The Best Product Leadership Coaches & Mentors in 2026
There is no shortage of product management content. What's genuinely rare is someone who can take a product leader into the gap between what they know and what they need to do — and help them close it. That's what the best coaches and mentors do. Some do it in 1:1 sessions with CPOs working through a difficult board relationship or a broken team structure. Others do it at scale, through frameworks that reshape how entire organizations discover, prioritize, and ship product.
This list covers both categories. The people below have earned their reputations through documented practice, not just platform presence. Some are full-time coaches with established client practices; others are active product executives who have built parallel bodies of coaching and educational work that genuinely moves the field forward.
Individual Coaches & Career Mentors
Ken Norton
Ken Norton is an executive coach who works exclusively with senior product leaders — CPOs, VPs of Product, and directors navigating the most demanding stretches of their careers. He spent over 14
…Ken Norton is an executive coach who works exclusively with senior product leaders — CPOs, VPs of Product, and directors navigating the most demanding stretches of their careers. He spent over 14 years at Google, where he led product initiatives for Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Mobile Maps, and GV (Google Ventures). Before Google, he was founding CTO of Snap (acquired), and held product roles at Yahoo and JotSpot. He transitioned to full-time coaching in 2020 through his company Bring the Donuts. His clients include product leaders at Amazon, Dropbox, Google, Meta, and Slack. His 2005 essay “How to Hire a Product Manager” remains one of the most-cited pieces in the field and launched thousands of PM careers. He specializes in what he calls “whole person” coaching — guiding leaders not just through their careers, but through their full development as humans.
“Known for: The "Bring the Donuts" philosophy — the idea that great PMs lead through service, not authority — and the 10x Not 10% framework, challenging leaders to aim for transformational rather than incremental impact. His coaching approach emphasizes moving from reactive to creative leadership.”
Gibson "Gib" Biddle
Gibson Biddle spent the defining years of Netflix’s product transformation as VP of Product (2005–2010), followed by a stint as CPO at Chegg, the textbook rental company he helped take public in
…Gibson Biddle spent the defining years of Netflix’s product transformation as VP of Product (2005–2010), followed by a stint as CPO at Chegg, the textbook rental company he helped take public in 2014. He later served as interim CPO at NerdWallet, Life360, and Metromile, supporting all three through their own IPO journeys. Today he is a full-time product coach and educator, running workshops globally for product teams and leaders, guest lecturing at Stanford and INSEAD, and publishing the free Ask Gib newsletter, which has over 30,000 subscribers. He is known for the DHM Model — a product strategy framework built around delighting customers in Hard-to-copy, Margin-enhancing ways — and for his GEM prioritization model. His NPS-driven approach to his own content reflects the same discipline he brought to product work.
“Known for: The DHM Model (Delight, Hard-to-copy, Margin-enhancing) — developed during his time at Netflix and widely adopted as a framework for consumer product strategy. His workshops use Netflix case studies to make product strategy concrete and immediately applicable.”
Shreyas Doshi
Shreyas Doshi spent 15 years as a PM and PM leader at some of the most rigorous product companies in the world — Yahoo, Google, Twitter, and Stripe, where he was the
…Shreyas Doshi spent 15 years as a PM and PM leader at some of the most rigorous product companies in the world — Yahoo, Google, Twitter, and Stripe, where he was the company’s first PM Manager and helped establish product management as a function from scratch. He transitioned out of full-time operator roles to become an advisor, educator, and coach to founders and product executives globally. He has coached hundreds of PMs and PM leaders on career decisions over the past decade and runs some of the most highly-rated cohort courses on Maven — including “Managing Your PM Career” and “Product Sense” — both consistently ranking among Lenny Rachitsky’s top newsletter recommendations. He has amassed over 300,000 followers across LinkedIn and X through a body of writing on product leadership, organizational dynamics, and leadership psychology that is both unusually rigorous and widely accessible.
“Known for: The LNO Framework (Leverage, Neutral, Overhead) for prioritizing a PM's own time and energy; the Three Archetypes of Product Leaders framework; and a body of writing on the structural reasons why smart product teams underdeliver. Marty Cagan has called him "one of a small handful of people that can give me truly insightful feedback."”
