A platform's immediate user is the developer. However, to demonstrate true value, you must also understand and solve for the developer's end customer. This "two-hop" thinking is essential for connecting platform work to tangible business outcomes, not just internal technical improvements.

When Irembo's new payment product's main customer was an internal platform generating 99% of revenue, they mandated weekly external customer interviews for the new PM. This created a crucial counterbalance, ensuring the product was built for the market, not just its powerful internal stakeholder.

To prevent its new mobile app from simply replicating its existing web platform, Irembo framed the mobile team's goal as competing with the web team. Their key metric was shifting user traffic from web to mobile for the same services. This created a competitive dynamic that forced innovation and differentiation.

To build trust and deliver value, product managers cannot be 'tourists' who drop in on other departments transactionally. They must become 'locals'—deeply integrated, trusted partners who are regulars in cross-functional conversations and are seen as being 'in the battle' together with sales, marketing, and other teams.

In an organization still running in project mode, the 'Product Manager' title is misleading. The role is often relegated to organizing work and scheduling tasks for engineering. A true product model requires empowering these roles with the mandate, skills, and market access to make strategic decisions.

Avoid the trap of building features for a single customer, which grinds products to a halt. When a high-stakes customer makes a specific request, the goal is to reframe and build it in a way that benefits the entire customer base, turning a one-off demand into a strategic win-win.

Unvalidated product ideas often originate from executive leadership or adjacent departments. A product manager's critical role is to use disciplined stakeholder management and clear communication to maintain focus on solving validated user problems, rather than simply executing on top-down directives.

When Irembo shifted to a platform model, it neglected to update its sales team on new, standardized features. Sales continued fielding custom requests for solved problems and couldn't articulate the platform's full value, revealing a critical sales enablement gap during product-led transitions.

Instead of debating individual features, establish a clear "perspective" for your product. Artist's perspective as a "push-based product for quick insights" makes it easy to reject requests that don't align, like building an in-house video hosting tool. This aligns the entire organization and simplifies the roadmap.