A community for founders who do the product job.

Product Circle is a by-application community for startup founders and product managers in India, run by the team behind Mehman. Founders get office hours with VCs and founders who have raised, built and hired, a board for co-founder and founding PM openings, a weekly AMA, product teardowns and a monthly chai meetup. More than 250 PMs and founders have joined.

Why founders join a founder community

Founding a company is a lonely job with a long list of first times: first hire, first raise, first pricing decision, first time letting someone go. Your investors and team help, but they each have a stake in your answer. What founders often lack is a room of people who:

• Have done it before and can tell you what they'd do differently.
• Are doing it now and know what this month's market feels like.
• Understand product, because most early-stage founders are also the company's first product manager.

That last point is why Product Circle brings founders and PMs together. Founders get product thinking from experienced PMs; PMs get a close look at how companies are built. Our guide to product management communities in India covers other options too.

What Product Circle gives startup founders

Office hours with people who have raised, built and hired

Office hours are 20-minute slots with VCs and founders who have been through it. Bring one sharp question: whether to raise now, why your pitch isn't converting, who your first PM should be. Our guide on how to prepare for VC office hours shows how to use the time well.

Founder openings and founding PM roles

The board carries founder openings as well as PM roles. That includes co-founder searches and founding PM roles, shared by members for members. If you're hiring your first PM, read what is a founding product manager before writing the role.

AMAs with founders and PMs

The weekly AMA is with a PM or founder, answering member questions live. It's 45 minutes of hearing how other people handled the situation you're in.

Product Circle for founders at different stages

Before you start

If you're still a PM or operator and thinking about founding, the circle lets you meet founders before you jump. Our post on going from product manager to founder covers what changes. The page for product managers explains what PMs get.

Pre-product and early product

The early job is discovery: talking to users, finding a painful problem and testing whether anyone will pay. Our customer interviews guide is a practical starting point, and teardowns help you see how other products solved similar problems.

Finding traction

Once you have users, the question becomes what to measure and what to build next. Picking a North Star metric and a clear product roadmap helps you and your team focus. AMAs and office hours are where you sanity-check those choices.

Raising and hiring

Before a raise or a key hire, office hours give you an outside view from people who've done both. The board gets your founding PM or co-founder search in front of the right people.

What makes Product Circle a good fit for founders

• By application. Every application is reviewed by hand, so the people in the room have chosen to be there and contribute.
• Product-first. It's built around product people, which suits founders who are their company's first PM.
• Small enough that people know each other. Advice is better from people who know your context.
• A steady rhythm. You don't need to block a day. A 45-minute AMA or a 20-minute slot fits around running a company.

Frequently asked questions

Is Product Circle a founder community or a PM community?

Both. It's a by-application community for product managers and founders, and people moving between the two. Founders get product thinking from PMs, and PMs get a close view of company building.

Can Product Circle help me raise money?

Office hours give members time with VCs and founders who have raised before, which helps you prepare. It's a place for advice, not a fundraising platform, and there's no promise of investment.

Can I hire my first PM through Product Circle?

You can share a founding PM role on the jobs and opportunities board, where PM roles and founder openings are shared by members for members. Before you post, read what is a founding product manager and consider using an office hours slot with a founder who has hired before to shape the role.

Do I need funding or revenue to join?

There's no published requirement. The form is written for product people: it asks for your role, company, years in product and one product decision you're proud of. As a founder, put your founder role and company, and pick a product call you made. A person on the team reads every application.

Do I need to be based in Bengaluru to join as a founder?

No city requirement is published. Product Circle is India-focused, and specifics such as where members are based, which roles are open and where meetups happen are shared with members. The application asks for your city.

Join a startup founder community

If you're building a company and want people around you who have raised, built and hired, start with a short application on the how to join page. Read the about page for more on who runs Product Circle.