The Punk PM #18

Hey there, punk!

We held April’s ProductTank Newcastle at the 5G Immersive Lab in Eldon Square on Wednesday night, with a really insightful fireside chat with Phil Hornby. One of the things that came up—again—was the idea that product is, at its core, a business function.

It’s something a lot of PMs—and organisations—seem to have lost sight of. But in today’s market, it matters more than ever.

Here’s why.

Quote of the Week 🙊

Insight 🦉

If 2024 was the year of AI in product, then 2025 feels like it’s shaping up to be the year of commercial awareness.

It’s a theme that keeps coming up—whether I’m at product events, chatting with other PMs, or reflecting on my own practice. More and more, the conversation is shifting from design and tech back to business.

Dave Martin summed it up perfectly in a recent talk at another ProductTank Newcastle meet-up:

“The best PMs speak the language of the business. And the language of the business is finance.”

That line really landed with me—probably because I’ve seen first-hand how true it is. I started my product management career in a bootstrapped SME where the connection between product and revenue was crystal clear. If the thing I built didn’t bring in money, we didn’t have a business. Simple as that.

Beforehand, I’d spent time in a large utilities company working in finance—P&L modelling, budgeting, the lot. Not the most glamorous role, but it gave me a solid grounding in how companies actually work and how product fits into the bigger picture.

The truth is, a lot of product managers today are incredibly strong on user experience, but less confident when it comes to financial impact. That’s not a criticism—it’s a legacy of the ZIRP years, where growth was the name of the game and profitability could wait.

But the pendulum’s swinging back.

We’re not going to see huge teams of PMs optimising individual user flows at loss-making startups for much longer. The role is evolving and the expectation now is that product managers can show how their decisions create real business value. 

Because if you can’t explain the return on investment for what you’re building, it gets a lot harder to justify doing it.

Action 🚀

Take 10 minutes this week to map one of your current product decisions to a business outcome. Is it driving revenue? Improving margins? Reducing churn? If you can’t draw a clear line, it might be time to revisit the “why.”

Inspiration 💡

Owning My Wins Means Learning to Own My Failures – Ami Vora shares a candid reflection on confidence, accountability, and the value of owning your decisions—especially when they don’t go to plan. A powerful reminder that growth often starts where comfort ends. Read more

How to Write Error Messages That Actually Help – Amy Hupe breaks down how to make error messages less annoying and more useful. Think clear guidance, human tone, and consistency. Small changes that make a big difference to user experience. Read more

Make Product Management Fun Again – Tal Raviv explores how AI agents can take the grunt work out of PM life. Less admin, more discovery. If you’re curious about using AI to get back to the parts of the job you actually love, this one’s worth a look. Read more

Signing Off ✍️

If this resonates with you, hit reply and let me know how you’re levelling up your commercial awareness this week. And if you think a friend or colleague would enjoy The Punk PM, feel free to share it with them!

Play it your way,

Toby