We Help Companies Discover & Deliver Great Products. Faster.
Our Interim/Fractional Product Managers, Owners, and Leaders quickly fill gaps, scale your team, or lead key initiatives during transitions. We onboard swiftly, align teams, and deliver results.
Clients from Startups to Publicly Listed Companies
Cross-Functional Teams Effectively Supported
In-House Product Managers & Product Leaders
We deliver great products while upskilling your team.
On average, it takes 3-9 months to hire the right full-time Product Manager. Meanwhile, key initiatives still need leadership, decisions must be made, and development teams require guidance. We fill this gap, deliver results, and ensure a smooth transition for new hires, setting them up for success.
Interim Product Managers or Product Leaders
Cover parental leaves for 3-12 months or unstaffed permanent roles while hiring takes 3-9 months. Get temporary support to drive product discovery, meet deadlines, and make a big impact in a short time.
Product Discovery Lead
Discover the next impactful initiative or product, from market and user research to business model. Run a low or no-code pilot/MVP: ideate, align the team, launch, and kick off the next iteration.
Product Coach or Consultant
Coach your Product Management team to reach their full potential. Build and streamline processes from the ground up, including Product Operations and Program Management. Restructure or scale the team when necessary.
We have experience in scaling both B2C and B2B products.
We've achieved great results across industries like mobility, e-commerce, health tech, travel, EdTech, cybersecurity, real estate, FinTech, and more. Our expertise covers product growth, retention, payments, platform development, integrations, and data products.
Product Strategy and Roadmapping
Web, Mobile and Platform Products
Continuous Product Discovery and User Research
Cross-Functional Team Collaboration
High Traffic and/or Complex Digital Products
From Discovery to Launch to Scaling and Beyond
Want to understand how we can support your team?
We're excited to learn more
A high level of ambiguity and technical challenge did not discourage Product People from instant onboarding and excellent execution.
They were a great leader for our product team. Their onboarding was impressively quick, and they managed to support me from the first week. Collaborating with them was always easy, straightforward, and output-driven
We Onboard Blazing Fast
Our experienced interim Product Managers onboard fast as we are accustomed to switching teams and projects. This makes us more agile and capable of handling onboarding easily while bringing in a fresh perspective and new ideas.
110+
Years of Product Management
20+
Languages
25+
Nationalities
PhDs - MBAs
Qualifications
Benefit from the Hive Brain of our Product Managers
All our PMs are full-time, hired through a rigorous 7-step process, and receive mentoring, a yearly learning budget, and paid learning days. They share knowledge, collaborate, and draw from 100+ years of combined PM experience.
3 - 10 Days
to kickoff from contract signing date. Yes we can start ASAP.
2 Weeks
onboarding time for our Product Managers. We start contributing fast.
Flexible contracts that fit your needs 4 weeks cancelation
Our Interim Product Managers onboard fast as we are accustomed to switching teams, products, and industries every 3-6 months and have a playbook that we update with each new client engagement.
How We Discover and Deliver Great Products Faster
The PMs from Product People are very well structured and excel at coordinating people, managing stakeholders, and ensuring that products and processes are well-documented. A strength is their ability to quickly onboard to a new team and be effective in a short space of time. They are clear communicators and effective working within complex matrix organizations. I wouldn't hesitate to work with them again or hire them.
Product People was a great asset to our team. They came in at very short notice and without any prior industry knowledge to get stuck into a highly technical product. They are brilliant communicators, and their ability to listen, absorb, and relay information is unbelievable. ProductPeople were key in connecting the commercial and technical teams to ultimately build and manage a vital product for the organization.
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It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Product People at FREENOW. When they joined the team, I was blown away by how quickly they were able to onboard onto various projects (with very complex problem spaces) and deliver value immediately. They’re extremely collaborative, skilled problem solvers, exceptional communicators, and their passion for product shines. They also make the workplace a fun, supportive, and a lovely place to work. I can’t recommend them enough.
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I was able to focus on my actual role. Before Product People came, I had to jump in and fill the void. Once their team was onboarded, I could focus on strategy, team development, and the individual growth paths of the team members again.
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Product People provided strong leadership, both for the product and for us as PMs. They onboarded quickly and directly took responsibility for the product department. They were actively guiding our ideas with clear communication while giving us as PMs the autonomy to make our own decisions. Their vast product experience helped us a lot and generated many new approaches.
I had the pleasure of working with Product People for a few months at Zalando. I was amazed by their ability to quickly integrate into the team. From day one, they contributed to projects, showing a strong capacity to get things done. Product People definitely made a dramatic difference in our team's productivity. I strongly recommend them!
Diverse team of 50+
Product Managers & Product Leaders
Women Including Leadership
Locations and Languages
Unbiased Hiring Process Steps
Frequently Asked Questions
We're usually available to start ASAP, meaning 3-10 business days from the moment our contract is signed. In some cases, it was the next day.
