If you’ve built your own startup—or even just seriously tried—you’re already sitting on a goldmine of experience that’s directly transferable to product management.

You just need to know how to tell the story.

First: Understand What Product Roles Actually Look For

Most APM or junior PM roles aren’t looking for decades of product experience.

They’re looking for ownership, drive, collaboration, resilience, and clarity of thinking.

And if you’ve built a business—or even failed trying—you’ve probably lived all of that.

The key is learning how to map your story to the things they care about.

Start With These Questions:

Ask yourself:

• What did you actually do as an entrepreneur?
• What did you build? What industry were you in?
• How did you make decisions? Who did you work with?
• What was the hardest thing you worked on, and how did you navigate it?
• Did you identify a user need? Validate the idea? Launch a product? Work with engineers or designers? Talk to users?

You want to show that you’ve gone through some version of the product development lifecycle—

from problem discovery, to solution design, to execution, to iteration.

Break Down Your Experience Like a PM

1. The Idea Phase

Even if the idea wasn’t yours, talk about how you contributed.

• Did you research the market, competitors, or trends?
• How did you identify the user problem?
• What pain points did you uncover?
• Did you test whether your solution actually made sense?

👉🏽 This shows user empathy, critical thinking, and the ability to work through ambiguity—core PM traits.

2. Plan, Design, Build, Launch

This is where you connect the dots to typical PM workflows.

• Did you write requirements or decide what features to build?
• Did you work directly with engineers or designers?
• Did you create user flows, wireframes, or prioritization docs?
• Did you launch something? What feedback did you get?
• How many users tried it? What changed after you launched?

👉🏽 Even small wins or scrappy MVPs count. Just speak to them clearly.

Write a Compelling Bio That Sums It Up

Craft a short narrative (3–5 sentences) that says:

• What you built
• The role you played
• What you learned
• What kind of product work excites you now

Example:

“I co-founded a health tech startup where I led product research and worked directly with engineers to design and ship our MVP. I fell in love with solving real user problems and iterating quickly based on feedback. I’m now looking to bring that same scrappy mindset to a mission-driven PM team.”

Where to Apply (and How to Be Strategic)

1. Look at APM programs that accept entrepreneurial backgrounds

In Canada, try programs at:

• RBC
• Bell
• Telus
• Wealthsimple
• Shopify

In the U.S., you can also explore:

• Uber
• Google
• Meta
• Salesforce
• Roblox

👉🏽 Some are competitive—but many founders do break into these roles with the right storytelling and prep.

2. Start as a generalist and carve a path internally

If PM roles feel out of reach, look for startup or scale-up roles where you can:

• Join as a BizOps, growth, or strategy generalist
• Ask to partner 50% of the time with an existing PM
• Offer to take on a small product or feature set

At companies with under 100 people, this is very doable.

Founders are usually open to this if you show value fast.

Don’t Forget to Sell These Core Traits

These are your secret weapons as an entrepreneur:

• Curiosity – your ability to learn fast and dive deep into unfamiliar topics
• Intellectual horsepower – not just working hard, but thinking clearly
• Ownership – no one had to tell you what to do; you made it happen
• Bias for action – you didn’t just think—you built, launched, tested, and shipped
• Resilience – you’ve lived through setbacks and kept going

Final Advice

If you’re getting interviews but not offers—your prep needs work.

Spend time learning how to answer product sense questions, talk through tradeoffs, and explain your story clearly.

Don’t assume your entrepreneurial experience is obvious.

Make it easy for the interviewer to connect the dots.

You don’t need a traditional product title to become a PM.

You just need to show that you already think, act, and lead like one.