Identify learning objectives

Explain what software is and the difference between applications, operating systems, and databases

Describe what cloud computing is and the differences between IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS

Explain what an API is and why APIs are critical for business integration and platform strategies

Describe what a technology stack is and how front-end and back-end systems interact

Explain the concept of platforms and how they create value by connecting different user groups

Describe what data infrastructure is and its core components (e.g., data warehouses, data lakes)

Explain the business implications of open-source software and its role in the tech ecosystem

Explain what technical debt is and how it impacts business decisions and product development speed

Describe the software development lifecycle from concept to launch and maintenance

Explain the difference between waterfall and agile development methodologies

Describe the purpose of sprints, standups, and retrospectives in the Scrum framework

Explain the roles of engineers, designers, and product managers in building products

Describe what a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is and its strategic purpose

Explain the difference between product discovery and product delivery

Describe what A/B testing is and how it's used to make data-informed product decisions

Explain how product managers work with engineering, design, and other business teams

Analyze the SaaS business model, defining Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) and Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR)

Define and calculate customer churn rate and revenue churn rate for subscription businesses

Analyze the two-sided marketplace model, defining Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and take rate

Analyze the unit economics of a marketplace, including contribution margin and network liquidity

Analyze advertising-based business models, defining Daily Active Users (DAU), Monthly Active Users (MAU), and Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

Describe the freemium business model and its role in user acquisition

Explain common strategies for converting free users to paying customers in a freemium model

Analyze examples of hybrid business models that combine multiple revenue streams

Define and calculate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

Analyze the LTV to CAC ratio and its importance for assessing business viability and growth potential

Define unit economics and explain its importance for assessing profitability at a transactional level

Describe what cohort analysis is and how it's used to understand user behavior over time

Explain the concept of a North Star Metric and how companies use it to align the organization

Describe what a conversion funnel is and how its stages are measured

Explain the AARRR (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue) framework for customer lifecycle analysis

Describe common methods used to identify optimization opportunities in a conversion funnel

Explain what network effects are and why they create powerful competitive advantages

Describe different types of network effects (e.g., direct, indirect, two-sided)

Explain what switching costs are and how tech companies create them to improve customer retention

Describe the concept of 'winner-take-all' or 'winner-take-most' markets

Explain what platform ecosystems are and how they differ from traditional supply chains

Describe how tech companies use data as a strategic asset and competitive moat

Explain what Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at a conceptual level and provide examples of its business applications

Differentiate between product-led growth (PLG) and sales-led growth (SLG) strategies

Describe the role and key responsibilities of a product manager in a tech company

Explain how product vision, strategy, and roadmaps are interconnected

Describe qualitative methods for identifying customer needs (e.g., user interviews, usability testing)

Describe quantitative methods for identifying customer needs (e.g., surveys, product usage data analysis)

Explain what product-market fit is and how to assess whether a product has achieved it

Explain the purpose of prioritization in product management

Describe how to use a prioritization framework like RICE or MoSCoW

Describe the Kano model and how it helps prioritize features based on customer satisfaction

Describe the components of a go-to-market (GTM) strategy for a new product or feature

Explain different customer acquisition channels and their trade-offs (e.g., paid, organic, sales, partnerships)

Describe what user stories and acceptance criteria are in product development

Describe growth loops and viral mechanisms in consumer and business products

Explain the primary goal of optimization at each stage of the customer journey

Describe how to define a pricing and packaging strategy for a software product

Explain how to create a product launch plan

Describe how to measure the success of a product post-launch using key performance indicators (KPIs)

Describe typical organizational structures in tech companies and how they evolve with scale

Explain what OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) are and how they're used for alignment and accountability

Describe the role of business operations ('BizOps') in scaling a tech company

Explain the difference between project management and program management in a tech context

Explain agile project management practices (Scrum, Kanban) and when to use them

Describe how a product backlog and release plan serve as the 'project plan' in an agile context

Describe common agile metrics for tracking project progress, such as burndown charts and velocity

Explain how the DevOps philosophy improves software delivery speed and reliability from a business perspective

Describe the key components and structure of a financial model for a tech startup

Explain how to model revenue projections based on different tech business models (e.g., SaaS, marketplace)

Explain how to forecast key expenses specific to tech companies (e.g., R&D, Sales & Marketing, cloud costs)

Define and calculate burn rate and runway for a venture-backed company

Describe how tech companies are typically valued (e.g., revenue multiples, DCF, comparables)

Explain the 'Rule of 40' and other financial benchmarks for assessing the health of SaaS companies

Explain the economics of scaling in tech businesses, focusing on marginal costs and operating leverage

Describe the key financial metrics and business data presented in a typical board deck

Contrast common leadership styles in traditional industries with those prevalent in tech

Describe key principles for effectively leading and motivating product and engineering teams

Describe strategies for leading non-technical teams (e.g., marketing, sales) to ensure alignment with product goals

Explain how cross-functional teams operate in tech and the leader's role in facilitating them

Describe strategies for managing stakeholders and communicating technical concepts to non-technical audiences

Identify common challenges when transitioning from a traditional industry to a tech leadership role

Describe how to translate experience from traditional industries into a compelling narrative for tech roles

Outline a personal action plan for networking and applying for management roles in the tech industry