Program Overview

Yes!

The program can be expensed under L&D, professional development, or conference budgets. Here is a guide and an email template we prepared to help persuade your manager or HR to cover the cost.

We are also happy to provide a certificate of completion or any other document your company may require to help you justify the cost. Email us at jump@aheadofproduct.com if you have any questions or requests.

It goes for 6 weeks with an online session every week. To achieve the best results, you should join every session and also block 2-3 hours in your weekly calendar to make progress on your own.

Once you submit your application, we will review it within 48 hours and invite you to a 30-min “get-to-know” interview. We value every single application we receive, but because the cohort is limited, we cannot guarantee 100% acceptance. So there is a chance you might land on the waiting list.

An interview is an essential step in our process that allows us to build a dynamic, vibrant, and diverse group where all the participants share a similar goal. Once we confirm your spot in the next cohort, you will need to complete the payment and acknowledge our terms and conditions to secure your spot.

We screen candidates for this program along with the following criteria:

1+ year of PM experience.

Ahead of Product career program was explicitly created for PMs ready to own and actively develop their careers. Some of the best career opportunities are available to us within the same company; so you will get better results if you haven’t changed your organization in the past 12 months.

At least some Product department exists.

While we encourage applying PMs from all the companies, it might be hard to achieve results if you are the only product manager in your organization. Our program requires leading a cross-functional initiative that can serve as a foundation for your skill-building and promotion.

You will get the best results when you have a large pool of product peers, several product leaders, and a variety of stakeholders. However, if your company is entertaining the possibility of your promotion to leadership, or you want to prepare yourself to transition to leadership in a bigger company soon, we’ll be happy to welcome you to the program and support your growth.

Career growth is a priority.

Ahead of Product helps unlock a product manager’s career growth. It offers frameworks and builds the skills and mindset necessary to cross the chasm that separates an individual contributor from a leader. Therefore, we prioritize applicants who are serious about their career growth at this point in their journey and are willing to roll up their sleeves to achieve the goal.

Having walked in the PM’s shoes in the past, we understand how much work is on their plates. However, we also recognize that significant jumps in our careers do not happen on their own. When we want something bad enough for a very good reason, we can overcome any challenges that come our way, including time commitments.

While we’ve validated our approach and frameworks with our direct reports and clients, we don’t want to overpromise on anything we cannot deliver. Your money and time are valuable, and sometimes both may be better off investing in a different program.

Ahead of Product career program may not be a good investment of your time and money if:

• You’ve only been recently promoted to your current PM role. We understand you may feel excited and ready to keep going; however, it is unlikely for your current company to promote you again within the next 6 months.
• You are looking for a quick hack. We’ve invested hundreds of hours in designing, validating, and offering our framework and approach to our product teams and clients to help them unlock career growth. We’ve seen the most impactful results when senior product managers put an ongoing effort into reaching their goals. This program is not a shortcut and requires a deliberate and sustained approach.
• You have a lot of commitments outside of work and are limited on time. If you anticipate a busy season for yourself in the next few months, we recommend adding yourself to the waitlist or waiting until we open our next cohort.
• You are driven only by the financial upside of a leader’s role. While everyone has their reasons for becoming product leaders and people managers, and we cannot judge any of them, the motivation fueled solely by financial gains may not be sustainable given the effort required for this program. We are confident you may be able to uncover a deeper reason for a transition; in this case, we recommend reflecting on the question of, “Why do you want to be a leader?” before submitting your application.

Between 10 and 20 participants.

Based on our past facilitation experience, we’ve seen magic happen in medium-sized groups. While smaller groups might feel more intimate and larger cohorts invite even more diverse thinking and experience, both approaches fail to cultivate healthy, cohesive, vibrant, and transformative group dynamics.

We recommend setting aside at least 3 hours a week for weekly sessions, individual assignments, project work, and connecting with your program peers. Time investment tends to be proportional to the outcomes our participants achieve.

Ahead of Product is designed with a mastermind concept at its core and it combines the best of many worlds:

• Strong curriculum. We have built a flexible and scalable framework that helps our participants build the skillset and mindset necessary to transition from an individual contributor to a product leader.
• Hands-on practical part. The essence of the program is an ongoing project work that takes the shape of a high-visibility cross-functional initiative you will be leading. Along with other skills built during our time together, this project would serve as a foundation for your promotion.
• Personal “board of directors.” A dedicated group of passionate high-achievers like you will act as peer mentors by supporting and challenging you to move beyond constraints and limiting beliefs.
• Coaches – experienced product leaders. We structure, facilitate and guide discussions and exploration during our sessions together, uncovering the “secrets” of product leadership one aha moment at a time.

The group meets online every week for 2 hours. We welcome participants from anywhere in the world. With that said, time zones may not be optimal for all the participants. We will do our best to find a slot that works for everyone. This is also why we start the application process from the interview.

We understand life can be unpredictable, and our hearts and minds change. We refund 100% no questions asked if that happens 5 days before the cohort starts. Send us an email at jump@aheadofproduct.com.

If you change your plans after the cohort has started, please let us know as soon as possible! It might break the group dynamic but we are sure we will find a way in this case too.