A CEO's perspective for product teams
How to turn product outputs into tangible ROI
If you work in an established company, your product team’s annual costs likely exceed one million dollars. Think of the investment in multiple squads of developers, designers, and managers… and now ask yourself: What return are you getting?
If you can’t answer that from a business perspective, that team is at risk. Yep… but don’t feel bad. This is the reality many product teams face: a common phenomenon that drains resources, frustrates teams, and puts project continuity in danger.
Why does this happen? For years, product management has been romanticized, inspired by examples like Google, Meta, or Spotify. But most companies do not operate under the same conditions as these tech giants: they don’t have a constant flow of venture capital, their products don’t “print money,” and every investment is under strict financial scrutiny.
As a result, many teams work on low-impact initiatives: adding shiny new features, optimizing a few metrics, and getting lost in the OKR bureaucracy… while the business keeps asking: Where is the ROI?
To avoid this situation, you must understand how your team’s work drives the business. Adopting an impact-first mindset not only improves results; it also protects your team’s motivation and future.
How can you align your team’s work with business goals?
Draw a direct line between work and impact: Every initiative should be explainable in one sentence connecting effort to business. For example: “If we achieve X, it will generate Y in revenue, cost savings, or strategic growth.”
Think like a CEO: Ask yourself, “What would the CEO do in my position?” (If you are the CEO, this perspective forces you to prioritize whatever keeps the business alive and competitive.)
Finally, make ROI visible: Beyond measuring metrics, tell impact stories. For instance: “The improvement in metric X resulted in Y cost savings.”
In the end, the most successful teams are not the ones that ship the most features; they are the ones that connect every decision to the company’s future. The impact-first mindset transforms the way teams work: they stop measuring success by speed or volume of outputs and start measuring it by the impact they create in revenue, cost savings, and strategic growth.