Product Strategy in Chernivtsi

I start with an audit of the founder's vision, market and competitor analysis, formulate ICP and JTBD hypotheses, calculate SAM/TAM/SOM, and lock in a North Star metric with a tree of supporting metrics. Then I build a 6-12 month roadmap prioritized via RICE/ICE, tie it to OKRs and unit economics. You receive all artifacts in Notion or Confluence and can hand them to your team without me.

I combine qualitative JTBD interviews, the Sean Ellis test, GA4/Mixpanel/Amplitude analytics, and cohort retention analysis. If 40%+ of users say they would be very disappointed without the product and D30 retention flattens, that signals PMF. Until then I do not recommend scaling marketing, because it only accelerates churn.

Personas describe who your user is, while JTBD shows why they hire your product in a specific situation. This makes product decisions far sharper: you see real competitors (sometimes it is Excel or nothing), understand triggers, barriers, and success criteria. Across 130+ projects, JTBD framing helped me find non-obvious segments that delivered most of the revenue. More on the product strategy page.

OKRs bridge the North Star and the team's daily work. I write 3-5 quarterly Objectives, attach Key Results through AARRR metrics, validate ambition (60-70% achievement target), and set a weekly check-in cadence. This frees the founder from micromanagement and gives the Chernivtsi team transparent rules of the game. Without OKRs, strategy turns into wishful thinking.

I use RICE (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) for large bets and ICE for fast experiments. Each idea gets a score, and we discuss assumptions in the Confidence column, where most team disagreements actually live. After prioritization the backlog is split into Now/Next/Later and tied to OKRs. The endless CEO-versus-PM debates disappear.

Yes. I build a P&L model in Google Sheets with MRR, ARR, CAC, LTV, payback period, gross margin, and churn. The model is sensitive to scenarios: you can see how a 10% price change or a 1.5 pp churn reduction affects cash runway. For SaaS teams from Chernivtsi IT Cluster this often becomes the key argument with investors or the board.

A standard engagement is 6-10 weeks: 2 weeks of research (interviews, data, market), 2 weeks of synthesis (ICP, JTBD, North Star), 2-3 weeks of planning (OKRs, roadmap, P&L), and 1-2 weeks of validation with the team. For early-stage startups I run a 3-week sprint format. We always lock scope in a kick-off document to prevent unjustified scope creep.

Common situation at early stages. I can act as fractional CPO 2-3 days a week: running the backlog, rituals, and team communication while you hire a PM. In parallel I help with hiring: writing the role profile, running case interviews, and onboarding the new hire into all artifacts. This way the strategy does not die the day I leave the project.

For Chernivtsi IT Cluster teams I recommend a beachhead model: one segment in one country where the ICP feels the pain most sharply. I help with customer development, positioning localization, channel selection (often Product Hunt, niche communities, outbound), and the legal structure for accepting payments. I cover this in depth as part of product strategy.

Chernivtsi is a natural hub for cross-border trade. I help design products that account for EU VAT and customs nuances, multicurrency (UAH/EUR/RON/MDL), copy localization into 3-4 languages, and integrations with Nova Post and Romanian carriers. Strategy splits B2C tourists from small B2B in border towns. The conversion side I cover in more detail in conversion optimization in Chernivtsi.

Yes, and it is one of my favorite segments. For Bukovyna winemakers I have built strategies for DTC subscriptions, wine clubs, and tourism routes through vineyards. For agritech I have helped with crop monitoring platforms and marketplaces between farmers and Chernivtsi or Lviv HoReCa. The key in every case is the JTBD of the grower or farmer, not trendy AI features. Strategy disciplines the product around real value.

Medtech in Chernivtsi is a blend of Bukovyna Medical's academic expertise and technical teams. I help validate the clinical hypothesis, plan pilots with clinics in the Shevchenkivskyi district, and ensure GDPR and Ukrainian health-data compliance. Strategy matters even more here because the sales cycle is long and an ICP mistake costs 12-18 months. I usually pair this with conversion optimization for the clinic sales funnel.