Template
Product Strategy Guide + Template
A template for writing a product strategy memo — the doc executives actually read. Comes with worked examples.
What Executives Actually Want
A great product strategy doc answers: What are we trying to accomplish? What are we NOT going to do? Why now? What's the specific plan? Most PM strategy docs fail because they try to describe everything instead of making tough choices.
Template Structure
Sections to include
- 1. TL;DR — 3-sentence summary at the top
- 2. Context — where is the market/product today
- 3. Ambition — 2-year outcome we're targeting
- 4. Strategic bets — 3-5 specific bets we're making
- 5. What we're NOT doing — explicit trade-offs
- 6. Milestones — quarterly checkpoints
- 7. Risks + mitigations
Worked Examples
Consumer product strategy (Airbnb-style)
- TL;DR: Own long-term stays (28+ days) as the second core use case beyond travel
- Context: 20% of nights already 28+; hosts and guests both want purpose-built product
- Ambition: Long-term stays = 40% of nights by 2027
- Bets: Trust for both sides, monthly pricing, remote-work amenities filter
- Not doing: enterprise corporate housing (different distribution)
B2B strategy (Stripe-style)
- TL;DR: Move up-market from SMB self-serve to mid-market direct sales
- Context: Existing SMB PLG saturated; mid-market opportunity 5x larger
- Ambition: 30% ARR from mid-market by 2027
- Bets: Invoice + subscription products, direct sales team, mid-market packaging
- Not doing: Enterprise sales (needs different motion, 2026 focus)
Common Failure Modes
What weak strategy docs do
- Try to say everything → say nothing well
- Skip "what we're NOT doing" section
- No quantified 2-year outcome
- Milestones that don't map to bets
- No named owner per bet
Related Resources
Master These with a Coach
The cohort covers all of this with live feedback from FAANG PMs.