Nikhyl Singhal
Nikhyl Singhal is VP of Product at Meta, where he leads Facebook Home and Groups. He has helped scale four of the most widely used products ever built: Facebook, Credit Karma, Google
…Nikhyl Singhal is VP of Product at Meta, where he leads Facebook Home and Groups. He has helped scale four of the most widely used products ever built: Facebook, Credit Karma, Google Photos, and Google Hangouts. Before Meta, he was CPO at Credit Karma and co-founded three companies, all of which were acquired. Alongside his executive career, he has spent over a decade actively coaching — currently working with more than 100 executives, managers, and rising product leaders on career decisions, management challenges, and personal crossroads. He publishes The Skip, a biweekly newsletter and podcast devoted to helping tech professionals navigate the most consequential moves in their careers, with a particular focus on the “skip level” thinking that separates good careers from great ones.
“Known for: The concept of the "skip role" — thinking two moves ahead rather than one — and his deeply practical coaching approach to career inflection points. He often addresses the unspoken dynamics of navigating large organizations: how to earn trust from those above you, how to build the right internal brand, and when to leave.”
Lenny Rachitsky
Lenny Rachitsky spent seven years at Airbnb as a product lead, overseeing supply growth, host community, and anti-discrimination initiatives, before leaving in 2019. He then built what became the #1 business newsletter
…Lenny Rachitsky spent seven years at Airbnb as a product lead, overseeing supply growth, host community, and anti-discrimination initiatives, before leaving in 2019. He then built what became the #1 business newsletter on Substack — Lenny’s Newsletter — with over 670,000 subscribers, and the companion Lenny’s Podcast, a top-10 global tech podcast. He also runs a 10,000-person Slack community for product and growth leaders and manages an active job board for product roles. As an angel investor, his portfolio includes Figma, Vanta, and Webflow. His newsletter operates as an always-on mentorship platform at scale: each issue answers real questions from product leaders on strategy, growth, career decisions, and working with humans at work. His recommendations — of courses, coaches, and frameworks — carry significant weight across the product community.
“Known for: Transforming the advice column format into a category-defining resource for product professionals. His structured research into growth models, retention frameworks, and career paths (including the widely cited "Racecar Growth Framework" in collaboration with Elena Verna) has shaped how an entire generation of PMs thinks about their craft.”
Ravi Mehta
Ravi Mehta is a product leadership coach and former CPO at Roblox, where he oversaw product during a period of extraordinary growth. Before Roblox, he spent five years at Facebook as a
…Ravi Mehta is a product leadership coach and former CPO at Roblox, where he oversaw product during a period of extraordinary growth. Before Roblox, he spent five years at Facebook as a VP of Product, leading consumer social and engagement products. His coaching practice is focused on helping product executives scale — both the products they build and the leadership muscle required to build them. He has developed a well-regarded product leader competency framework that maps the skills and mindsets required at each stage of a product leadership career, from senior PM through CPO. He coaches founders and product executives at growth-stage and enterprise companies through structured engagements.
“Known for: His Product Leader Competency Model — a structured framework for understanding what skills actually matter at each level of product leadership, and how leaders can identify and close their own gaps. He is particularly well-regarded for coaching leaders through the transition from individual contributor to executive.”
Oji Udezue
Oji Udezue is CPO at Calendly and co-author (with Ezinne Udezue) of The Product Executive: Succeed in the First 100 Days and Beyond (2024), which has quickly become required reading for product
…Oji Udezue is CPO at Calendly and co-author (with Ezinne Udezue) of The Product Executive: Succeed in the First 100 Days and Beyond (2024), which has quickly become required reading for product leaders entering new executive roles. He previously served as CPO at Typeform and VP of Product at Twitter (Spaces, Creator Monetization) and Atlassian. He appeared on Lenny’s Podcast to discuss what AI-native leadership actually looks like in practice, and how product executives need to rethink their operating models as AI reshapes what teams can build. His writing and public coaching work focuses on the unique pressures of the first 100 days in a CPO role — how to build trust, sequence decisions, and avoid the common failure modes that derail otherwise capable leaders.
