Defining a Cross-Portfolio Product Vision for VP-Level Manufacturing Buyers

August 2025 – October 2025

🔍 Background

Our organization faced a recurring go-to-market challenge: multiple product teams were selling into manufacturing enterprises with no unified narrative, competing roadmaps, and fragmented messaging. This made it difficult for VP-level buyers to understand how our products fit together—and for internal teams to articulate a cohesive vision.

The Product Director approached me for help driving alignment. My goal was to create clarity across teams, build a customer-anchored product vision, and validate it directly with VP-level manufacturing decision-makers.

đź—» Process

Step 1: Vision prototyping with AI and existing research
I began by synthesizing prior research, expert insights, and domain knowledge to rapidly prototype early vision concepts and use cases, and then leveraged GPT to enhance these use cases. This allowed us to explore strategic narratives quickly before investing in cross-team coordination. When prototyping the vision, I borrowed the framework Ebi Atawodi introduced at Lenny’s podcast, which received great feedback from the PMs I worked with.

2. Cross-portfolio workshop with six product teams
I facilitated several co-work sessions/workshops with PM leads across six product areas. The session surfaced overlaps, gaps, and new opportunities—especially as teams from five different business units mapped their visions horizontally for the first time. This allowed us to converge on a unified set of customer-critical use cases.

3. Co-design and concept feedback with VP-level buyers
I ran an in-depth concept feedback and co-design session with 8 VP-level manufacturing leaders. We tested resonance, unmet needs, adoption barriers, and strategic priorities. Their reactions helped us refine the use cases, sharpen the GTM narrative, and strengthen the long-term product direction.

4. Final vision & GTM strategy development
I collaborated with the Product Director and Outbound Lead to synthesize findings into:

  • A unified product vision narrative
  • A cross-portfolio roadmap anchored in validated customer priorities
  • GTM messaging recommendations for executive audiences

These deliverables were shared across teams to guide both product and commercial strategy.

đź”­ Impact

  • Unified Product Vision Across Teams and Strengthened Internal Alignment — Multiple product and BU teams aligned for the first time on a shared vision and roadmap validated by VP-level buyers. Enabled teams to speak a common language around customer value, reducing duplication and clarifying ownership.
  • Influence on BU Strategy (2–3 Years) — The research-informed vision directly shaped the business unit’s forward-looking strategy and cross-portfolio investment priorities.
  • Strategic GTM Recommendations — Provided a cohesive narrative and messaging strategy for enterprise manufacturing customers, enhancing the vertical sales motion.

✍️ Lessons Learned

  • A strong product vision is an alignment tool. When thoughtfully crafted, it empowers internal teams and resonates deeply with executive buyers.
  • AI-enhanced prototyping accelerates strategic work. Inspired by vision prototyping techniques from Lenny’s Podcast, I used AI tools to generate early narratives and use cases quickly—creating a foundation for deeper cross-team collaboration.
  • Innovation requires breaking old rituals. The most valuable insights came from horizontal conversations across BUs—revealing use cases and pain points that no single team could see in isolation.