I Help Founders Build Successful Products & Product Teams.

If Product isn’t your bright spot, I can help.

One-on-one advising & contract product leadership focused on coaching your team on the skills and practices that drive success.

Head and torso shot of Aaron Gray, leaning forward, toward the camera, against a desk.

Common Product Management Problems Holding You Back

The CEO still owns product and is becoming a bottleneck; doesn’t have time to be in the weeds

Different product managers going in different directions, working in different ways toward different ends

Inability to plan due to constantly shifting and unclear priorities, stakeholder disagreements

Conflict between product, engineering, and the business over what gets worked on and when

The business lacks visibility into near term and long term roadmaps; sales selling things that don’t exist

Sales and marketing are hampered by a fuzzy value proposition; prospects aren’t engaging

I Can Help You Move the Needle

6 Month 1-on-1 Product Advisory

For founders, CEOs, or product leaders who want someone in their corner providing support & guidance on the development of a product strategy and the creation of the product management function (or up-leveling of an existing product management team).

10 sessions over 6 months + ad hoc access to me

  • Create and document a product vision so it’s not just in your head, but creating alignment for your team

  • Build a roadmap to organize your feature ideas (your backlog) so you’re building toward the product vision

  • Figure out how to balance building toward your vision vs. iterating on existing features

  • Decide if Product Led Growth is right for you and learn how to overlay it’s frameworks on your vision, roadmap, and practices

  • Learn how to effectively plan at the quarterly level

  • Isolate & change negative practices to improve organizational alignment

  • Identify the ideal team structure and roles and create a hiring plan to get there

Product Vision Focus

For company and product leaders struggling to align decision making around a common vision for the product.

4 sessions over 2 months

  • Identify core user groups and the problems they have that you want to solve

  • Brainstorm ways to expand the problems you solve or the users you serve

  • Produce a multi-year vision document that illustrates how you imagine your product evolving to solve those problems for identified users

Roadmap Focus

For product leaders with a product vision and a backlog of ideas (from stakeholders & customers) unsure how to prioritize (and what to ignore).

4 sessions over 2 months

  • Learn how to balance building toward vision vs. iterating existing features vs. fixing bugs

  • Figure out if you’re product- or sales-led and how that impacts your roadmap

  • Identify and implement the best prioritization frameworks for your business

Quarterly Planning Focus

For product leaders with a long list of things to deliver who struggle to plan development work beyond the next sprint or project.

4 sessions over 2 months

  • Learn the building blocks and practices required to implement an effective quarterly planning cadence

  • Workshop your first quarterly plan draft; develop a plan for effecting other organizational changes needed to support quarterly planning

Value Proposition Focus

For product leaders and CEOs who can’t explain what their product does, for whom, and why it’s valuable in one or two sentences

4 sessions over 2 months

  • Workshop your value proposition in story form; learn to tell that story in one or two sentences

  • Make it easier for sales and marketing to do their job by giving them a clear, compelling story foundation

Or, I Can Move the Needle For You

Contract Product Leadership

For CEOs who need an experienced product leader to step in, clarify the product vision, ensure alignment on product strategy, and establish product management practices that will guide product growth into the future.

Variable duration

  • Temporary leadership of the product management function

  • Product strategy, product discovery, product vision, backlog management, roadmap planning, building the team, and coaching / mentoring as needed

  • "Aaron possesses a remarkable ability to strategize and execute..."

    Hannah Greenberg
    CEO, Eleven Software

  • "Aaron will help you challenge yourself and grow as a product practitioner and as a leader."

    Viki Marras
    Director, Product Management

  • Outdoors headshot of Laleña Daigneault-Mestre.

    "Aaron shares hard truths in a helpful way and provides clear and specific encouragement that builds your confidence."

    Laleña Daigneault-Mestre
    VP, Product Operations

Read more

Getting Product Management Right Is Hard.
You Don’t Have to Figure It Out on Your Own.

A clearly defined vision and an effective product management team that delivers value are essential to building a successful, product-led company.  Everything hinges on your product (and on your product team); learning how to get those details right is critical to your success.  You’re not alone, and you can’t do everything yourself. I can help you deliver a successful product.

Schedule a discovery call and let’s talk. 

Head and shoulders shot of Aaron Gray, sitting, leaning back in a chair.