5 Steps to Negotiate Your Product Manager Job Offer in a Tough Market

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Meet Colin and Annie

In line with my mission, today, I partner with

Colin Lernell

and

Annie Murray

from Valued, who have conducted over 200 tech job offer negotiations.

Despite the tough job market, they are still seeing PMs like yourself negotiate average offer increases of over $80,000 per year.

Colin - most recently Senior Director of Product at Patreon. He has helped many product managers and leaders negotiate. He has personally landed and negotiated offers as a Director in big tech, as VP of Product in public companies, and anything from Sr. Director to CPO offers at various private company stages. His top negotiation saw an increase of +$605,000 per year (pre-IPO).

Annie - a former Microsoft and Amazon recruiter. She is one of the world's top tech salary negotiation experts, with 200+ negotiations across all FAANG+, public companies like Airbnb, startups, and at all seniorities from early career PMs to executives.

Colin’s and Annie’s most recent negotiation wins include:

• +$87,000 per year Senior Product Manager offer increase (no competing offers)

• Senior Product Manager offer up-leveled to Director (no competing offers)

• Multiple +$80,000 to +$100,000+ per year offer increases

In this guide, you'll learn the strategies they use to help Product Managers secure top compensation, even in today's challenging market.

Table of Contents

1. Why You Should Negotiate as a Product Manager

2. Post-2023 Market Impact On Negotiations

3. The 5 Steps to Negotiate Your PM Offer in 2024

   1. Step 1: Do This Before You Hit “Apply”

   2. Step 2: Handle the "Salary Expectations" Question

   3. Step 3: Build Powerful Leverage (With or Without Competing Offers)

   4. Step 4: Sell Your Value Before You Counter

   5. Step 5: Present a Compelling Counter Offer

4. Optimize Multiple Competing Offers (If You're Lucky)

5. Key Takeaways

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1. Why You Should Negotiate as a Product Manager

In over 200 negotiations we've overseen, one question consistently emerges: "Why should I negotiate?"

Here are the key reasons:

• Reason 1: It’s too late after you accept: Almost all major compensation increases require leaving and finding a new role.

• Reason 2: You set yourself back: Future promotions and raises are based on what you initially accept in your offer.

• Reason 3: It’s the norm: Over 50% of PM candidates negotiate, and almost all tech companies expect you to do the same.

• Reason 4: It can improve your reputation: It can be an opportunity to present your value more clearly and gain more respect from your new boss.

Reason 1: It’s too late after you accept

Initial offers typically fall in the middle or bottom of the compensation band. Accepting a bottom-of-band offer without negotiation affects all future raises and promotions.

Because raises and promotions usually have a fixed percentage across the level for the amount comp will increase, there isn’t a way to get to a top-of-band compensation after you’ve accepted a bottom-of-band offer.

One of the ways to get a substantial change in comp at that point would be to look externally. There are ways to negotiate internally that we’ll cover in the “Selling Your Value” section, but remember that internal negotiations often require more context around your relationship with your manager and your current performance that we may not have, and the resulting increases are almost always much smaller than new hire negotiations.

Reason 2: You set yourself back

A 25% increase in your initial offer could mean millions in additional income over your career.

Consider this scenario:

Reason 3: It’s the norm

But why do companies negotiate in the first place?

Companies negotiate to win the best talent to help their business succeed. They have compensation bands because each candidate brings unique experiences and competing opportunities, but they aim to hire the best fit while maintaining pay parity, given individual situations.

There's typically no one-size-fits-all “market rate” for a Product Manager, especially after a few years of experience.

This won’t change soon. Companies with no negotiation or “same-pay-everywhere” policies are not the biggest, most successful players. Consider these examples:

Whether it’s correlation or causation, VCs and executives will opt to use negotiations to beat out other companies for top talent and be flexible to market conditions. So, most market-leading companies opt for flexible compensation models, often paying more to those who negotiate effectively.

Colin has been on the leadership side of negotiations in companies that target the top 20% of market compensation and never want to lose a candidate based on money, as well as companies where they targeted the bottom 20% of the market band when he first got there.

He knows what a difference it makes in the team’s talent density and team success when a company is willing to negotiate to land the best candidates.

And no, a company cannot just “pay a fair rate in the first place” because there is no such thing as a “fair rate.” But also practically because:

1. Over 50% of PM candidates negotiate and will not react well if you refuse to improve the first offer

2. The number that will get someone to sign is different for each person, depending on their experience, expectations, and other opportunities

3. Market compensation trends change fast and frequently (as we saw in 2022/23)

To understand how and why some companies pay more, we recommend reading

The Pragmatic Engineer

article on the Trimodal Nature of Tech Compensation.

Reason 4: It can improve your reputation

“My hiring manager said I was one of the best negotiators she’s come across.”

This is what an Adobe PM told us. We helped her negotiate an up-level and $115,000 / year increase. And the way she handled it impressed both her Director and manager, earning their respect long-term. In fact, one of her managers even asked her for her help with a negotiation when they moved on.

We have seen many candidates impress their soon-to-be hiring managers and skip-level leaders with their approach to negotiating, especially when they use the method we suggest in the Selling Your Value section.

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2. Post-2023 Market Impact On Negotiations

The tech job market of 2024 differs significantly from 2022.

In 2022, we saw companies like Amazon change their long-held policy to cap base salaries at $160K, and most big tech companies were willing to throw down some serious cash to secure top talent.

