It's the 1960s, you're fresh out of college & got a job as a product manager in an Indian pressure cooker manufacturing company

“What nonsense,” you say, “what will a PM do in a pressure cooker company? There was no internet in the 60s”

Time for a long thread.

1/15

So, a good thing for you, your predecessors have done a decent job in creating a market for pressure cookers.

They gave many door-to-door demos on “how to use a pressure cooker” to housewives & now pressure cookers have a presence in many Indian kitchens.

2/15

There is a small problem though.

Your cookers are bursting, people are dying or getting injured & nobody wants to use your product.

Don’t worry my young PM friend. I know you are a data-driven PM. Just like TT Jagannathan, CEO of Prestige Cookers.

3/15

A closer look at the data tells you that more cookers are bursting up in North India compared to South.

Now a word of caution fellow PM, don’t talk to the distributors/middlemen, they'll never tell you the bad news. Travel to UP, talk to a humble shopkeeper directly.

4/15

While your cooker is meant to last 50 years, the safety valve has a shorter life span.

So, your users are opting for inferior quality duplicate spare parts & that is resulting in the burst.

5/15

While the temporary way out would be to provide an additional safety valve but we both know that is attacking the symptom.

You need to innovate or your product will die.

6/15

Also, we are in the 1970s & western countries have enough bursting pressure cookers & are moving towards microwave ovens.

They don’t eat “Tadke wali dal” on a daily basis. They have no incentive to fix the bursting cooker. The onus is on you, my smart Indian PM friend.

7/15

In comes, Gasket Release System.

This is how it worked: “Whenever the cooker was overloaded or the safety valve blocked, the rubber ring (gasket) would be pushed out through a slot in the lid, thus releasing the excess steam!”

Your product has arrived.

8/15

It's the 80s now. You've a product-market fit. Time for the marketing department to kick-in. You need a campaign that appeals to the emotional chord of your users

Something like “Jo biwi se kare pyaar, woh Prestige se kaise kare inkaar”

My PM friend, You'll rule the 80s.

9/15

But do not go gentle into that good night. 1991 liberalization is here.

Time to diversify. You have customer trust on your side, (since no one is dying now from cooker bursting).

You would be launching Mixer, Ghar-Ganti, Non-stick cookware. Doubling down.

10/15

Let’s pause & talk about non-stick cookware. My PM friend, you can’t use a metal spoon with non-stick cookware. It would remove the non-stick layer

Oh, no problem. User research shows that women will simply shift to wooden spoons while cooking with non-stick cookware.

11/15

No. They would not. The product will fail.

Time to go back to the drawing board and innovate the non-stick cookware which can handle metal spoons.

12/15

And finally, we're in the 21st century. Your user base (housewives) are now transitioning into working women. They need to wrap the cooking quickly & go to the job.

Time to replace “Jo biwi se kare pyaar..” positioning.

How about “Are you ready for a smarter kitchen?”

13/15

Product management was not invented by Steve Jobs with ipod. Sure he made a kickass product but product management has always been there.

Always innovate. Build trust. Talk to your user base.

14/15

Book "Disrupt and Conquer: How TTK Prestige Became a Billion-Dollar Business" inspired me to write this thread.

15/15