“Known for: The Product Executive framework for navigating the first 100 days in a new executive product role — covering stakeholder mapping, early wins, cultural diagnosis, and establishing credibility before making structural changes. His perspective on AI-native leadership has made him a sought-after voice for the current moment in product.”
Organizational & Team Coaches
Marty Cagan
Marty Cagan founded the Silicon Valley Product Group in 2001 after a career that included VP Product roles at eBay, HP, and Netscape, and a stint as SVP Product & Design at
…Marty Cagan founded the Silicon Valley Product Group in 2001 after a career that included VP Product roles at eBay, HP, and Netscape, and a stint as SVP Product & Design at AOL. SVPG has since become the most influential product coaching and advisory organization in the industry. He is the author of three foundational books for the field: Inspired (product teams), Empowered (product leadership), and Transformed (the product operating model for the enterprise). He has personally worked with more product leaders and product organizations than arguably any other individual alive, coaching at companies ranging from early-stage startups to the world’s largest technology businesses. His partners at SVPG — including Christian Idiodi, Chris Jones, Jon Moore, and others — extend that coaching reach across hundreds of organizations annually.
“Known for: The Empowered Product Team model — the north star for how product organizations should be structured, how decisions should be made, and how product leaders should relate to business strategy. His concept of "product management theater" — the gap between the appearance and reality of product practice in most companies — has become a defining lens for organizational transformation.”
Christian Idiodi
Christian Idiodi is a Partner at SVPG and one of the most sought-after executive coaches in the product world. He spent over a decade in product leadership roles before joining SVPG, and
…Christian Idiodi is a Partner at SVPG and one of the most sought-after executive coaches in the product world. He spent over a decade in product leadership roles before joining SVPG, and has since become recognized for a coaching style that is particularly effective at the executive and C-suite level. Marty Cagan has described Idiodi’s ability to influence senior leaders as singular — a skill built on deep empathy, sharp diagnostic thinking, and the ability to make difficult truths land constructively. He coaches product leaders across a wide range of company stages and industries, with a focus on building product cultures that are genuinely empowered rather than nominally so. He has appeared on Lenny’s Podcast to discuss the essence of product management and the qualities that define great product practice.
“Known for: His work on the human side of product transformation — specifically the stakeholder alignment and executive trust-building that determines whether a product organization can actually change. He is widely cited as the SVPG partner whose coaching is most effective with skeptical or resistant executives.”
Melissa Perri
Melissa Perri is CEO of Produx Labs, a product management training and consulting firm, and one of the most active organizational coaches in the product field. She is the author of Escaping
…Melissa Perri is CEO of Produx Labs, a product management training and consulting firm, and one of the most active organizational coaches in the product field. She is the author of Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value (2018), which addressed the dysfunctional output-over-outcome culture that pervades most technology organizations. She lectures on product management at Harvard Business School and hosts the Product Thinking podcast. Her consulting practice works with companies on product strategy, product operations, and the organizational design that enables product teams to do their best work. She co-authored Product Operations with Denise Tilles (2023), extending her framework to the infrastructure that connects strategy to execution.
“Known for: The concept of the "build trap" — organizations that mistake output (shipping features) for outcomes (creating customer and business value) — and the Product Kata, a structured approach to continuous learning and experimentation. Her work with Denise Tilles on product operations has shaped how companies think about the function connecting product strategy to delivery.”
Teresa Torres
Teresa Torres is a Product Discovery Coach and founder of the Product Talk Academy, through which she trains product teams globally in the practice of continuous product discovery. She is the author
…Teresa Torres is a Product Discovery Coach and founder of the Product Talk Academy, through which she trains product teams globally in the practice of continuous product discovery. She is the author of Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products That Create Customer Value and Business Value (2021), widely regarded as the definitive resource on integrating customer research into everyday product work. Her coaching focuses on teaching product trios — product manager, designer, and engineer — to conduct weekly customer interviews and translate insights into decisions through her Opportunity Solution Tree framework. She has worked with product teams at companies ranging from early-stage startups to large enterprises, and is one of the most consistently cited practitioners in the product coaching space.
“Known for: The Opportunity Solution Tree — a visual framework for mapping customer opportunities to potential solutions, helping teams make their discovery thinking explicit and their decision-making auditable. Her continuous discovery habit system has been adopted by thousands of product teams worldwide as a structured approach to building the right thing.”