But the interest rate increased, and other macro changes shifted everything by late 2022. Hundreds of thousands of employees were impacted by the layoffs across various-sized companies in the tech space, and suddenly, the companies held all the power in negotiations.

And it’s not over yet; we’re seeing a slower but steady pace of layoffs in the tech space right now. Dell and Intel both let go a huge chunk of their staff, so there is still no stable market out there.

Although Product Manager job openings are better than in 2023, their growth has plateaued in the last few months.

If we look at new hire offer data, we see more dramatic shifts.

When analyzing recent job offer trends for Senior Product Manager roles (e.g., Amazon L6) from late 2021 to August 2024, three key patterns emerge:

1. 🔴 Fewer offers: Amazon slowed hiring dramatically in 2023, but it's starting to pick up slowly.

2. 🔴 No more above-band offers: In-band offers are now the norm.

3. 🟢 Upper-band offers still happen: But only for those who negotiate effectively.

So now, folks are questioning if it’s even worth negotiating and if the risk is much higher for an offer to be pulled than before.

Learning to present your value and correlate it with the amount you’re being paid is crucial to a successful negotiation. Remember - if you focus on presenting the value you’re adding to the company in a way that shows you’re confident in the scope of the role, that action can change the trajectory of your compensation moving forward. Be respectful of the team, take deadlines seriously (we’ve seen folks respond to an offer 25 hours after instead of the 24-hour time frame the company suggested, and they got their offer pulled), and don’t die on the hill of compensation. But those are just some insights at a glance, let's dive in deeper to how to be successful in a PM negotiation in 2024.

This guide will provide strategies to negotiate effectively, even in a tough market.

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3. The 5 Steps to Negotiate Your PM Offer in 2024

There are five steps of negotiating your PM offer we recommend you follow:

1. Step 1: Do This Before You Hit “Apply”

2. Step 2: Handle the "Salary Expectations" Question

3. Step 3: Build Powerful Leverage (With or Without Competing Offers)

4. Step 4: Sell Your Value Before You Counter

5. Step 5: Present a Compelling Counter Offer

Let's explore each step in detail.

Step 1: Do This Before You Hit “Apply”

Setting yourself up for success early in a negotiation is critical - and negotiations happen before you even hit apply.

Many candidates make the mistake of seeking negotiation help only after receiving an initial offer or making a counteroffer. While we can still provide support at these later stages, it's better to start preparing early in the job search.

Here's a timeline of when to start preparing:

Job search negotiation stages

Annie always guides her clients to contact her as they’re mid-interview so the foundation can be laid for a positive negotiation outcome. Ideally, though, it’s best to start taking steps as early as the job application submission, as you may start getting requests to share your comp expectations in the application and on the initial phone screen. It’s important to be aware of how you want to handle those questions (see Step 2 - The Dreaded “Comp Expectations” Question).

Depending upon your stage of the interview/job search process, we can provide different levels of assistance. Annie's helped folks who’ve come to me after doing a round of unsuccessful negotiating and gotten them to counter once more with successful outcomes. But remember that there are many pitfalls on the road to an ideal negotiation, so the sooner you can get support, the better!

Negotiation is an information game - recruiters want to know what companies you’re talking to, what compensation you’d actually accept, and how motivated you are to sign with this company. From the candidate's end, you want to know how many other folks are in the pipeline, how motivated this company is to get you to sign, and what comp they will actually be willing to offer.

Be very cautious about how you’re revealing this information and when. If you reveal too early or late, you can give them more ammunition to use against you later. For example, if you call out a number early on, they match that in your offer, and then you tell them you want more, they’ll say something like, “We already bent over backward to match your initial request, and now you want more? It sounds like you’re focused much more on compensation than the company's needs. I'm not sure if you’re the right fit at this time.” You can control the flow of information by using silence strategically, but working with someone who can give you specific verbiage and tools to navigate these tough situations will help immensely.

Trackers

You must understand each company you're speaking to, their size/stage of development, and keep track of how much you share about your leverage opportunities. It can be easy to get overwhelmed with information when talking to 5+ companies at once. Put together a spreadsheet tracker to keep yourself organized and your opportunities straight. You don't want to call out the wrong job title or ask about private equity with a public company, so cover yourself and keep your trackers updated as you continue to move forward in interviews.

As you're getting some interviews in the pipeline, make sure that you're thinking long-term about which company you'd want to use as leverage. For readability purposes, let's call the opportunity you're most excited about your "Top Choice" and the one you would accept for the right offer we'll call "Plan B." Another company with an uncertain fit that pays well and can be used for leverage could be called “Top Pay.”

Here's a tracker table to help you manage your job applications, including important details for negotiation and leverage:

Job application tracker template

Update this tracker regularly as you progress through your job search. Use the "Leverage Category" to identify which opportunities could leverage your Top Choice. The "Info Shared" and "Comp Info Gained" columns help you track what information you've disclosed and what you've learned about compensation, which is crucial for negotiations. The "Timeline/Candidates" column gives you an idea of the urgency of the hiring process and your competition, helping you time your negotiations effectively.

Setting Up Leverage

As you're getting some interviews in the pipeline, make sure that you're thinking long-term about which company you'd want to use as leverage. For readability purposes, let's call the opportunity you're most excited about your "Top Choice", and the one you're less excited about we'll call "Plan B".

