Building Products from Zero: What Really Matters When You’re the First PM
When I joined Merge as their first Product Manager, I essentially had a blank slate.
It was initially paralyzing, but also liberating when I realized I had the potential to build a product function in the way that I thought would be most impactful.
After navigating those early months and helping build our product organization over the last 2.5 years, I've learned that most conventional wisdom about product management assumes you already have established processes, clear user segments, and reliable data streams. When you're starting from scratch, those assumptions break down entirely.
Here are my takeaways on building a product function from the ground up.
1. Listen Before You Framework
Every product management framework assumes you understand your users and their core problems.
At an early stage, that assumption is dangerous.
I spent my first weeks conducting 1:1s with our entire team—not to build consensus, but to understand what they were observing that I wasn't seeing yet. The questions that cut through noise fastest: What do you see as our biggest problems and opportunities? And do we have actual visibility into those areas through customer feedback or data? Simple questions, but they reveal whether you're operating on assumptions or evidence.
I also made it a practice to listen in on sales calls in our open office. It’s not the most glamorous research method, but nothing replaces hearing a prospect say "this would save us 20 hours a week" versus "this seems interesting." And while all the calls have been helpful, I found the renewal calls to be especially useful. Customers tend to be the most honest then because there’s money at stake.
2. Build Principles, Not Processes
Once you have that baseline, you can establish your core product principles. These became our decision-making foundation when we needed to move quickly without perfect information.
One principle that emerged was that even though we're building B2B software, we shouldn’t lower our design and usability standards. This principle influenced countless product decisions and became part of our competitive differentiation.
Another principle we apply is to say “user” as much as possible. This was actually a lesson I learned from my manager at Apple, but it pushes us at Merge to always put users at the center of product decisions.
We’ve found that these principles scale better than processes because they guide judgment rather than dictate steps. As we grew, team members could make aligned decisions without waiting for explicit approval on every choice.
3. Execute Fast, Learn Faster
The advantage startups have over larger companies is a smaller, more forgiving user base and fewer decision makers.
You can experiment and ship without the layers of approval that slow down established organizations. And you can avoid process-heavy approaches that may not fit your context yet.
At Apple, I went through multiple layers of manager and leadership review just to ship an A/B experiment. At Merge, I had to become comfortable with approving features myself and shipping them. It was initially daunting, but it forced me to build product intuition and trust my judgment in real time.
I’ve also learned that you need to embrace: extreme ownership and document decisions in writing. When you're moving quickly, verbal agreements and assumed understanding create confusion later. Write it down. Own the outcome. These habits only become more valuable as you scale.
4. Metrics Can Mislead in the Early Stages
This may sound counterintuitive, but I didn't obsess over metrics during our early months. We were a small team, I was speaking with dozens of customers weekly, and we had high conviction about the value of what we were building. We monitored the data but relied heavily on qualitative insights and gut instinct.
When you're still discovering product-market fit, metrics can be misleading. Low conversion rates might indicate your product isn't ready, or they might mean you're targeting the wrong customer segment. Rather than get lost in the data, direct customer conversations will tell you which scenario you're facing.
As your product matures, you’ll want to selectively pick metrics to help guide customer conversations and research. That said, the value of metrics at Merge—and in other B2B companies—may never rival that of B2C companies. Ultimately, developing and using customer intuition is more important.
Build a Foundation That Endures
When you're building from zero, you don't need perfect frameworks or comprehensive processes. You need clarity about the problem you're solving, the discipline to execute consistently, and the humility to listen and adapt quickly.
If you can do that, you’ll not only delight your customers and help your company grow but you’ll also meet your career ambitions—whether that’s leading a team or managing a market-leading product.
Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for more product management resources and guides, plus the latest podcasts, interviews, and other insights from industry leaders and experts.
