Links and Resources
Silicon Valley Business Catalyst
Below is a list of useful links and resources I compiled that may be
useful to other technical product management / marketing professionals.
I am passionate about learning and want to help others who are also
interested in building their expertise.
On this page you will find the following information... For information on how I built this site, click here.
Updated 8/2/09
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Events 
Product management events as well as local technical and leadership events that can be accessed from the Silicon Valley are listed below.
Silicon Valley Product Management Association Events
SVPMA holds monthly meetings with guest speakers and quarterly workshops.
Next Meeting
When: First Wednesday of every month, 6:30pm
Where: Network Meeting Center at the TechMart - 5201 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, California 95054
Ryma Product Management View Webinars
Product Management View provides a blog and webinar series. __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Product Management/Marketing Courses
For engineers or other non-marketing professionals looking to move into product management, I highly suggest that you take a course on product management to gain a better insight into the product management profession. Below are organizations that offer such courses.
Pragmatic Marketing
I took their Practical Product Management and Requirements that Work courses to hone my marketing skills and gain some tools for training other product managers. These courses are geared towards managing technology products.
280 Group
I have not taken any courses from the 280 Group, but their site offers some good information for product managers and product marketing managers. They also offer free tools.
Silicon Valley Product Group
SVPG offers workshops for product management
and product marketing professionals. I have not taken
any courses from this organization.
UC Berkeley Product Management Program
UC Berkeley offers training programs for marketing and product management professionals. They have a 5-day program focused on product management with a certificate at the program graduation as well as individual modules and programs. I have not taken
any courses from UC Berkeley.
Zigzag Marketing
This organization also offers great resources and courses for product managers. I have not taken any of their courses. (They have a great webinar for product managers looking for new jobs. Go to their Webinars page under Resources.)
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Trusted Service Providers
If you are looking for help, this is a list of Silicon Valley service providers that I have worked with who have provided excellent results.
SnapDesign
This design organization applies user-centered methodology for products, services, and environments—providing compelling user experiences. I worked with David Abkowitz on three softclient projects, which included visual design, ideation, prototyping, interaction architecture, and prototype validation. I highly recommend David.
Inner Architect
This marketing organization offers strategies for career acceleration, business development, and job search by combining Web 2.0 social media and targeted direct marketing tactics. I worked with Susan Hanshaw and Dean Guadagni, whom both are really good caring people and want to see others succeed. What I like best about working with them is that I don't feel any sales pressure and phoniness. It is refreshing to work with people like them.
Progressive Solutions
Progressive Solutions is unique in that they not only provide printing services, but also distribution. I worked with both Scott Feldman and Mark Sarpa. They are patient and just really good guys. Great customer service!
eandidesign
This is a marketing collateral design provider. I worked with eandi to create data sheets. Erin Sarpa is sharp and creative.
Duran Design
Jeff Duran is a digital artist/designer. He provides great work in little time. I highly recommend Jeff.
Oak Hill Corporation
This organization develops technical documentation, marketing collateral and training materials for technology companies. I enjoyed working with Mira Wooten who is the Director of Business Development. She coordinated and managed the writers contracted for the collateral projects.
Kalmbach Smith Meadows
KSM provides marketing services. I really enjoyed working with Andy Meadows to create application icons. He is creative and gave us concept options that were all usable. It was so hard to choose the final icons. Andy saved us from another vendor who provided us with awful, ridiculous icons.
Achievex Corporation
This organization teaches the Sandler Selling System. Achievex provides on-going reinforcement based training with one-on-one coaching and
mentoring. Anyone who has contact with customers / prospects (product managers, product marketing managers, sales people, management, etc.) should get trained on the Sandler selling processes to enhance confidence with customer interactions, close more business quicker, and most of all, prevent revenue leakage. Back to top __________________________________________________________________________________________________
Associations
Join associations to keep marketing and business skills up-to-date, stay current, and network.
Silicon Valley Product Management Association (SVPMA)
This organization was founded to address the needs of product managers, product marketing managers, and other professionals working with the Product Management field.
Silicon Valley American Marketing Association (SVAMA)
SVAMA is the local chapter of the American Marketing Association and supports all disciplines of marketing. SVAMA provides local educational and networking opportunities many times per month.
Silicon Valley Business (Marketing/Sales/BizDev) Meetup 
This Cupertino meetup group is for those that want ideas and strategies for driving success of their business. I've also picked up a few free books from several of the meetings. The organizer, Mitchell Levy, is an avid networker and has taught me that networking is mostly about giving and sharing. Meeting times are inconsistent.
Silicon Valley NewTech Meetup
This meetup group is for tech enthusiasts to discuss and show-and-tell new web technologies. Meetings are held in Palo Alto on the first Tuesday of every month. The night consists of four companies demoing their products in just five minutes, then an hour of networking. Beer, wine, and pizza is provided. Join the meetup to see demos of hot new Web 2.0 technologies and mingle with fellow entrepreneurs and investors.
Business Marketing Association of Northern California (BMA)
I have found that this organization is mainly made up of marketing communications professionals. SDForum Marketing SIG
This is the marketing special interest group of SDForum, which is an organization providing information and insight to the technology community. SDForum provides a venue for engineers, executives, researchers, technology leaders, and venture capitalists to exchange information on emerging technologies and best practices.
Marketing Executives Group on LinkedIn
This is a worldwide group for Marketing Executives who want to collaborate and network to share cases, experience and connect. CSIX Connect
This organization helps individuals in
career transition through networking. This group meets every Tuesday
for lunch in Cupertino and frequently includes a guest speaker
presenting on job search related topics or announcing openings at a
specific company.
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Product Management News and Information
Below are sites for good sources of product management / marketing information.
Pragmatic Marketing
Pragmatic Marketing site provides journals, e-books, books, articles, webinars, and blogs.
280 Group
280 Group site offers free tools, newsletters, articles, whitepapers, webinars, and blogs.
Zigzag Marketing
This organization provides tips, articles, webinars, and a blog on their site.
Lists of product managers on Twitter
Alltop
Alltop displays the headlines of the latest stories from dozens of sites and blogs and specifically tracks product management topics. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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