Obviously, your Top Choice is an opportunity you don't want to risk losing at all. Usually, folks don't want to risk losing any opportunity. Still, it's important to identify less attractive opportunities to use for leverage, as those Plan B's should be ones you're more comfortable risking since you'll likely call out high numbers to them to then share with the Top Choice to use as leverage.

If your Top Choice is a FAANG company, you will want to get a company of a similar size/stage of development to be your Plan B Company. If you try to share a Series A startup offer with a massive company like Meta, Meta will tell you that the Series A equity will never be valuable. If you try to share a Meta offer with a Series A startup, the startup will tell you that they're not at the same scale, so go sign with Meta if you're comp-focused. Try to get an apples-to-apples company as your Plan B, so it won't be a stretch to get your Top Choice to move on comp based on the leverage used.

Mindset & Runways

One often overlooked element is the mindset you bring to the negotiation. If you tell yourself that you're bad at negotiating, you're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, so try to approach this upcoming comp dialogue with a clean slate. Remember - by asking at all, you're already a strong negotiator since so many people never ask to begin with!

Make sure as you're moving through the process that you're keeping an eye on your financial runway (if you're currently unemployed especially) and your energy/mental runway. Being unemployed can be extremely mentally draining, and if you're working full-time and doing interviews, that can be taxing as well. Remember to take time for yourself every day, and that urgency, desperation, and exhaustion are the top 3 enemies in the negotiation. If you succumb to those emotions, you are likely to accept a middling/mediocre offer just to wrap the process up. Consider journaling as a way to not only help you make this life-changing decision of what job you'll accept but also as a way to track your mindset.

The Ingredients of a Successful Negotiation

Colin heard a fantastic talk by an HBS professor who has helped massive corporations negotiate over the years and adapted the 4 ingredients needed for a PM candidate to negotiate successfully. Be Likable, Deserving, Justified, and Winnable.

To successfully negotiate your PM offer, the company needs to:

1. Like you - Be firm but kind and likable. Treat the recruiter well, build rapport with your Hiring Manager and their manager, and negotiate firmly but kindly.

2. Think you deserve it - Rock your interviews, signal other company interests, map why you’re a unique candidate, and provide solid reasoning for compensation asks.

3. Justify it internally - Provide internal and external levers and reasons the recruiter and hiring manager can use to justify the decision with the compensation committee, execs, or finance.

4. Think you’re winnable - Lead with excitement for the role and company. Recruiters and managers will give up fighting for you if they don’t think there’s a real chance you’ll join or if you’re using them as leverage for a bidding war.

We will keep this in mind throughout the process.

Step 1 Cheatsheet: Setting the Foundation

• Determine your priorities: short-term financial gain, risk/reward potential, title, career advancement speed, passion, work-life balance, location, etc.

• Build financial and mental runway to avoid desperation in negotiations

• Set up referrals and leverage opportunities early in the process

• Create a spreadsheet tracker to manage job applications and opportunities

• Keep track of information shared and gained during the interview process

• Identify your "Top Choice" and "Plan B" companies for leverage

• Aim for apples-to-apples comparisons (e.g., FAANG vs FAANG, startup vs startup)

• Research company size, stage, and compensation trends

• Line up low-risk companies first to practice interviews and negotiations

• Strategically time your applications (e.g., account for longer processes like Google's)

• Aim for offers to come in around the same time, with top choices near the end

• Remember to be Likable, Deserving, Justified, and Winnable

Step 2: Handle the "Salary Expectations" Question

Companies start asking what your desired compensation is as early as the job application. And many candidates come to us later in the process when we have to dig them out of a hole based on these early conversations.

Some ways you can get yourself into trouble early:

• Revealing your current compensation

• Revealing how much equity you have remaining to vest

• Revealing too much about your other opportunities

• Agreeing to a range or number

• Revealing your expectations - either too low or too high

Do NOT negotiate until the end of the process.

Why? Because what is not negotiable now and can end your candidacy can become negotiable later.

This even happened to me. When I started interviewing for a role in NYC, they said the entire product team was in NYC, and there were no exceptions for remote. By the time I got to the offer, they offered me a remote role.

So what do you do?

We've all been there, staring at that box marked with a red asterisk, knowing we have to put a number in. It won't let us enter "0", and if we try to enter "let's discuss when further along in the process," the box informs us we need to enter numbers, not letters. So, how do we respond, and is there a way to avoid sharing?

If it's a situation like the above, the first thing to do is check the job description and see if a salary range is listed. In Washington, California, New York, and many other states, it's now legally required for companies to provide a salary band in the job posting. Double-check your state's laws with a quick Google search, and review the posting for the range.

Your only goal is to move forward in the process, so enter the high end of their range.

Later, if the recruiter tries to verify this on the call or is surprised by your change of heart if/when you call out a different number, you can respond that your compensation expectations have changed after getting additional context on what your other opportunities are offering, as well as the scope of this role.

If there is no salary range listed, do some basic research on base salaries for a PM of your level of experience in your city for a similarly sized/staged company. Of course, a similar-sized company could pay literally 100s of thousands per year less than another, so this is not ideal. So, if you are concerned that the numbers you're seeing are too high or that the company you're speaking to is not a big brand and may not pay as well, you can pick a lower benchmark as your initial expectation. You can negotiate this later, but you want to try to set yourself up for success by not anchoring too high/low on the total compensation amount.

