7-Step Guide to Quarterbacking Product Builds as a Start-Up AE (Part 3 of 3)

In Parts 1 and 2 of this series, we explored the Feature Gap Framework and strategies for selling around feature gaps. However, when you’re at a start-up, oftentimes, you must build features to win a deal, especially for strategic enterprise deals.  

Your job as an AE is to partner with your SA (Solutions Architect) to identify these must-have features and quarterback the build process with Product and Engineering.

The 7-Step Feature Build Playbook

Step 1: Map Feature Gaps

Before writing a single line of code, work with your SA to create a detailed map of all feature gaps with your prospect. Remember to force prioritization and the “why test” behind each feature.  Your SA should spend time understanding the details of the requirements.  

Step 2: Submit Linear Tickets

Document everything in your product ticketing system. At Metronome, we use Linear to track feature requests. The key is creating tickets that provide sufficient context without being overly prescriptive about implementation.

Your ticket should include:

• Business justification (deal size, strategic value)

• Customer quotes and feedback verbatim

• Use cases and expected outcomes

• Timeline considerations

This creates a single source of truth that follows the feature from sales conversation to development.

Step 3: Internal Product/Eng Alignment Call (or War Room)

After a two-day onsite at a prospect’s office that included our Head of Engineering, Head of Product, and COO, we returned to our office and spent 90-mins debriefing and whiteboarding with one objective: based on what we learned, assign “t-shirt sizes” to the largest product gaps and create a PoV on features we we were willing to build vs. not.  Key questions to consider:

• Why this feature vs. others on the roadmap?

• What's the minimum viable implementation?

• How many other prospects would benefit?

Step 4: Build a Joint PRD

Now that you’ve aligned on the set of features, a PRD is the first step towards actually building a specific feature and where the real work begins. This requires setting a working session between your internal PM and the prospect's technical team to co-create a solution.

The magic of a joint PRD is two-fold: it ensures very detailed technical alignment and forces your prospect to invest time in joint planning, which leads to stronger sentiment of partnership / understanding of how your team operates.  

Step 5: Strategic Account Plan & Internal Alignment

Strategic deals take months and internal alignment is critical.  I build a Strategic Account Plan (“SAP”) that ensures all key players (esp leadership, Product, and Eng) inside your start-up understand the deal - we’ll go deeper on this in a future post.  A key section is a summary of the feature commitments, timelines, and business justification.

Step 6: When to Start Building

Now that you’ve aligned on scope, do you build before or after the contract is signed?

My rule: Only start substantial development post-signature. However, for small features (1-2 week sprints), building during the POC can generate tremendous goodwill and demonstrate your team's willingness to partner.  Use this sparingly, but keep it in the toolset.  

Step 7: Customer References

Future builds require customer confidence in ability to deliver.  I speak in detail in the TIPS Framework around how to set these conversations up for success and shift the tone from a “check the box” discussion to moving your deal to a closed-won. 

Bringing It All Together

Across this three-part series, we've covered the complete playbook for handling feature gaps:

1. In Part 1, we established the Feature Gap Framework to identify whether to sell around a gap, build a feature, or disqualify.

2. In Part 2, we explored strategies for selling around gaps when you don't need to build.

3. And now in Part 3, we've walked through the quarterback's playbook for when building is the right call.

The most successful AEs deeply understand a customers’ needs, know when to push back, and can strategically orchestrate a push for development when needed.

Bisous,

Julian