Simonetta Batteiger: Product Managers Need to Understand the Financials... Not Just the Users

On this episode, I speak to Simonetta Batteiger, a product leadership coach, trainer, speaker and co-organiser of ProductTank Cologne. Simonetta began her career in accounting and finance before moving into product leadership while still maintaining a strong sense of the numbers that the rest of the leadership team really cares about. We explore why product teams can be seen as cost centres rather than sources of business value, how to connect product decisions to meaningful financial outcomes, and why the ability to build more quickly with AI makes sound commercial judgement more important, not less.

Episode Highlights

We cover a lot, including:

Building more isn't the same as creating more value. Product teams can be busy delivering features without being able to explain what the business gets in return. A stronger starting point is to consider the commercial outcome an investment is expected to generate, rather than treating delivery itself as proof of success.

Product teams need to show a return, not just a cost. Headcount, infrastructure and tools appear clearly in budgets, but the value created by product work often doesn't. Understanding how an initiative might generate revenue, protect existing revenue, reduce costs or avoid future expenditure changes the conversation from funding a team to investing in an outcome.

Know the financial reality your decisions sit within. Product managers don't need to become accountants, but they should understand the basics of the P&L, balance sheet and cash flow, as well as what the organisation is trying to optimise. The size of the business, the cost of the team and the scale of a potential opportunity all matter when judging whether an investment is worthwhile.

Prioritisation requires more than choosing the biggest number. Understanding the drivers of revenue and cost helps product teams compare opportunities and develop stronger proposals. But business strategy, customer needs and longer-term opportunities still matter, e.g. an investment that enables a new market may be worth making even before its financial benefits are realised.

Roadmap disagreements often reflect competing commercial pressures. Sales leaders may be trying to meet revenue commitments while executives may be advancing a strategic opportunity. Rather than treating these requests as arbitrary interference, product leaders can uncover the underlying rationale and make trade-offs using shared business objectives.

Indirect impact is still imp