Hope Gurion
Hope Gurion founded Fearless Product to coach product leaders and product teams seeking to build customer-centric, evidence-based product practices. She brings direct experience as a CPO and SVP of Product across B2B,
…Hope Gurion founded Fearless Product to coach product leaders and product teams seeking to build customer-centric, evidence-based product practices. She brings direct experience as a CPO and SVP of Product across B2B, B2C, and marketplace companies, and has coached over 50 product leaders and more than 100 product teams across 70+ companies. Her work was featured in Marty Cagan’s Transformed as an example of effective product coaching in practice. She moderates the Senior Product Leader Council at Collaborative Gain and hosts the Fearless Product Leadership podcast, which surfaces practical wisdom from experienced product leaders to help newer ones navigate the most demanding parts of the role. Her coaching is particularly focused on helping product leaders build outcome-driven environments in companies where that culture does not yet exist.
“Known for: Her practical, structured approach to coaching product leaders in organizations undergoing transformation — particularly helping product leaders build credibility with stakeholders who are skeptical of outcome-driven product models. She has coached across a wider range of company types and stages than most product coaches, giving her a broad diagnostic vocabulary.”
Roman Pichler
Roman Pichler is one of Europe’s most established product management coaches and the author of six books on product strategy, product ownership, and agile product management — including Strategize: Product Strategy and
…Roman Pichler is one of Europe’s most established product management coaches and the author of six books on product strategy, product ownership, and agile product management — including Strategize: Product Strategy and Product Roadmap Practices for the Digital Age and How to Lead in Product Management. He has worked with product leaders and teams across Europe and North America for over 15 years, helping organizations improve their product strategy, product roadmapping, and product ownership practices. His coaching focuses on helping companies connect business strategy to product decisions, build effective product roadmaps, and develop the leadership skills required to run empowered product teams. He is one of the few coaches who has written comprehensively on the transition from product ownership in Scrum contexts to broader product leadership.
“Known for: His product strategy and roadmapping frameworks — particularly his work on product goals and outcome-based roadmaps — which have made him a go-to resource for organizations trying to move from feature factories to strategy-led product practices. His writing is notable for its clarity and practical applicability across both startup and enterprise contexts.”
Jeff Patton
Jeff Patton is the creator of User Story Mapping — a collaborative technique for breaking down and organizing product work that has been adopted by product and engineering teams worldwide — and
…Jeff Patton is the creator of User Story Mapping — a collaborative technique for breaking down and organizing product work that has been adopted by product and engineering teams worldwide — and the author of User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product (2014). He has spent over two decades coaching product teams in product discovery, outcome-focused delivery, and collaborative design. He has trained and coached teams at companies including Google, Salesforce, and Slack, and has been a long-standing contributor to the agile and lean product communities. His work on shared understanding — the idea that the goal of any product conversation is building a shared mental model, not producing documentation — has influenced how product teams think about collaboration and communication.
“Known for: User Story Mapping — the practice of visually organizing user stories into a coherent narrative of the user experience, enabling teams to see the whole product story before committing to any part of it. His focus on shared understanding as the true deliverable of product discovery has shaped agile product practice globally.”
Petra Wille
Petra Wille is a Hamburg-based product leadership coach and the author of Strong Product People: A Complete Resource for Becoming a Better Product Leader (2021) — one of the few books written
…Petra Wille is a Hamburg-based product leadership coach and the author of Strong Product People: A Complete Resource for Becoming a Better Product Leader (2021) — one of the few books written specifically for Directors and VPs of Product who manage other product managers rather than individual products. She has worked with product leaders across Europe and globally, coaching on people management, team structure, and product culture. Her practice is focused on the often-overlooked work of managing up, building product cultures, and developing the structured approaches to 1:1s, feedback, and PM career development that separate strong product leaders from those who default to being senior individual contributors. She is particularly well regarded for her work on product maturity models — helping organizations understand where they are and what they need to develop to reach the next stage.
“Known for: Strong Product People — a structured handbook for product leaders on how to coach, develop, and manage PMs effectively. Her product maturity models and people management frameworks have become widely used tools for Directors and VPs navigating the transition from practitioner to leader of leaders.”
