Product strategy is unclear
The company is moving, but the product strategy is not clear enough to guide decisions with confidence.
Fractional CPO | Product Strategy | Growth
Fractional CPO and product strategy for growing software companies
I help growing software companies build better products, scale more effectively, and accelerate growth through clearer strategy and experienced product leadership.
I work with software companies from startup through $100M ARR that need experienced product leadership at critical stages of growth. I help founders and leadership teams clarify strategy, strengthen roadmaps, scale products and teams, navigate multi-product growth, and avoid expensive mistakes as the business evolves. I bring executive-level product leadership and practical operating experience shaped by years of building, modernizing, and scaling software platforms.
Selected experience includes Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Cheetah Digital, Terminus, MessageGears, and GrowthLoop.
Selected experience
Salesforce Marketing Cloud • Cheetah Digital • Terminus • MessageGears • GrowthLoop
Where I typically help
When product strategy is unclear, the roadmap is too reactive, or growth is exposing gaps
Most companies do not need more product theory. They need someone who can identify what is slowing the business down, clarify priorities, and help the team move forward with a practical plan.
The roadmap is too reactive
Teams are busy, but priorities keep shifting and the roadmap is not translating into meaningful business progress.
Scaling is exposing gaps
What worked at an earlier stage no longer works as the product, team, and customer base become more demanding.
Multi-product growth is getting harder
As the business expands, decisions about product structure, platform investment, and portfolio focus become more important.
The business needs stronger product leadership
The company needs experienced product judgment to bring more clarity, discipline, and confidence to key decisions.
Critical decisions need pressure-testing
Founders and leadership teams sometimes need an experienced product partner who can help reduce risk and avoid expensive mistakes.
How I help
Senior product leadership, clearer thinking, and stronger decision-making
Structured support for companies that need experience, focus, and practical product leadership without adding unnecessary overhead.
Fractional CPO leadership
Senior product leadership for companies that need strategic direction, better decision-making, and stronger alignment without adding a full-time executive.
Product strategy and roadmap clarity
Clarifying where the product is going, what matters most, and how to align roadmap decisions with growth, customer value, and business priorities.
Product and team scaling
Helping companies evolve product practices, operating cadence, and team structure as the business becomes more complex.
Multi-product and platform strategy
Supporting companies as they expand beyond a single-product model and need clearer thinking around portfolio strategy, shared capabilities, and platform decisions.
Executive product coaching and decision support
Serving as a trusted partner to founders and leadership teams to pressure-test ideas, reduce costly mistakes, and bring more confidence to key product decisions.
Who I work best with
Growing software companies from startup through $100M ARR
I work with growing software companies from startup through $100M ARR that are building, scaling, or evolving their products and need experienced product leadership to help them do it well.
- Founder-led companies that need stronger product thinking
- Leadership teams that want clearer strategy and roadmap discipline
- Companies scaling product teams and decision-making
- Businesses navigating multi-product growth
- Software companies that need senior product guidance at critical stages of growth
Selected outcomes
Examples of the business impact this work has supported
A few examples of the kinds of business results this work has supported.
5x
Pipeline growth
Supported product and platform initiatives that helped drive significant commercial impact, including a 5x increase in pipeline in one environment.
60%
Faster time-to-value
Helped simplify products and align teams around clearer priorities, contributing to materially faster customer value realization.
50B+
Messages annually
Led product work in enterprise-scale software environments supporting very high-volume messaging and customer engagement.
10+
Months faster delivery
Accelerated time-to-market through pragmatic product strategy, including faster delivery of machine learning-enabled capabilities.
81%
Lower gross revenue attrition
Contributed to product and platform efforts associated with stronger customer retention after major launches and capability improvements.
About Michael
Experienced product leadership with a little more personality than most consultant sites allow
I am a product executive with more than 20 years of experience helping software companies build, modernize, and scale products through critical stages of growth. My work sits at the intersection of product strategy, roadmap clarity, platform evolution, and experienced leadership for teams that need better decisions, stronger focus, and fewer expensive mistakes.
I have led product work across enterprise software, data, messaging, and platform environments, but the through line has always been the same: helping growing companies build better products, make smarter decisions, and avoid expensive mistakes.
The personal mark I use, m², comes from a long-standing nickname based on my initials, MM. And yes, azDrum is my last name backward. I first used it in my early freelance years, building interactive CD-ROMs and tradeshow kiosks for education and big pharma clients in my New Jersey backyard. I later recycled it for my MFA thesis work at SCAD, where I explored branding, recall, and audience response. And when it came time to pick a name for my consultancy, recycling it yet again was a lot easier than coming up with something more pretentious. Since azDrum is not exactly a dictionary word, I take a stylistic approach to pronouncing it too: I prefer “oz-drum.”
Let’s talk
Need an experienced product leader?
If you need an experienced product leader to help you clarify strategy, strengthen the roadmap, or avoid a few expensive mistakes, I’d be glad to talk.
I work with growing software companies on product strategy, scaling, multi-product growth, and executive product guidance.
Or, if you just want to grab a cup of coffee and see whether I actually know what I’m talking about, that works too.
- Growing software companies from startup through $100M ARR
- Initial market focus on Indianapolis and Chicago
- Product strategy, roadmap clarity, scaling, and multi-product growth
- Senior product guidance without a full-time executive hire