What a chief product officer should actually do for a founder

This article summarizes an episode of First Round Capital’s video series featuring Jeremy Epling, chief product officer of Vanta.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Jeremy Epling, chief product officer of Vanta, warns that hiring a new executive can easily become a fight for control rather than a partnership.

At the software company, which automates security and compliance checks, the core product was originally built by its founder. If a new product leader and the founder do not agree on goals early on, that natural tension inevitably leads to clashes over the original vision.

In his view, surviving this transition requires letting the founder continue to build. A successful chief product officer should help guide the overall plan rather than blocking ideas, avoiding internal power struggles by agreeing on what the founder values most.

A new way to lead product

Because adding a new executive to an established workflow frequently causes friction, every decision risks escalating into a turf war if the incoming leader tries to override the original creator. Epling solves this by establishing basic rules beforehand and learning exactly how the founder makes decisions.

He states, “I think spending a lot of time to kind of mind-meld on the fundamentals of just what their vision is important, so that you cannot end up always disagreeing.”

By finding out which specific product areas CEO Christina Cacioppo cares about most, he utilizes her passion as an asset rather than treating it as interference.

Breaking the chain of command

Fully utilizing that founder’s passion requires dismantling the rigid corporate structures that slow down growing companies. Instead of acting as a blocker in a strict chain of command, the product leader must facilitate day-to-day work so everyone feels comfortable collaborating directly with the chief executive.

Epling argues, “When you get in this command-and-control, military-style structure, everything has to go up and down. This is what kills big companies.”

While giving up control of a specific project can feel like losing executive power, Epling welcomes direct founder involvement.

He adds, “Christina was super excited about a partnership and she wrote the initial product document… I don’t feel disempowered by that.”

Pairing founders with managers keeps them conceptual.
While this direct involvement is crucial, preventing the founder from getting bogged down in minor details requires assigning a dedicated manager to assist them.

He advises, “I always assign a PM with [the CEO]. It lets her still stay at a more conceptual level.”

Handling internal conflict

The cost of growing fast