This and the first product hire
CHIEF PRODUCT OFFICER HIRING
Over the past few years, I've seen several top private tech companies part with their Head of Product / CPO in less than a year. The symptoms are many, but the root cause is the inability for the product-centric CEO to treat the CPO as someone more than a roadmap executor, while the CPO desired to be more strategic.
Post CPO exit, in some cases, the CEO has taken on the CPO responsibilities and eliminated the role; in other cases, the Head of Eng consolidated design and product under them to form a unified EPD team.
Note that the importance of the PM role is not in question at any of these companies; it's the (need for the) role of the CPO / Head of Product.
Underscores that the CPO role is one of the hardest ones to successfully hire for.
CEOs: Your unique role as CEO is not to assess if these candidates can successfully build products, but rather to determine if they can successfully build products with YOU.
CPO candidates: Probe deeply for why the CEO wants a CPO. Is it to delegate tactical work? Or is to truly be a thought partner?