Now, you may be lucky and not have to apply, but instead, you get a referral or reach out directly from the company. If that's the case, that's one compensation question avoided. But that won't stop the recruiters from asking you point-blank what you're looking for in terms of salary.

Some of you may be thinking: "Why avoid sharing a number? Shouldn't I just call one out and leave it at that?" There are quite a few reasons why we want to avoid sharing a comp number early.

1. Leveling placement - This is something that's heavily impacted by your interview performance.

   • You can have 25 years of experience in the field, but if you bomb the interviews, they can still down-level you once they give you an offer.

   • If you call out a number early on that is reflective of the level you anticipate, and then you get down-leveled, now you've potentially risked the opportunity as there's no way the company can match that ask at the lower level.

   • If you call out a number that is higher than the level or set band, the recruiter and hiring manager have not yet been sold on you through the interview loops at a higher level, and you cannot make your case this early, so you may lose a potential opportunity.

   • The same goes if you expect a lower level and then get up-leveled due to your rockstar performance. You don't want to accidentally lowball yourself!

2. What isn't negotiable at the beginning of the process can be negotiated later after you've demonstrated your value and wow'ed the team.

   • We mentioned earlier that we were able to turn a Senior Product Manager offer into a Director offer at the end of the process. If the candidate had eliminated himself too early, he would have missed out.

   • We helped him demonstrate why he deserved that up-level through his interview performance and by presenting the value he would add to the company after the offer (see Step 4 - Selling Your Value).

3. Very easy to lowball yourself accidentally early on. Once you call out a number, a recruiter will stick to that and get confused/irritated when you change it up on them, especially if they give you an offer that matches your quoted expectations.

   • We have helped many candidates in this situation, but it is much trickier and requires the use of “new information = new negotiation” arguments.

   • You may realize later in the process that the scope of the role is much higher than you initially thought or that you have better Plan B's to use as leverage than you did when you were originally asked for your expectations by your Top Choice.

If asked directly by the recruiter to share a number, there are a few possible ways to avoid sharing, depending on your situation.

Colin suggests starting with a more generic response that doesn’t over-explain. This will handle 75% of recruiter calls or email questions:

Some examples of how to handle the salary expectations question in a recruiter screen or email:

You know, if there's a great fit, I'm sure we'll come to something that works for well for all of us at the end of the process. In my experience, it's better to focus on the interviews and finding the right fit first.

or

I’m really just focusing on my interviews right now and haven’t put a lot of thought into the specifics. There is a lot more to an offer than just compensation, so I’m sure once I meet the team and learn more about the role, we’ll be able to come to something that works for everyone.

Then, flip it on them and ask what their compensation range is. In most US states, this is mandatory to provide to candidates - although we don’t rely on this as reliable data:

…What is the compensation range for this role?

If they keep pressing, you can start to use situation-specific reasons:

If you've been at a company for the past 2+ years, say something like

To be honest, I've been at COMPANY NAME for the past X NUMBER of years, and in that time the economy has flip flopped pretty dramatically, so I'm not sure what to expect when it comes to compensation.

Another great way to divert comp expectation questions with startups and private companies:

I know compensation is not apples to apples between companies and we wouldn’t know enough at this point about how to think about the equity or other offer specifics enough to really talk numbers. I am confident we will come to something that works for all of us at the end.

If you've been unemployed for a while, you may have a few companies you're talking to simultaneously. In that case, say:

I'm still waiting on offers from a few companies and I'm really not sure what to expect at this time, if you could provide me an initial offer, that would give me the context I need"

At the executive level (L7 and above), you may find it harder to avoid those questions, as recruiters want to be mindful of your time since it's valuable, and they want to provide a white-glove experience to retain you as a candidate. If you are extremely confident about what comp you want and know that the company will not likely match exactly what you ask for, and you call out that very high number early, you risk eliminating an offer that could surprise you. It's best to hear a first offer and then create your counter from there.

Colin just recently helped an L7-level candidate with a public company that is known for giving lower compensation vs. the rest of the market and especially vs. big tech. There was a lot of framing from the company about how strict their compensation bands were and how they would not be able to meet the top-of-market ranges. But after selling the candidate’s value and doing well in interviews, the candidate negotiated intelligently and was able to move the company up +35% on their offer to be competitive with even upper-band offers at the other companies.

Step 2 Cheatsheet: Handling the "Comp Expectations" Question

• If asked on application: Enter the high end of the provided salary range or research-based estimate

• If asked by the recruiter: Deflect by citing market uncertainty or multiple ongoing conversations

• For startups: Ask about equity valuation before providing numbers

• Executive level: You may need to provide a number, but aim high

• Remember: Avoid anchoring too low or high early in the process

• Goal: Keep options open for negotiation later in the process

Step 3: Build Powerful Leverage (With or Without Competing Offers)

You will find yourself in one of two situations when you get an offer:

1. You have competing offers

2. This is your only offer

If you’re lucky enough to be in situation #1, you might think you should just tell them about your other offer and hope they match.

The reality is that competing offers aren’t always your best source of negotiating power. And they can be enhanced quite a bit by building other types of leverage.

If you are in situation #2, you might be asking:

Q: What if I don't have another comparable opportunity or offer in play to use as negotiating leverage?

Even without competing offers, you can still build significant leverage in negotiations. The key is understanding and maximizing your value proposition while considering the impact of scarcity and urgency on both sides.

