Time flies when you’re busy.
Since November, nothing. Radio silence.
And yet, behind the scenes, there has never been so much going on.
So why the absence?
A simple ambition… but more complex than expected
From the start, my goal has been clear: share concrete lessons about product management, so that others can use them, and so that I can keep growing. Not abstract concepts. Not disconnected frameworks. The real thing. Lived experience. Something actionable.
That is the spirit in which Impact Factories was born. A 400-page book. A work of fiction. Characters. A startup on the brink of failure. And, as the story unfolds, product decisions. Trade-offs. Tensions.
On paper, the idea was perfect: live an entrepreneurial experience run with product expertise, for the price of a book! In reality… it turned out to be more demanding than expected.
The reality trap
In trying to stay true to reality, I made a choice: not to simplify.
Every product decision was handled with its full complexity:
- its impacts
- its dependencies
- its uncertainties
The result? Rich content… but dense. Very dense.
The first reader feedback was clear:
“It’s fascinating… but hard to digest.”
I had a format problem.
Two years of Product Meetup SXB: reality in the field
At the same time, another adventure took up a lot of room: the Product Meetup SXB community, launched with Alsace Digitale.
The principle is simple: no talks. No slides. No theory. Product professionals and entrepreneurs get together to work on real problems, live.
At the start of the session, some participants put forward a real issue they are facing:
“I don’t know whether I should build for mobile or desktop.”
“I can’t manage to convince my customers.”
“We have too many requests, I don’t know what to prioritize.”
Participants then choose the topic they want to work on. Groups of 3 to 5 people form. And for 1 hour we understand and challenge the problem, then propose concrete leads to help the person who brought the problem move forward.
Very quickly, the discussion goes beyond the initial problem. A “mobile vs desktop” choice becomes a question of understanding users. A sales problem reveals a lack of clarity about the target or the value. An unmanageable backlog brings to light the absence of prioritization. In one hour, the problem changes nature. And above all, it becomes actionable.
In two years:
- nearly 250 members
- around fifty workshops and issues tackled
The moment that changes everything
What struck me most was not the solutions we found. It was the workshops with entrepreneurs. Often, an entrepreneur arrives with a simple question. Each time, the words change. The situations seem different. But when you dig, a common reality emerges. He realizes that:
- he doesn’t really know his target customers
- he has stayed in a comfort zone (often technical, sometimes creative), producing again and again behind his screen
- he has never really thought through what it takes to make his product exist: selling, distributing, iterating
His problem is not the choice of channel (PC or mobile), the difficulty convincing people, or even his income level. His problem is that he builds without a method, at the risk of a fatal failure!
A frustration… and a decision
What does it mean when an entrepreneur fails?
- Many financial sacrifices
- Many moments with family and friends sacrificed
- An intense work situation where all of a person’s energy is focused on a project that carries many dreams
- Many moments of doubt and loneliness that call into question their abilities, their legitimacy, their reason for being
It’s a monumental waste!
Over time, one observation became obvious during these workshops. Many entrepreneurs:
- discover product management and decision-making methods for moving forward too late
- become aware of past mistakes but don’t know where to start to correct them
So how can we help them? My book is too dense when they need something ready to use, and the Product Meetup SXB events are too short when they need ongoing support.
An experiment in progress
So I decided to move to the next step. Select a few entrepreneurs. Support them. Observe. Understand:
- what really blocks them
- what unblocks them quickly
- what can be simplified
The long-term goal is not to help “case by case”. The goal is to build a replicable format. A format that makes it possible:
- to get started quickly
- without mental overload
- with real impact
What I am really building
Looking back, I realize I am not “looking for a format”. I am designing a product. A product based on:
- real situations
- concrete problems
- lessons tested in the field
The Impact Factories book was only the starting point. What comes next is taking shape… differently.
What now?
I don’t have the final form yet, and this work takes time alongside my already very demanding job. I now have real cases, recurring patterns, first results… something will emerge from all this, and I hope you will benefit from it.
The next posts will be different.
So yes, it’s taking a little longer than planned. But this time, it won’t just be content. It will be something you can really use.
