Ryma’s Vision Statement

Product Managers are at the core of the innovative products that change our daily lives. They are the unsung heroes of every successful product release – masters in the art of capturing customer feedback and insight, aligning the wide array of stakeholders across their company, and setting teams in the right direction to define product roadmaps and strategies. Product Managers are driven by passion and a desire to innovate – often with a unique blend of creativity and technical expertise.

Having spent the past 20 years managing, developing and marketing a number of different products, I have seen Product Managers face the challenge of inadequate resources, time and budget to do their job right. Managing a product is far more complex than just creating a simple list of features. Knowing what kind of product to develop and having the right time to market is not a trivial thing. For every story we hear about visionaries such as Henry Ford or Steve Jobs, it’s all about getting an intimate understanding of the customer needs and converting this knowledge into powerful products that will impact the market.

Whether you’re into classical music, marching bands or rock and roll – any great musical performance share a common thread of group alignment, collaboration and precise execution. Product Managers are very much like the conductor or leader of the Product Team. To deliver a great product, the Product Manager must stay on top of all incoming customer feedback and market information and convert this into insightful marketing and product requirements. They must then seek alignment and collaboration, ensuring that every stakeholder is executing a complex plan of action that will ultimately result in the release of a product that the customers will buy.

But unlike a rock band or a small orchestra, companies are often designed in a much more complex organization. People work in different spaces and locations, and can have agendas that are not always compatible with the Product Manager’s vision. On top of this, everyone involved suffers from data overload, which makes it very difficult to get all the stakeholders on the same page, using a common language and up-to-date set of information. Of course, with a lot of hard work, you can do a lot of bridge the gaps and making sure that everybody is in sync and moving in the same direction. But then again, Product Managers still need the time and bandwidth to think about the right kind of products they need to create.

Our vision at Ryma is to provide every Product Manager with a platform where they can maintain all the latest and relevant information, align all the stakeholders across the company, facilitate collaboration between teams, and help individuals execute to the best of their abilities. By automating or eliminating repetitive tasks, we help them focus on driving innovation. By facilitating collaboration and access to information, we improve the communication channels and overall efficiency. By assisting in the process of developing a product, we ultimately help Product Managers optimize the quality of execution – which is much needed to deliver better products to market in a shorter timeframe. We want to touch the lives of all Product Managers and give them the tools that will allow them to develop innovative and great products.

Michel Besner
President and CEO
Ryma Technology Solutions

Note to investors: hope is not a strategy

How many times do you see companies that are not doing the right things or do not have the right management or strategy in place? You would be surprised to see how many times these same companies have investors hopeful that things will work out at the end. Well I have bad news for you: hope is not a strategy.

A good strategy does not happen by miracle
Unless a company has spent the time to build a proper strategy, it won’t fall from the sky. And when I say a good strategy, I mean one that can be actually executed. Nothing worse than a strategy that while fantastic on paper, will never be close to be well executed or realizable. A strategy needs to be realistic, something that you know that the management team can really accomplish. Expecting something amazing to happen without execution is a pipe dream.

Does the management team really know what they are doing?
Anyone can blame outside elements for lackluster results: economy, weather, customers, competition, etc. How capable is your executive team in foreseeing potential problems? Do they have a plan of action if these occur? Are realistic are these sales targets? How sustainable are these marketing activities (and at what real cost)? No matter how hard the market conditions are, a great management team is capable to navigate in difficult waters and find the best path possible (don’t mean it will be easy or flawless).

The role of the Board
A Board is not just about adopting resolutions and reviewing budgets. There is a great responsibility in making sure the company is well managed, with a well thought out strategy and the means to execute. How often is the Board meeting in difficult time? Are there any special committees being put in place when the tough gets going? How accurate is the information flowing back from management?  If you’re Board is not taking attention to red flags, there just as part of the problem as the executive team. And there are a lot of red flags we just prefer to ignore (it’s amazing on how much you can discover by doing a few internal reviews and ask a few questions). We should not just be diligent when we acquire a business. Everyday should have its share of on-going reviews.

Shareholder return does not happen by chance
If your executive team is not building a sustainable business and a competitive advantage, you might just end up failing to successfully sell the company; at the right valuation that is. Any investor should never accept hope as a strategy. Expect more from your Board and executive team. They are playing with your money and you should make sure they know it. If something is not working out to your liking, you need to make some changes – and sometime at both levels. Often enough, just getting a new Chairman or CEO can make a lot of good in cleaning up a business and making it better. Don’t wait until hope is your last chance.

“Patience is the companion of wisdom.”

- St. Augustine

We all want things to happen when we want it but sadly, it does not happen like this very often. I like this quotes as it reminds me that with time and experience (a.k.a. wisdom), I am learning to let things unfold at their pace. It’s never easy as you try to keep things running at a certain speed but I have learned a great deal with several M&A deals and round of fundings under my belt. Time is your friend and you need to learn to use it to your advantage. Patience comes as you learn that you can’t control everything and your success will come with your ability to adapt to other’s timeline. Keeping a tight ship and staying focused will allow you to get things done “as quickly as possible” while staying patient.