The Core Value Equation:

Core Value = (Ideal outcome × Probability of success) ÷ (Cost of time and effort x Time to outcome)

Where:

• Ideal outcome: The result the employer wants to achieve

• Probability of success: How likely you are to deliver that outcome

• Cost of time and effort: The resources the employer must invest in you

• Time to outcome: How quickly you can deliver the desired results

Just like you will pay more for faster delivery, guaranteed results, or a more trusted brand, hiring managers and companies will pay more for the right value proposition.

Your job: Convince them you'll get great results fast, with minimal risk.

Scarcity and Urgency Factors in Job Offer Negotiation

These factors create a nuanced picture of the negotiation landscape. For example:

• High Your Scarcity + Low Company's Scarcity + High Company's Urgency: Strong negotiating position

• Low Your Scarcity + High Company's Scarcity + Low Company's Urgency: Weaker negotiating position, but still room for strategic negotiation

Even without other job offers in hand, you can build strong leverage for negotiations using the MERIT framework:

This framework helps you identify and leverage your strengths throughout the negotiation process. Let's dive into each component:

M - Market

In tech job negotiations, your understanding of the market landscape is a powerful internal compass. It shouldn't be wielded as an explicit bargaining chip but rather inform your overall strategy and confidence level. The key is to calibrate your approach based on the demand for your specific skills and the company's position, given the talent market, capital market, and economic market conditions.

You:

1. Demand for your specific PM skills (AI vs. Crypto vs. B2C Growth vs. Internal Tools)

2. Tech sector trends affecting your role

3. Local tech hub hiring climate

4. Your unique skill combination

Company:

1. Funding stage and financial health

2. Hiring trends (expansion, freeze, selective)

3. Competitive landscape

4. Recent product launches or pivots

5. Specific needs aligned with your skills

Your market knowledge should silently guide your negotiation strategy. In a hot market for your skills, like AI PhD PMs, you can afford to be more selective and confident. This might mean taking more time to consider offers, being firmer about your must-haves, or exploring multiple opportunities simultaneously.

Conversely, in a tougher market, such as crypto PMs during a downturn, you'll want to emphasize adaptability and broad impact. Focus on how your skills translate across domains and how you've navigated past market shifts. You might be more open to creative compensation structures, like performance-based bonuses or future equity grants tied to company milestones.

Remember, the goal isn't to explicitly reference market data or make direct comparisons. Instead, let your market insights inform your overall approach and confidence level.

E - Expertise

Your expertise is your most powerful asset in negotiations. It's not just about what you know but how you've applied it to drive results.

You:

1. Quantifiable impacts on revenue, user growth, or efficiency

2. Successful product launches and their outcomes

3. Unique technical or domain knowledge

4. Cross-functional leadership experiences

5. Problem-solving approach and methodologies

Company:

1. Current product challenges or opportunities

2. Upcoming strategic initiatives

3. Team composition and skill gaps

4. Target market and growth goals

5. Technical stack and methodologies

Instead of simply listing your achievements, demonstrate how your expertise aligns with the company's specific needs. Share your problem-solving process, decision-making frameworks, and how you've navigated complex challenges. This showcases not just what you've done but how you think and work.

Remember, the company will pay more for faster-guaranteed success. If you can demonstrate you have already done what they want this role to do at a stage or scale they want to get to, you reduce their risk and improve their confidence in a quick and successful outcome.

The company is not only buying your individual skill but the collective knowledge of the company you're coming from. They will assume you learned a lot from that company and come with many lessons about how to win in a specific area that they want to avoid learning the hard way.

For example, rather than just stating, "I increased user retention by 30%," you might also discuss how your past company had some of the best retention in their market because of specific tactics they tested and an impressive culture of experimentation. Especially if the company you're joining is trying to improve its retention or experimentation culture, you will bring outsized value not only for your work but the expertise you'll share from your past company.

And, of course, if they need a rare and unique combination of different expertise that maps to your combination of past roles and products, then you can highlight that.

R - Runway

Your runway represents your financial and psychological flexibility during negotiations. It's not about explicitly stating your financial situation but about the confidence and patience it allows you to exhibit.

You:

1. Financial buffer (savings, current income)

2. Personal timeline for a job change

3. Visa status or other timing constraints

4. Exhaustion or desperation level

Company:

1. Urgency to fill the position

2. How long the position has been open

3. Fiscal year and budgeting cycles

4. Product roadmap and launch timelines

5. Organizational changes or restructuring

A strong runway allows you to approach negotiations with calm and confidence. It gives you the ability to take time for thoughtful decision-making, ask probing questions, and, if necessary, walk away from an unsatisfactory offer.

Use your runway to maintain composure throughout the process. If you need more time to consider an offer, you can confidently request it without appearing desperate or indecisive. Your runway also allows you to focus on long-term value rather than short-term gains, aligning your interests with the company's.

Here are some ways to increase your financial and psychological runways:

• Tap your savings fund to cover 3-6 months of expenses

• Reduce non-essential spending to extend your savings

• Consider part-time or freelance work to supplement income

• Practice stress-management techniques like meditation or exercise

• Develop a support network of friends, family, or mentors

• Take breaks from the job search to gain perspective and improve your stamina

I - Inventory of Alternatives

Your inventory of alternatives isn't just about other job prospects. It's a comprehensive view of your professional options and how they align with your career goals.