We bill for time and material. Our day rate depends on the seniority of the client-facing representative, contract length (3+ months), allocation (2-4 days/week), volume, and complexity. We're happy to extend an offer once we understand the scope of work and your needs better. Schedule a call to help us prepare an offer for you.
ASAP Availability: Hiring a full-time employee takes 3-9 months from publishing the job to their first day at your company. We manage our “bus factor” and ensure service continuation without losing knowledge or momentum, even if our representatives become unavailable on short notice (e.g., COVID-19).
Flexibility without liability: A full-time employee comes with a lot of responsibility and liability. We're a service provider, and our services have 4 weeks' notice to allow for a smooth handover if your plans change. Unlike layoffs, there's no team morale impact, as we always aim to exit on a high note and leave things in order. Many of our clients have returned at a later date thanks to this approach.
Mitigate Opportunitycost: A development team in Europe costs €500,000-€1,000,000/year with overhead. Try a back-of-napkin calculation with the opportunity cost from not launching a critical initiative the right way or having them spend time on low-value initiatives. Although more difficult to quantify, decreased team morale and communication breakdown can also happen when a Product Manager is missing for too long.
Talented and ambitious Product Managers join us to accelerate their careers and see behind the curtain of Europe’s best product companies, instead of potentially stagnating in one company or sector and working on only one product. With us, they work on a wide range of B2C and B2B products across many industries and with different company sizes (from series A+ to publicly listed). We support companies through hyper-growth, downturns, and all of life’s challenges.
Product Managers also join to work closely with and learn from other high-caliber individuals. At Product People, we focus on hiring for skills rather than solely based on CVs or past experience. We have an extensive hiring process, which you can learn about in our candidate interview guide. Our team members have comprehensive 360 feedback cycles every 3 months - not only on client work but also with internal initiatives. With a strong internal growth mentality, we actively develop and promote our people.
We take vacations seriously and also allow our PMs to recharge via paid sabbaticals and optional 4-day work weeks. Nevertheless, we take measures to provide uninterrupted service to our clients. All of our PMs are accompanied by an Associate PM, which is complimentary for the client.
This person acts as a backup to limit the “bus factor” and can step up to cover short vacations and sick leave. If the leading PM plans a longer leave, we onboard and train another PM of the same level or higher to keep the momentum. Any time invested in handovers is complimentary to the client; we will make sure that the client's team doesn't experience any overhead.
At Product People, we aim to minimize the new PM onboarding overhead for the companies by hiring the best Product Managers and training them to serve as interim PMs. This is achieved by implementing two core elements in our organization: a rigorous hiring process and weekly internal training.
Firstly, the PMs at Product People are all full-time employees of the company and have gone through a 5-step recruiting process. We do not necessarily care about the years of PM experience as long as candidates show great product sense, strong communication skills, and mental flexibility. We test product management skills and knowledge, as well as soft skills.
Secondly, we train our PMs on a portfolio of the best PM practices and how to successfully onboard to a new product and team. These two approaches help our PMs to adapt quickly in an interim role, creating impact within the first two weeks. This may involve dealing with demotivated teams and difficult stakeholders; our team is able to assess and delicately maneuver the cultural landscape. As all of our PMs have worked in multiple industries, they are not afraid of dealing with new topics and can always lean on the rest of the Product People team for advice and guidance.
1. Interim Product Manager (or Product Leader)
Parental leave or extended sick leave covers usually range between 3 and 9 months. We also bridge the gap with permanent positions, while you’re searching for the right fit; this can vary from 3 to 12 months, depending on the role. We recommend a two-week overlap with your departing PM for a smooth handover and to minimize knowledge loss.We can also tackle important and urgent initiatives that your product team doesn't have the capacity for driving, product discovery, and/or delivery to meet a deadline, we can create a measurable impact in 3 months.
2. Product Coach or Consultant (or Program Manager/Product Ops)
As a coach for your product management team members, we appraise their respective skill sets and set up personal development plans. We can also help streamline product operations and grow product thinking in your company, whether during hyper-growth or at scale. Read more about the coaching options we offer.
3. Product Discovery
Discover the next impactful initiative or product using market and user research to create a clear business model. We can help run a low or no-code MVP pilot; discover, ideate, align your team, and kick off with a set budget or timeline in mind. We support your team with iterative processes to develop better products.
Yes, we are happy to fill in Product Leadership roles (CPO, Director of Product, VP Product, Head of Product, Lead PM) on an interim basis to support your company leaders taking leave (parental, sabbatical, health-related) or while you are recruiting. Our Group PMs and Senior PMs have 6-10 years in Product Management, as well as extensive experience in coaching and mentoring junior PMs.
They can also support your organization in defining a PM leveling structure, PM development plans, hiring, and onboarding strategy. You leverage their expertise, as well as that of Product People, based on hundreds of PM interviews we have conducted and over fifty PMs we have trained internally.
We can help upskill your team through structured workshops, Product Management boot camps, and individual coaching programs. For topics or activities, we don't cover, we have trusted partners and courses to which we can refer you.
Ready to discuss a project?
Book a call with us
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