What is a product vision

A product vision defines the promise of a product within the market. 

The goal of a product vision is to articulate the reason of existence of the product so customers understand its potential and the team working on the product has a shared understanding of the purpose of building the product.

The product vision captures the:

• Product name
• Product description and category
• Target customer
• Customer need 
• Reason to buy
• And the unique selling points

In Crossing the Chasm Geoffrey Moore provides a nifty template to write your product vision.

[Product] is for [target customer] who [statement of need or opportunity]. The [product name] is a [product category] that [reason to buy]. Unlike [primary competitive differentiation], our product [statement of primary differentiation].

Leading companies like Amazon, Google and Microsoft all have product visions to guide the company into making that vision reality.

The product vision of Google for example is as follows:

To provide access to the world's information in one click.

Short and concise, just like HeroHunt’s product vision:

HeroHunt lets any product team find the best, and only the best tech talent across the entire web

Some companies choose to have a more extensive product vision like OpenAI:

To ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity. We will attempt to directly build safe and beneficial AGI, but will also consider our mission fulfilled if our work aids others to achieve this outcome.

The product vision should guide (future) customers and employees of the company in why the product exists.

Current employees get inspiration and guidance from the product vision, but also for candidates the product vision can be an important source of inspiration and information.

An important consideration for candidates to join a product company is the reason of existence of the product.

An engineer wants to build on something meaningful just like a sales manager has to believe in the product’s promise in the market.

For those reasons the product vision is a mighty hiring tool.

Using the product vision in hiring

Inform with the product leadership of your company what the product vision is.

In some cases you will find out that there is no formal product vision, in this case you can challenge the product leadership why there is none yet.

Don’t go make one up yourself, the product vision is a statement that should be shared and embraced company wide and is usually organized and owned by the company and product leadership.

If there is a product vision statement that’s great, because you can use it as a magnet for product oriented talent.

How to use the product vision for hiring:

• Know the product vision by heart so you can articulate it in candidate interviews, this will show you care about the product your company is building
• Place the product vision statement on top of your job descriptions
• Include the keywords of the product vision in your talent search to find candidates that most likely relate to it
• Create engaging content like a blog or a video that explains the product vision and share it on social media
• Mention the product vision on your career page
• Include the product vision in the onboarding documentation
  

Many companies don’t explicitly state the product vision in their hiring materials, but doing so can show that you are a company that is centered around a shared vision going forward.