You:

1. Other active job offers

2. Other companies in any part of the interview processes

3. Current job stability, upcoming promotions, raises, or bonuses

4. Equity vesting dates and future grant schedules at your current company

5. Potential for expanded scope or new projects in your current role

6. Entrepreneurship or consulting opportunities

7. Educational or sabbatical options

Company:

1. Other qualified candidates in their pipeline

2. Internal promotion candidates

3. Option to leave the position unfilled

4. Potential to restructure the role

5. Outsourcing or contracting alternatives

Your inventory of alternatives informs your BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement). It's not about explicitly mentioning other opportunities but about the confidence and perspective it provides you during negotiations.

A strong inventory of alternatives allows you to focus on finding the right fit rather than just securing any offer. It empowers you to ask thoughtful questions about the role, team, and company culture, demonstrating your commitment to finding a mutually beneficial arrangement.

You can investigate the company’s alternatives by asking the recruiter about other candidates in the process or how long the position has been open.

T - Tactics

Tactics in negotiation aren't about tricks or manipulation. They're about how you present yourself, manage the conversation, and navigate the negotiation process.

You:

1. Communication style and approach

2. Interview performance

3. Preparation and research depth

4. Question-asking strategy

5. Timing and pacing of responses

6. Ability to articulate your value proposition

7. Building rapport with the recruiter, hiring manager, and skip-level leaders

Company:

1. Typical interview and offer process

2. Decision-making hierarchy

3. Communication style and frequency

4. Flexibility on different compensation components

5. Past negotiation patterns (if known)

Effective tactics focus on creating a collaborative, value-focused negotiation. This might include:

• Asking thoughtful questions that demonstrate your insight and interest

• Clearly articulating how your expertise aligns with their needs

• Maintaining a calm, professional demeanor throughout the process

• Being responsive and respectful of their time and process

• Focusing on total value creation rather than just personal gain

Arguments that are NOT as effective to build leverage:

Cost of living

“Well, with inflation being so astronomical across the globe right now, couldn't I use the cost of living in my city to justify an increased offer?”

You must remember that these companies don't consider your cost of living but your market value in your specific city. Look at Chicago - arguably an expensive city to live in, but you can't get a Silicon Valley compensation offer in Chicago because there are not as many tech jobs in IL compared to CA, so the market isn't as saturated and pay bands can stay low and still be competitive.

These arguments are rarely effective and can even dilute your better reasoning.

Living Expenses

“What about if I have my wedding coming up or the birth of my child? Could I use those as reasons I need more comp?”

Unfortunately, while those are valid reasons for needing more compensation, they're not specific enough to you as most folks in the workplace experience those life events at one time or another.

There are some exceptions, of course.

In Colin’s experience working with Executive Recruiters for Director+ roles, they have actually helped in negotiations by gaining this context from candidates. You can let the search firm recruiter know that a reason you are focusing more on the cash component of the offer is not because you don’t believe in the company’s future and the equity value but because of current family situations. This can avoid confusion in compensation discussions behind the scenes. They’ll clarify that you are not just in it for the cash but have real reasons without necessarily giving those specifics to the company. This is a rare circumstance, and using valuations, business impact, and what you’re giving up to take the role are all generally more effective.

Market Data

“I should get $350K. Here’s a screenshot from a Blind post that says someone got $350K for an L5 offer last month.”

Some folks may jump to suggest utilizing your market value as your leverage here. There are thousands of data points online that exist to educate you on what compensation would make sense, so couldn't you just cite those as your leverage here?

As we outlined above, there are risks to using online data points as your main resource, and those risks extend to the recruiter's reaction to using those data points as your leverage. If you present a counter offer to a recruiter and say "this is based on info I found on Levels.fyi/Blind/Glassdoor", the recruiter will likely say "those data points are usually out of date and unverified, so unfortunately we can't go back and adjust the offer".

The other thing to consider is: what makes your situation unique? Anyone can look up L5 SWE data and find numbers, but how is that relevant to you as a candidate or what you bring to the table? If you can directly correlate the value you're bringing as a hire to the compensation you need, that will end up being much more successful.

These posts and sites are helpful for internally setting expectations, but they are not the most effective for building leverage as sources to cite, in our experience.

Step 4: Sell Your Value Before You Counter

No matter if you have no leverage in any form or if you have 10 competing offers, a solid 30-60-90 day goal document can change the course of your negotiation. This demonstrates to the HM that you have a substantial understanding of the value added here and directly correlates your value with the compensation offered. It's also an activity that usually only very senior folks do, so if you're mid-level or even entry-level, this is a great opportunity to demonstrate a high-level mindset.

No matter if you have no leverage in any form or if you have 10 competing offers, a solid 30-60-90 day goal document can change the course of your negotiation. This demonstrates to the HM that you have a substantial understanding of the value added here and directly correlates your value with the compensation offered. It's also an activity that usually only very senior folks do, so if you're mid-level or even entry-level, this is a great opportunity to demonstrate a high-level mindset.

We recently helped a client get up level from Senior Product Manager to Director of Product using a 30, 60, and 90-day goal document with the manager to highlight the scope of the role and how it would be a better fit for the level above. The manager said "This is a very intelligent way of presenting this", and then proceeded to push the uplevel request through to get it approved.

