Decide what gets built. Prove it was the right call.
Product managers sit between the customer, the Tech Founder and the team that builds. You decide what matters most, turn it into a clear plan and make sure it ships. At an early tech startup you do it with real customers, a real backlog and real results you can reference.
Voluntary and fully remote. Up to three hours a day across a 60 Volunteer day term. No product title needed to begin.
The role everyone wants, and few get the chance to prove.
Product management is hard to enter because employers want evidence that you can make good product decisions, and you rarely get to make them without the title. A Volunteer Term at a tech startup gives you the decisions, the team and the customers, so you leave with evidence rather than ambition.
Real decisions
Prioritise a live backlog and see the result of every call you make.
Real customers
Run interviews, read the feedback and turn it into what gets built next.
Real results
Shipped features and moved metrics, with a reference from the Tech Founder.
What a product manager owns.
The exact scope depends on the tech startup and its stage. These are the four areas you would typically own during a Volunteer Term.
Discovery
Find out what customers need and which problems are worth solving.
Roadmap and backlog
Decide what comes now, next and later, and keep the backlog in order.
Delivery
Help design and engineering ship the right thing, on time.
Measurement
Show whether what shipped actually made a difference.
Collaborate with the people who build it.
A product manager rarely builds alone. You will collaborate every day with designers and developers, and their pathways are open too.
UI/UX Design
The designers who turn your problem statements into flows, prototypes and tested screens.
Front-end and back-end development
The developers who build what you prioritise, across front-end, back-end and full stack.
Vue.js at tech startups
Understand the front-end technology many of our tech startups build with, including SkilledUp Life itself.
The product development team
See every role in a startup product team, from business analysis to DevOps and product marketing.
Leave with a delivery record, not a list of courses.
Every Volunteer Term leaves you with evidence an employer can see and check.
A roadmap you owned
Priorities you set, with the reasoning and evidence behind each one.
User stories that shipped
Stories and acceptance criteria that became live features.
Customer insight
Interview notes and findings that changed what the team built.
Results you can quote
Adoption, activation or retention numbers you helped move.
A Tech Founder reference
A reference from the Tech Founder you collaborated with.
A global community
Connections with designers, developers and founders across 158+ countries.
Start in three steps.
Three simple moves to begin building demonstrable product management experience.
Create your profile
Sign up and set out the product decisions you have made, in any role, honestly.
Match with a tech startup
Apply to product management opportunities, up to three at a time.
Own the outcome
Agree the outcome brief, post daily and weekly updates, and deliver from Day 1.
Do not wait for the title. Earn the evidence.
Lead a real product at a real tech startup for a 60 Volunteer day term. Free, fully remote and flexible.