A Product Manager (PM) is the person responsible for the product’s success as a business. This role originated in classic marketing, appearing at Procter & Gamble back in 1931.

This specialist is often called a "mini-CEO" because they make decisions about the direction of development, yet they don’t have direct authority to command developers, designers, or marketers.

A PM works at the intersection of three worlds: business, technology, and user experience. Their job is to find a balance between what users want, what the team can build, and what the business needs to grow.

On a typical day, a PM might chat with customers to understand their pain points, analyze product metrics, debate priorities with the CEO, explain to a tech lead why the architecture needs refactoring, and pitch a new feature to investors.

They manage risks: value risk (will people buy it?), usability risk (can they figure out how to use it?), and business viability risk (will we make money?).

Here are the main tasks of a Product Manager:

A Product Manager's income depends on the region, industry, and experience. Below are median salaries for 2025 based on Glassdoor data:

The Product Owner (PO) role comes from the Scrum methodology, though it's now used beyond classic Agile. A PO represents the interests of the users and the business inside the development team.

If the PM is thinking about what to do next year, the PO decides what the team will do in the next sprint.

The PO lives inside the dev process: they detail tasks, explain exactly what needs to be done, check the results, and say "done" or "redo." They are maximally accessible to the team – developers need to be able to ask questions and get answers fast.

Here are the main duties of a Product Owner.

Product Owner income also varies by region and industry. Here are the median annual salaries for 2025.

To put it simply:

In large companies, the hierarchy usually looks like this:

The PM formulates the strategy and determines what to do. The PO takes these goals and translates them into specific tasks for the team. They work in tandem: the PM owns the "what," the PO owns the "how."

In early-stage startups, there is usually no split between PM and PO. One person does everything: talks to users, builds the roadmap, writes tasks, works with the team, and accepts the work.

This is normal and even correct for teams of up to 15-20 people. There’s no point hiring two people when the workload can be handled by one.

A typical "Product person" in a startup:

They switch between strategy and tactics multiple times a day, which requires flexibility and a broad skillset, but it saves budget.

The split is necessary when:

Ниже – пять распространенных заблуждений и то, как обстоят дела на самом деле.

False. These are distinct roles with different scopes. Being a PO isn't necessarily a stepping stone; it can be a career path for those who love process, execution, and team dynamics more than market strategy.

Bad advice. A strong PM understands what’s happening under the hood, joins architecture discussions, and tracks technical debt. They don't micromanage code, but they understand the technical cost of their decisions.

A PO isn't a scribe. They make tough calls on priorities, shield the team from scope creep, and are accountable for product quality. It’s a high-stakes role.

They can survive, but it’s an uphill battle. A PM who doesn't grasp the tech stack will build unrealistic roadmaps, ignore tech debt, and lose the team's respect. Basic technical literacy is non-negotiable.

This works for small teams. But as complexity grows, a PM simply cannot find the hours to do deep strategic work and manage the backlog. Splitting the roles lets everyone play to their strengths.

How it looks in practice:

Making the partnership work:

Posting a generic job ad won't cut it. You need a multi-channel strategy:

At Lucky Hunter, we specialise in filling tough roles for companies worldwide, finding rare talent where others hit dead ends. Here’s an example:

This is the dilemma every founder faces.

Product Manager and Product Owner are not interchangeable roles, nor are they just rungs on the same ladder. They are two different specialists with different focuses, skills, and responsibilities.

The PM answers "Why?" and "What?", shaping the vision, researching the market, and owning the business metrics.

The PO answers "How?" and "When?", managing the backlog, prioritising for the team, and ensuring quality execution.

If you aren't sure where to find strong product talent, what questions to ask, or how to evaluate experience – turn to the professionals.