Over the last 15 years, a whole generation of app-focused PMs has emerged.
Their thinking is deeply wired into how to build and grow mobile apps.
Building mobile interfaces, optimizing onboarding flows, testing different versions of paywall screens, using paid ads, leveraging ASO. All that stuff.
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As smartphone growth slows, there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for businesses whose core value is in a mobile app.
New opportunities will open up beyond apps. And their value chains will be very different. Different skills and expertise will be required.
Look at new companies in YC. There are 0 products whose value lies solely within a mobile app.
In the latest YC batch we have B2B/SaaS (39%), Fintech (21%), and Devtools (13%).
These companies might have an app, sure. But the core value is created somewhere else.
And PMs should focus on where value is being created.
So, many PMs from the “mobile app generation” will have to learn new things to stay relevant and keep building new things.
Succeeding at this will require changing the way you think and leaving your comfort zone.
What do you think?
