Five PM Archetypes Framework
by Peter Dang on June 22, 2025
Peter Dang's framework identifies five distinct product manager archetypes, each with unique motivations and strengths that create a balanced, high-performing product organization when combined strategically.
The Five Product Manager Archetypes
1. Consumer PM
- Half designer, half product person
- Obsessed with details and user experience
- Constantly asks: "Is it delightful? Is it crafted enough?"
- Driven by intuition and "vibe" about what makes a great product
- Notices small details: "This is three pixels off, I can't stand it"
- Naturally focuses on reducing complexity and improving usability
2. Growth PM
- Half data scientist, half product person
- Wired to think numbers-first
- Naturally skeptical: "Show me the data"
- Driven by experimentation and testing
- Approaches problems with "Let's run a test and prove it"
- Creates healthy tension with Consumer PMs by demanding evidence
3. Business/GM PM
- Half MBA, half product person
- Naturally wired to start with the business model
- Asks questions about margins, opportunities, and value creation
- Thinks about incentives and marketplace dynamics
- Particularly valuable in monetization and business model innovation
4. Platform PM
- Deeply wired to build tools for other people
- Focuses on internal platforms and infrastructure
- Often overlooked but critical for scaling
- Builds the systems that enable sustainable growth
- Thinks in terms of leverage and reusable components
5. Research/AI PM
- Half researcher, half engineer, half product person
- Understands deep technology while maintaining product taste
- Bridges research and product development
- Particularly important for AI/ML products
- Can translate complex technical capabilities into user value
Application Principles
- Everyone has a primary and secondary archetype
- People "lead with one type of thinking and then have a secondary thing that keeps them in balance"
- Build teams with complementary archetypes to create healthy tension
- Match founder/PM archetypes to the right market (e.g., don't put a Consumer PM in a heavily regulated industry)
- Create "a team of Avengers" with different superpowers that together cover all bases
- Use this framework to identify gaps in your team composition
Implementation Strategy
- Think of your team as a product that needs careful design
- Hire people who "spike" in different areas rather than generalists
- Create an environment where healthy debate between different perspectives is encouraged
- Set up your team structure to ensure all archetypes are represented
- Use this framework in hiring to identify which archetype a candidate represents
- Consider both the primary and secondary archetypes when building balanced teams
The framework helps leaders move beyond thinking of PMs as interchangeable and instead build teams with the right mix of perspectives, creating a "super team where everyone actually spikes in different ways."