Commercial skills are what is behind the phrase “Business viability” or “Business Impact” when it comes to successfully building software products. If your background is in Tech or Design, or if you never learnt about Business skills, this can feel challenging. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Business and Finance Concepts can be learnt and you can develop confidence and mastery of driving business impact in your context.
This course is for:
Product Leaders, Design Leaders, Tech leaders and people with aspirations to a leadership role in a product context. You should join if:
- You want to improve your commercial skills and really understand what “value to the business” means
- You want to feel confident in your financial literacy and start having better conversations with the senior leadership team and board of your organization
- You feel mystified by reading a balance sheet, understanding a P&L and how your team and decisions impact the overall business,
- You want to feel confident about conversations with your CFO or manager about numbers and their business impact
This course will cover:
- Financial concepts that let you understand how a Balance Sheet, P&L and Cash Flow statement work.
- The main strategies how your team can influence profitability (Increase Revenue, Protect Revenue, Reduce Cost, Avoid Cost) and how you link the work your product team does to these strategies.
- A business case template that you will adapt to your business model as a foundation for financial storytelling and credibility building in your organization
- How to have strategic conversations with your finance team about what financial metrics most matter in your organization.
- The role of Budgeting and Forecasting to understand it’s function and relationship to financial metrics in your organization.
- How to use business and financial metrics to prioritize between two competing features or opportunities
What you will get:
- Three sixty minute live interactive workshop sessions
- A peer group of no more than 10 participants to meet with to discuss and model your business case
- One hour of individual coaching to improve and deepen your understanding of the material
- Business Case Templates to take with you and play with
- A dedicated communication channel to ask questions for the duration of the course
- Access to all course materials
When will this start:
November Cohort will start Wednesday Nov 19th (three Wednesdays)
Course Dates: Nov 19th 5-6pm CET // Nov 25th 5-6pm CET // Dec 3rd 5-6pm CET
Individual sixty minute Coaching Session after the final course date can be picked flexibly out of Calendly
January 2026 Cohort will start Monday Jan 12th (three Mondays)
Course Dates: Jan 12th 5-6pm CET // Jan 19th 5-6pm CET // Jan 26th 5-6pm CET
Individual sixty minute Coaching Session after the final course date can be picked flexibly out of Calendly
February Cohort will start Tuesday Feb 3rd (three Tuesdays)
Course Dates: Feb 3rd 5-6pm CET // Feb 10th 5-6pm CET // Feb 17th 5-6pm CET
Individual sixty minute Coaching Session after the final course date can be picked flexibly out of Calendly
Course Fee:
- Full course fee: EUR 399
- Sliding Scale pricing if you are currently unemployed or can’t afford the full price.
The fee includes three sixty minute training sessions, plus one sixty minute individual coaching session (value of EUR 300). You will also get access to a dedicated communication channel, your cohort peer group and all course materials and templates for further use.
If you are currently unemployed or cannot afford the full course fee, please message me for a discount or sliding scale payment. I trust that you will use your best judgement of naming a fair price. You can use the following discount codes:
SLIDING300 for a reduced price of EUR 300, SLIDING150 for a reduced price of EUR 150. If you need a free spot, please message me directly.
Please note: If there are enough full price registrants, they will get priority in being accepted. I will accept up to one free participant per cohort and no more than three sliding scale participants per cohort.
If you have further questions about this, you can DM me through LinkedIn or send me an email at simonetta@inclusiveleaders.de
If you would prefer to have this course taught as a private group cohort for your organization, please message me and we can discuss details of that kind of engagement.
Curriculum
Week 1: The Basics reviewed:
What is a Balance Sheet, P&L, Cash Flow Statement.
What are typical business and unit metrics we affect as a product team.
How does this affect the Balance Sheet, P&L, Cash Flow Statement and ultimately our Evaluation?
How to have smart strategic conversations with your Finance and senior Leaders about these topics.
Week 2: Modeling a Business Case
What is going into a typical Product Business Case?
How to model relevant revenue and cost?
How to use this information for roadmap priority decisions?
Week 3: Budgeting and Forecasting
Basics on Budgeting and Forecasting
What is the purpose of these and what are typical related politics in organizations around this?
How to tie Budgets and Forecasts to Business Strategy, and make a winning case for new product proposals?
What people have said about me teaching this course content as a Masterclass:
Thank you so much for yesterday’s masterclass, Simonetta Batteiger! It was a great reminder that while numbers matter, speaking the language of those who manage them in a company is just as (if not more) important.
One key takeaway for me was understanding the importance of bringing revenue metrics into product storytelling to shift perception from “cost center” to “revenue driver“.
(Product Manager)
That is an awesome topic to support the success of product-led organizations.
Highly relevant, foundational knowledge for any PM. Warmly recommended!
(VP of Engineering)
I know from my own perspective that the finance aspect of these roles can be challenging. Great to see a masterclass on the topic!
(Product Enablement & Ops Coach)
A million dollar masterclass for Engineering and Product folks looking to grow to senior positions. Talking business language is one of the biggest roadblocks for techies in a corporate world.
(CTO)
Inclusive Leaders 