About Us
We’re the original pioneers,
still pioneering
You’ll never meet a bunch of people more dedicated to solving Product Management problems. Let us tell you more…
From the minds of Product Management trail blazers
Our Founders Janna Bastow and Simon Cast did more than just create ProdPad: the world’s best solution to the problems faced by Product Managers. They also invented the Now-Next-Later roadmapping approach and founded the global product community Mind the Product.
ProdPad = problem solved
Let us take you back… It’s 2012, Janna and Simon are Product Managers struggling to do their jobs with inadequate tools and processes. Trying to manage with spreadsheets and slide decks is melting their heads. So they devise a solution. They build, they test, they iterate, they learn. They create the world’s first dedicated Product Management system, now used by thousands of Product Teams all over the world.
We're on a mission to fix Product Management
This is our why. This is why we do what we do.
Empower PMs
To make every Product Manager a powerhouse of confidence and achievement
Promote product culture
To fuel true product cultures that foster innovation, collaboration and learning
Prove the value
To maximize the ROI of Product Management as a growth-driving function
Solve important problems
To help more product people solve more problems for more people
We live to solve these problems…
Not enough strategic space
Minimal time or space for strategic planning and discovery
Negative stakeholder pressure
Struggling against stakeholder expectations that restrict flexibility and progress
Tough decision-making
Not knowing what to work on next to drive the right outcomes fast enough
Slow, inefficient processes
Fighting against deadline pressures and output thinking that hampers flexibility and agility
Hunting for evidence to validate
Manually gathering what you need from disparate sources to evidence ideas and validate decisions
Proving outcomes, not shipping outputs
Actually delivering and then proving tangible strategic outcomes
We’re best at best practice
Product people come to us because we help teams work in a better way – establishing the processes and mindsets needed to overcome challenges and get results.
We’re focused on helping teams do Product Management the right way, so you drive the right outcomes for your organization and customers. Putting everything you need to make informed, strategic decisions together in one place – so you can easily see what to build next and why. We help product organizations deliver valuable outcomes and avoid the feature factory. Maximize efficiency, maximize strategic outcomes, maximize results.
We help Product Teams consistently…
Prioritize
Prioritize at the problem level, and tackle the most important challenges first
Discover
State and check assumptions before jumping to solutions
Ask
Ask the best questions and create space to gather and analyze the answers
Organize
Run transparent and inclusive processes that foster collaboration and alignment
Our Roadmap
Of course, we eat our own dogfood. Come take a look at what we have planned for ProdPad.
Our Team
Want to put some faces to all of this? Let us introduce you to the ProdPad Leadership.
Janna Bastow, Co-founder & CEO
Like a lot of people in the product world, Janna became a Product Manager almost by accident after spending time in customer-facing roles that required liaising with tech teams. It was this intersection between product and customer that proved essential to quickly learning on the job.
As an early adopter of Product Management, Janna has seen the field grow from almost nothing into what it is today. Along the way, she has become one of the key talents and thought-leaders in the industry, and can be frequently found sharing her knowledge and insight at Product conferences around the world.
Simon Cast, Co-founder & CTIO
With a background in Mechanical and Space Engineering, Simon started in Product by aiming for the stars and building automation software for satellites. Having honed his product skills, identifying problems, testing, and iterating to achieve useable solutions, Simon continued to develop his product skills through consultancy work, and further Product Manager and Head of Product roles.
It was around this time Simon met Janna and began working together in their spare time to bring their idea of a suite of Product Management tools to life (alongside co-creating Mind the Product). A lot of hard work later, ProdPad launched to the Product Management world and continues to lead the way for Product Managers across the globe.
Danielle Vautier - Chief Operating Officer
Megan Saker - Chief Marketing Officer
Julie Hammers - Head of Product
Our thoughts
We love to share, so help yourselves to our free ebooks, courses, articles and more.
Our offer to you…
Try ProdPad, completely free, and see how easy we make it to work in a better way