How do you evolve from a focused product team to a global, multi-product organization? In this episode hosted by Barbara Bermes, former EcoVadis CPO Madhur Aggarwal shares how he helped scale the company’s product organization, tripled revenue, and transitioned toward a General Management model. Madhur dives into what it takes to expand a product suite, lead cross-functional teams, and bridge the cultural divide between U.S. and European operations—offering actionable insights for product leaders navigating complex growth.
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Show Notes
- Develop a maniacal focus on business outcomes and delivering customer value every quarter
- Spend 20-30% of your time talking directly to customers, partners, and competitors
- Read customer feedback thoroughly, even across different languages and regions
- Understand the importance of keeping customer promises in product development
- Recognize the evolving responsibilities across product leadership roles (Director, VP, CPO)
- Consider combining CTO and CPO roles to create better organizational alignment
- Transition from single-product to multi-product requires a deep understanding of customer workflows
- Rethink product packaging based on customer outcomes, not just feature sets
- When expanding product lines, focus on embedding deeper into customer processes
- Develop a portfolio management approach when approaching 50-70 million in ARR
- Create clear measurement frameworks when transitioning to a General Manager model
- Understand that the best General Manager might not always come from a product background
- Spend time in big tech to understand global scale and operational complexities
- Actively mentor potential A-players through stretch assignments and regular check-ins
- Create dedicated time (like a “Coffee Corner”) for team members to engage with leadership
- Consider external experiences outside of product to broaden perspective
- Align with board and C-suite on role definitions and expectations
- Focus on team topology and ensuring the right mix of talent at every level
- Develop a strategy for expanding product suite that goes beyond just increasing revenue
- Prioritize understanding customer needs over internal technical considerations
About the speaker
GM styled Chief Product Officer most recently at EcoVadis (European Tech, $220M ARR, Rule of 50) reporting to the CEO. As CPO and GM of our solutions, I scaled the company from $80 to $200M+, launched 3 new solutions (1 to 4), revamped pricing & packaging and grew the team to 110 across Europe and Americas. Ex GM @ SAP ($150M ARR), SVP Product @ Pluralsight ($400M, PE/Vista), CPDO @ Pearson ($300M, FTSE100). I specialize in scaling SaaS companies ($5XM to $5XXM) by taking them multi-product, expanding outside core markets (e.g. European companies to US), hiring 10X talent, building roadmap/prioritization discipline and above all amping up speed of execution to keep pace with speed of vision. As a member of broader community, I serve as advisory member at Columbia Business School Center for Brand Leadership, Center for Ethical Leadership at Michigan State University, Board member at Brand Innovators and frequent speaker at Wharton Alumni Club, ANA Data & Tech Council and CMO Club. Wharton MBA and Engineering undergrad.
About the host
Barbara Bermes is an extremely passionate data-driven product leader, a previous International conference speaker, and a book author, with a comprehensive technical background and deep experience in B2B SaaS products at growth-stage companies. Motivated and driven by customer happiness, she is a decisive leader and executive with a proven track record of leading high-performing product teams with empathy, evangelizing product strategy and delivering world-class customer solutions. She frequently writes about product under https://bbinto.medium.com/