Member-only story
The PMM resistance
By Donato The Tenacious PMM
Introducing the WTF scoring: how many WTFs would you score this story with?
Once upon a time, I was at this company in Liguria, in the most beautiful location one might dream of. Close to the famous Cinque Terre.
I was there, as usual, looking for trouble, as the founding PM/PMM, running Product, Marketing, and Strategy.
The product was attracting small players like HSBC, Baker Hughes, and IKEA. For real.
With unsustainable sales cycles for the squeaky organization.
One day, the owner, rightfully tired of the two company leaders constantly fighting, with little revenue coming in, literally gave it away to a friend, an obscure entrepreneur, let’s call him Gino, who knew nothing about software (there were funny legends about his past endeavors, which I will spare you).
Not only that, but the owner also paired the gift with some €1.5M to invest in sales, keeping the company alive. And he added free access to a top Labor and Employment Lawyer.
Gino immediately pocketed the cash, nonchalantly.
Then he laid off ~75% of employees. People were in tears. None was ever laid off in their life. It was brutal.