Greatness does not happen overnight – keep raising the bar until you achieve it

I can never understand people that expect something to be great from the get go, like by magic. No matter how hard you try to make something great instantly, it does not happen. I prefer to think that in order to achieve greatness, you need to continuously need to raise the bar until you achieve it. There is nothing wrong in starting small and keeping on improving day after day. If you work hard at it, you can reach amazing results surprisingly fast.

“Watch, listen, and learn. You can’t know it all yourself.”

“Anyone who thinks they do is destined for mediocrity.”

- Donald Trump

I would add that the day that the CEO/entrepreneur stops learning is the day that the business will die.  The CEO is at the core of what makes or breaks a company. While you need to be a leader, mentor and a coach, this does prevent you from watching, listening and ultimately learning from others and yes, from your own mistakes.

Eating a bit of humble pie once in a while is a good thing. Trying to be the one that knows it all and has no weakness will hurt your credibility and your own ability to lead your organization to success. Once you accept that there are still more things for you to learn (even from your employees), you will be more careful about your environment – watching closer and listening to what the others have to say.

And for each new lesson you have, your business will improve ten fold.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

One of my biggest lesson in running a business was that everything begins with the CEO. If you don’t like how your company is turning out, employees have a low level of attachment, high turnover, lots of conflicts or ultimately the business going down – all of this begins with who is at the top.

“Be the change you wish to see in your business”
You want your employees to be more accountable and responsible? Start by taking ownership of your own actions. Employees are not satisfied? Ask yourself about what you’re doing that makes this happen. Re-invent yourself. Take a step back from your business and look at it from a fresh eye. What would you do if you were coming back in at that very moment? Forget the past and look at the problems as they really are.

The CEO/Entrepreneur needs to be the biggest agent of change – starting by himself …

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”

- Albert Einstein

Perseverance is a key asset in being successful in a business. But you need to make sure that what you’re trying to achieve is possible. If you keep trying a certain way again and again and it never seem to work out, maybe you need to do things differently.

The problem with holy grails
One of the riskiest play you can have is to wait for a holy grail to happen. “If we become the standard in X or Y, then everything will fall into place”, “Once we launch this new product, the market will recognize our brilliance”,  ”Now that we have this new customer, everybody else will buy”. To be honest, rarely these things pan out as expected and you are often left out with a broken business.

Making sure that you are not just trying to reach holy grail or that your plan is even remotely possible is fundamental. Otherwise, you will go insane trying to make it happen…

Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers

- Stephen R. Covey

Too many entrepreneurs will take great care of their key customer but will often negligent in regards to their employees. What does not make sense is that you can’t actually serve your customers well without your team. So as much as you worry when a customer is not happy or are afraid that he might purchase your competitor’s product – you should do the same with your employees.

Are my employees happy and motivated?
Don’t just do a survey, make sure that each and every employee are happy and motivated about the work they are doing for your company. Just like you have account managers for your esteemed customers, you need “employee” managers. These managers need to be both your middle management as well as investing in HR management (yes HR is not just for hiring and firing people).

Maximize employee retention
Again, we worry about customer retention and we need to do the same with our staff. We should know exactly why someone leaves and go to work for someone else. Each departure can send a message to the market about your business. Regular 1:1 employee meetings are important just like you have regular customer calls and meetings.

Move at the speed of your “customers”
Would you refuse to sell to a customer because he wants to buy to quickly? Would you be happy if you would lose customers because your sales process is too complex and long for them? Of course not. This also applies to your hiring process. You need to move at the speed (within reason of course) of your employees and not let a lengthy process make you lose top talent. Its a sellers market right now and key employees won’t hang around for you to make up your mind about hiring them.

Bottom line, look at each of your current and potential employees as a customer base that you need to cater to. Of course, you’re still the boss but caring and authority can successfully co-exist.

“You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

- Albert Einstein

Yes there are rules in business and you will be more successful if you can play them better than others. This is even more apparent when you do international development. Accepting how business is done in other places such as Tokyo, Paris, London or Madrid is key to build the right business partnership and get what you need out of them. Culture and business etiquette is often a lost art;  too many entrepreneurs not spending the time to master them.

Spend the time to understand what your business counterparts value and respect and by following their rules, you can actually out beat them on their own turf. Not doing so will result in a lost of frustration and misunderstanding and ultimately bad business deals for you (or no deal at all).

Closing a deal often feels like an endless marathon

If you ever closed a major deal, you know what I’m talking about. Closing a deal requires a lot of patience, determination and stamina. No matter how hard you try, it is very difficult to predict how quickly it can all happen. Of course there are natural milestones (major event, end of fiscal year, etc) that can help the process but there are no guarantees .. For those that never closed a major deal, think of it as a marathon but you never know when you’ll get to the finish line. So be prepared to feel the pain, the agony and the exhaustion; but always keep in mind the pleasure of crossing that finish line …

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