How To Create A Product Advisory Council - Tom O’Neill, Parallax

Product Innovation Series with Aram Melkoumov

Tom and Aram discuss how and why to build an advisory council. They discuss how to ask questions people want to answer, how getting close to your users makes work more meaningful for your team, and why you should never build a product alone. They also explore why you shouldn’t only think about who your customer is and what they need - but who their customers are and what their objectives are.

About Tom O’Neill
Tom is the Founder and CEO of Parallax. He built a stellar product by first building an advisory council because he believes that great products are never built solo, they’re created by great teams. Tom is also the co-founder of Frebella and was previously the CEO of The Nerdery.

SHOW NOTES:
00:05 | Who is Tom O’Neill?
00:38 | How and why to build an advisory council
04:15 | How to find product advisors
05:34 | Running advisory council sessions
08:47 | Nobody leaves a banging nightclub…
11:19 | Do advisors become clients?
16:59 | Wrong ways to think about your client
23:49 | How to build ANY product
27:27 | He doesn’t want to learn this lesson again
29:47 | Fireside: attitude, crazy features, focus, mentorship

Quotes:
(03:16) “I think a lot of people enjoy being a part of building something. I think that the idea of being an advisor to a product development team is appealing to them and that's how we positioned it.”

Follow Tom O’Neill
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomoneill/