Two decades in product management have taught me a lot. Not surprisingly, product management is a tough job, but simultaneously, it's the most rewarding and influential role in a company. In young startups, founders hold this responsibility, which forms the foundation of the company's existence. They define the customer problems to solve and establish the company's direction, sometimes pivoting multiple times to identify a commercially viable, compelling problem. Once the product achieves consistent and repeatable sales (online or through a sales rep with specific instructions), it has reached product-market fit, marking the perfect time to introduce and formalize product management. This transition moves the day-to-day responsibilities from the founders to the product managers, freeing up bandwidth for the founders to scale the company (while they remain intimately involved in the product vision and strategy).