Even if you're not looking for jobs and are maybe eyeing a promotion or raise at your current company, presenting your goals for your time in the new role or after the raise makes it clear the value you've brought to the company and what you'll continue to bring moving forward. When presenting it to your manager, think about also including some highlights of what you've accomplished at the company so far. If you think about it, your manager has so many tasks and people to oversee they don't always have time to make an argument for why you deserve more comp, so if you can do that for them via this goal sheet, it basically is setting them up and providing the argument they'll need.

Step 5: Present a Compelling Counter Offer

That 30-, 60-, and 90-day goal call with the manager is a perfect opportunity to discuss compensation further. If the call is 30 minutes long, the first 20 should be focused on the scope of the role and reviewing your doc. Then, in the last 10 minutes, you can transition into compensation.

Be aware - some hiring managers don't want to negotiate directly with you; they may feel it's the recruiter's job, and they'll be pretty up front with their feelings on this if you present them comp. If that's the case, be respectful and go set up time with the recruiter to make your counter. But most of the time, this is a great way to get your counteroffer with the most influential person in your corner - the hiring manager.

The recruiter is basically a middleman between the manager/company and the candidate. Any comp request you take to the recruiter will be immediately shared with the manager to get their approval before going to the comp committee to finalize. The manager is also more influential with the comp committee, as those are usually made up of more senior individuals who've likely got more of a peer relationship with the HM than the recruiter does.

The best way to approach a counteroffer is to be confident in your tone and ask and clearly tie it to your leverage. If you go in and say, "Give me approximately $500k", with no additional context, you may not get very far. That phrasing indicates a lack of leverage and confidence about the number, with the word "approximately" being a hedging word that I'd discourage using, similar to "around" or "a range of x - y". Come in with a firm number, the more confident about it you sound, the more the company will buy into you needing this exact amount to make this jump.

Sometimes recruiters or managers want to have these conversations on video calls. We'd highly discourage you from doing a counter on a video call because it's already very challenging to mitigate your tone of voice in the conversation, let alone your facial expressions. If you can, try to dial into a video call and, if asked, say that only an audio call is possible right now and be appreciative of them being flexible. One of the benefits of a remote interview experience!

Once you call out what number you're looking for, take a pause and let the recruiter speak. Silence is crucial in a negotiation - whomever speaks the most in a negotiation typically "loses", since negotiations are a game where the information conveyed is currency. Companies want to know what companies you're speaking to, how excited you are about their offer, and what number you'd need to sign an offer letter. From the candidate's end, we want to know how interested this company is in you, how many other candidates are in the pipeline, and what number they'd actually be able to offer you. Every time you speak, you're revealing info, so use silence as a tool. More often than not, you'll find that the other person you're negotiating with will start to ramble, potentially revealing key insights.

There are a few pieces of pushback we could expect from the company:

1. "That's too high. What's a more realistic number you'd accept?" We don't want to provide a different number at this point because that will imply that number isn't something we really need and can weaken your overall argument. Instead, emphasize wanting to close the gap in comp. Say something like: "I understand that COMPANY A and COMPANY B don't pay the same, but honestly, this is the only number I have in mind, based on what I expect COMPANY B to offer me. If you could go back and see if anything could close the gap further, I'd be excited to accept COMPANY A's offer".

2. "We can't go off of what you expect to be making post-promotion; why don't you tell me what you're making now, and we can go from there?” Remember - in most US states, it's illegal to ask what you were making at your previous/current company. But instead of calling out the legality of asking that question, which could alienate the company, instead say: "That feels a little too personal to share, but I can tell you that X COMPENSATION is reflective of what I expect to make post-promotion, if you could see what could be doable with that information I'd greatly appreciate it"

3. "That equity isn't liquid, so it's not comparable to our public equity" This is something that big FAANG companies do frequently, Google and Meta both will discount private company equity by 25% when presented in a counter offer. Be aware that, when negotiating with public companies, if you're using a startup as leverage, this is the most probable pushback. This is an uphill battle, so unless you're using a startup offer that's a full job title above the public company title, it's unlikely it'd be leverageable in this case. If you do have an offer at a startup with a strong job title that you want to leverage, you could say something like: "I understand the equity isn't liquid yet, but I do believe that this company will have a liquidity event soon and could be very valuable. If there's anything you can do here to see if we could close the gap further, I'd be excited to move forward"

4. "What level/location/job title is this role? Be strategic here - sometimes, you're using a non-ideal offer as leverage. Let's say you're talking to a company that you're excited about, and your leverage opportunity is in a different city or state and is at a lower level. If it's 1-1 with level/job title/location, you can be honest. Otherwise, say something like: "It's not finalized yet, but I expect it to be SAME LOCATION/TITLE/LEVEL"

5. "Since we're so far off on comp here, should we even continue moving forward with this process?" Here's where things get scary. Nobody wants to get their offer pulled, and in this economy, it's at the top of everyone's minds while they're going through negotiations. Remember - pre-2023, the percentage of folks who got offers pulled was less than 1%. Now it's slightly above 1%. If you've been a victim of a layoff, be aware that this is a tactic that these companies may use since they know you're in a tougher situation and want you to feel anxious so you'll accept a cheaper offer. If they say this - do not panic. Be very cognisant of how they phrase it, as this is one of the few times in this negotiation (outside of accepting/declining the offer) that we want to say a firm "Yes/No". If they say, "Should we continue moving forward," say, "Yes, at this time, I'm very excited about COMPANY NAME, and I'm confident we can get to a number that works for everyone here. Money isn't everything, and if you'd be able just to go back and see what could be doable, given my situation, I'd be excited to sign today". If they say, "Sounds like we should just end this process, right?" respond with: "No, at this time…..etc."

