| Product manager might be one of the most grey roles within a startup. However, as a company progresses and the team grows, there comes a time when a founder needs to carve out dedicated roles. Of these positions, product management might be one of the most elusive — and key — roles to fill. Ken Norton, who recently left his job as director of product at Figma to consult rising PMs, thinks it's easier to start with defining what they aren't: the CEO of the product. "Product managers need to realize that there is a lot of janitorial work that gets done in product management," he said. "It's not fun or glamorous, and it's certainly not being the CEO of the product. It's just stuff that needs to get done." I wrote up a guide on how and when to hire your first product manager that expands on some of these insights, including how focus might be the biggest trait to interview for: Hiring continues to be one of the hardest parts of building a startup, and those early employees can define the trajectory, culture and eventual success of it. Even during TC Sessions: Justice this past week, Precursor's Sydney Thomas explained how startups need to make "pretty final decisions, pretty early on in what type of company you want to build. It's a slight asterisk to the common narrative of how startups pivot every other day. It's not that simple, and I'll probably remind you of that every other week, dear Startups Weekly readers. The rest of today's newsletter will include notes on a hot up-and-coming edtech IPO, an exit that includes Jay-Z, and the latest in agricultural tech robots. Also, remember you can always find me on Twitter @nmasc_ or e-mail me at natasha.m@techcrunch.com. | 
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