

  • “A great way to improve product leadership attributes with coaching sessions designed to drive real growth for your company.”

    Diane Sequeira, Times Higher Education

  • “Working with Dave has been great - we're able to use real-world examples in practice and get feedback and support as we tackle challenges.”

    Jay Jernigan, Product Leader, Good&Co

  • Dave challenges you to think about things from different angles, and I had a number of lightbulb moments.”

    Eddie Sawyers, Product Leader, Tillo

How does coaching work?

  • Every qualified coach uses a coaching model, and you might have heard of some e.g. active coaching or the grow model. While running product organisations I evolved my coaching model, it will underpin our sessions but does not dictate the agenda. We will always work on what is most important to you at the time.

  • In our first session, we will usually (not always, as every client is different) explore the Product Leader Map. This helps with self-awareness and frames the challenges you wish to focus on first. We will explore your ambitions and aims until you are ready to complete the Improvement Compass, which involves pinpointing a big challenge to work on. The Improvement Compass defines the desired state and the current state helping us focus on the steps towards the ideal.

    In some situations, there may be skills or techniques to share. Normally, I will have videos in my e-learning library to help you - this keeps our sessions for coaching instead of teaching. Not every session will focus on the Improvement Compass, it is your journey, and you will have issues, frustrations and ideas for us to discuss.

  • My product leader coaching is packaged up with a fixed monthly fee, it includes:

    • 2x 1-hour coaching sessions a month.

    • Unlimited Q&A via Slack / WhatsApp (or alternative).

    • Unlimited phone a friend calls.

    • Access to premium e-learning.

    Unlike some other coaches, I have no fixed term or commitment, if I have helped you reach your potential, or you decide coaching is not right for you, then I don’t want you stuck paying me! 😀

    Although I should warn you, my coaching clients enjoy such high value they choose to work with me on average for 19 months. This does mean my availability is in short supply.

Getting started

If you are serious about levelling up your leadership and achieving product goals, the first step is to book a chemistry call. In this call, we will explore if and how I can support you. If I cannot help you, I normally can recommend someone who can.

Please complete the form, and one of my team will be in touch to schedule a call. 

In the 30-minute Zoom call, we will explore your challenges, goals and expectations to start shaping an improvement plan. 

There is no commitment; It is not about selling, it is about finding the right match. My aim is to learn if and how I can help you. 

Please note, in most cases the employer pays my fees, please budget for circa £1,200 a month. I do not operate a fixed term, you can cancel any time, my average coaching tenure is 18 months.

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