By doing this counteroffer, you're halting the timeline for your offer deadline and putting the ball back in the company's court to give you an update. That doesn't mean you should ignore the deadline, if one is in place, as they do treat those seriously and will pull an offer if you don't respond within the time frame.

If they've given you a tight deadline, don't jump to countering to get more time. You want to be fully prepared for this conversation and even write a rough script for yourself so you can feel confident going into the call. Deadlines are definitely negotiable, talk to the HM about it as they usually are the reasons why the deadlines are in place. If you approach and emphasize your excitement for the opportunity but that you need more than 24 hours to make a life-changing decision, they will likely be understanding.

After you've completed the counteroffer conversation, no matter how it goes, you should treat yourself as a reward for going out on a limb and advocating for yourself. Remember - we don't expect these companies to match what we ask for, we expect them to say "Let me see what I can do here" and go back to the team to get a new offer that's likely higher than it was before, but below what you asked for. Now, you can reap the rewards of your hard work, hear the updated offer, and then decide if you want to push further or accept.

A good rule of thumb is around 3 rounds of negotiation is the limit before the company starts to lose patience with you. That doesn't mean there aren't exceptions to that. I've seen folks go 5 rounds with Google, but that was before 2023. Don't die on the hill of compensation. If this company tells you "no" more than twice, back down. Consider accepting the offer to strengthen your situation or looking elsewhere for a more flexible company that's willing to support you.

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4. Optimize Multiple Competing Offers (If You're Lucky)

While it is sadly less common than before, it is still possible to get more than 2 companies competing for you as a candidate in this market. The goal here is to maximize your Plan B opportunities as much as possible so you can share a desirable counter number to your Top Choice company. Be aware that usually you can only do 2 to 3 rounds of negotiation before risking the opportunity (outside of extremely competitive bidding wars which can still happen), and that whatever company you call out high numbers to will be expecting you to sign with them if they get those numbers for you. This is why any time you counter, you need to be aware of risk and how you're using these opportunities.

In these cases, we'd highly recommend you sync with us directly so we can guide you in utilizing this leverage in as low-risk a way as possible. We want to thread the needle as much as possible to avoid alienating any companies/recruiters and prevent any bridges from being burnt if you decide to go to one of those Plan B companies.

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5. Conclusions And Key Takeaways

If you can only take one thing away from this article, it should be that we are our own worst enemies in a negotiation. Our minds can really get the best of us, and we can tell ourselves that we shouldn't bother negotiating, we're not worth it, we're bad at it, and then we find ourselves continuing to accept bottom-of-band comp offers. Then, you get in your head about your compensation, and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A company that you work for will never be able to fully pay you out the direct value you bring to them. And in this competitive tech world, if you don't advocate for yourself, not many other people will step up and do it for you. Anyone can and should negotiate, provided they are smart about what leverage they use and their tone of voice.

It can seem like an uphill battle against these companies. It's you versus a billion-dollar organization with a huge team of compensation experts who know exactly what every company and job title pays and a recruiter who's getting coached by their manager on how to approach this negotiation. But you don't have to do it alone.

Knowing how and actually doing it are two things, and these negotiations can be nerve-racking. That is why we founded a negotiation service called Valued. Colin Lernell, former Sr. Director of Product and Head of Growth at companies like Noom and Patreon created the service to empower candidates like you to advocate for themselves. Through one-on-one coaching, script writing, mock negotiations, and real-time support, we can support our clients as they walk this treacherous path. Don't go it alone - check out www.feelvalued.co. We look forward to helping you on your career journey!

Key Takeaways For Negotiation Your PM Offer

Here are the key takeaways for negotiating a PM job offer:

1. Start preparing for negotiations early in your job search.

2. Build a strong foundation by tracking opportunities and setting up leverage.

3. Navigate compensation questions skillfully to maintain negotiating power.

4. Create leverage even without competing offers using the MERIT framework.

5. Sell your unique value proposition with a 30-60-90-day plan.

6. Present a compelling counteroffer, tying your ask to your value and leverage.

7. Be prepared for common pushback and handle it professionally.

8. Remember that negotiation is normal and expected in the tech industry.

Negotiating effectively can significantly impact your career trajectory and long-term earnings. While it may seem daunting to go up against large organizations with dedicated compensation teams, remember that you don't have to do it alone.

Services like Valued offer expert guidance through one-on-one coaching, script writing, mock negotiations, and real-time support. Book a free 30-minute strategy call at www.feelvalued.co to learn how we can support you in your career journey and help you secure your best offer.

PS: If you are a Director+ Product candidate on the job search, Colin is also planning a group coaching program on Maven. You can join the waitlist here.

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Thanks for reading The Product Compass!

Hey friends, Paweł here again.

If you enjoyed this post, you might also benefit from:

1. How to Land a PM Interview: A Step-by-Step Guide

2. How to Ace Your First PM Interview

3. Your PM Competence Map + Skills Assessment

Also, do not overwhelm yourself at your new job:

4. Top 9 High-ROI ChatGPT Use Cases for Product Managers

5. How to Automate Your Work as a Product Manager

Have a wonderful, productive week ahead,

Paweł