From Roadmaps to Rolling Pins

Earlier this year, I stepped out of the PM world, away from product reviews, roadmap decks, and Slack pings, to start a cookie company with my childhood friend, Laurent.

Earlier this year, I stepped out of the PM world, away from product reviews, roadmap decks, and Slack pings, to start a cookie company with my childhood friend, Laurent. Two French buddys living the Bay Area with a clear idea: bring back the authentic French cookies we grew up with.

We didn’t raise funding. We didn’t join an accelerator. We just got to work, one batch of cookies at a time.

This article is part update, part reflection. It’s not a how-to guide. We’re still learning every day. But what I can share is how much the PM toolkit carries over. The prioritization, the scrappiness, the obsession with customer feedback, it all translates surprisingly well, even when your product has a shelf life.

What follows are a few real lessons, honest surprises, and small wins from our journey building The French Cookie Guys. I hope it’s useful, or at least entertaining. And if it helps someone else bridge the gap between tech and craft, even better.

Craft, Cookies, and the R&D You Can Eat

Before we sold a single cookie, we spent three months perfecting one recipe: the Message Cookie: our take on the classic petit beurre from our childhood. We tested batch after batch, adjusted the ingredients, changed the baking times, debated the embossing. Thousands of cookies went into the trash (or straight into our bellies), but we refused to compromise. We’re not bakers by training, just two guys obsessed with getting it right.

And to get it right, we had to go beyond baking.

We now use 3D printing to create custom cookie cutters for our Message Cookies. Each design is custom-built, shaped, and fine-tuned, not just for the look, but for how it bakes. It’s one thing to press a nice design into raw dough. It’s another thing entirely to have it survive the oven, stay legible, and still taste amazing.

That’s the invisible part: it’s not about the printing. It’s about how it holds up under heat, pressure, and repeatability. That’s where real iteration lives.

This is what I mean when I say our R&D is edible. The product is the cookie. And the quality has to speak for itself. You can’t ship “good enough.”

That passion for craft might sound familiar to PMs. It’s the same invisible work that goes into writing a crisp PRD, shaping a clear strategy, or building something users love. Nobody sees the hours you put into the draft that gets thrown away — but you do it anyway because the final product deserves it.

We started with a clear thesis: special occasion cookies. Embossed treats for Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, birthdays. We got great early feedback and also quickly saw the limits. It’s not something you can easily build a whole business on as an unknown brand.

It’s a good idea. Still is. But good ideas take time. That’s one of the first lessons: strategy only works when it meets reality. And sometimes, reality says, “not yet.”

Tech, Tools, and Real-World Leverage

What sets us apart isn’t just the tools we use, it’s how we work. We move fast. We try things. We make hard calls.

One of the clearest examples? After three months of building under our original name (logo, site, packaging, everything) we decided to rebrand. The name wasn’t clicking with customers. The message wasn’t landing. So we pivoted. No drama, no meetings. We just did it. And it was the right call.

That kind of decisiveness only comes when you’re willing to hold high standards but also admit when you’re wrong… and move on fast.

That said, having a strong foundation helps. I’ve worn a lot of hats over the last 15+ years, from early-stage founder to PM in a big org. I’ve seen the frameworks, shipped across clouds, partnered with sales, worked with marketers, launched in complex environments. That mix gave me a bias for action, a low fear of new tools, and just enough judgment to not overthink things.

And yes, we use AI daily. ChatGPT helps us get out of our heads, explore ideas, pressure-test decisions, generate assets, and build landing pages. It’s like having a second brain that works 24/7 (and doesn’t mind being brutally edited).

But the real differentiator? Two people who can do a lot and move fast when it matters.

Packaging, Pricing & the Farmers’ Market MBA

If you’ve ever worked on a packaging project in tech, think SKUs, bundles, feature-gating, you’d be surprised how much of that thinking transfers to actual, physical packaging. Except now, it’s not theoretical. It’s cardboard. And cellophane. And ribbons.

We use “packaging” in two ways:

• Product packaging — what quantity goes into each bag, how we price per format, how that varies by channel.

• Physical packaging — the materials we source, how we close the pouches, how we present the brand on the shelf.

Both matter. Both are hard.

Laurent, who comes from a quality engineering background, took the lead on sourcing. And let me tell you, finding the right bag for cookies is no small feat. Size, sealability, shelf-life, branding real estate, every variable matters. And almost nothing fits off-the-shelf. We've spent weeks finding packaging that’s functional, good-looking, and fits our production flow.

At the same time, we’re refining our pricing strategy, sometimes in real-time, at the farmers’ market. We test new formats. New bundling. Different price points. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But we always measure.

That’s the beauty of this MBA-by-doing: your market research is face-to-face. You don’t wait for quarterly dashboards. You see the feedback instantly, in people’s eyes (or lack of them).

The PM skill here is connecting product, pricing, and margin, fast. We break down every bundle to the cent. How long it takes to make. How much it costs to package. How much it actually earns us. Without that clarity, you’re just guessing, and guessing in food can burn your cash (and your soul).

PM vs. Founder — It’s Not the Same Game

Being a PM teaches you a lot: how to prioritize, influence without authority, build for users. But being a founder is something else entirely. There are no guardrails. No teams to fall back on. No budget owners. You are the business.

And in our case, we’re not building a VC-backed startup. We’re building a business. One that has to make money…soon! A startup can burn cash for years chasing market share. A business? It needs to break even or break down.

That pressure shifts everything.

Every decision has weight. Because it's our money. Our time. Our backs in the kitchen. That changes how you think. You can’t overanalyze. You can’t hide behind strategy decks. You have to act. Fast.

That said, being a PM gave me one huge edge: an obsession with understanding customer risk early. That’s why we prioritized farmers’ markets from day one. We wanted to get feedback fast. And we did. Everything from pricing reactions to which cookies made people stop and smile. We’ve adjusted SKUs, bundles, even recipes based on those interactions.

We’ve run home tastings too, inviting neighbors, friends, and friends-of-friends to try new items and give unfiltered feedback. If you're around Castro Valley next Sunday (August 2), ping me, we’re running another one!

PMs talk about testing ideas. Founders live it. We've tested pricing strategies in the wild, at real events, with real money on the line. We've made pivots based on real data: missed targets, missed margins, missed signals.

The other thing you learn fast: time is your only budget. There's no “Q4 headcount plan”, no “Get In Better Health” action plan to make the quarter. You either figure it out, or you don’t.

Lastly, I got incredibly lucky with Laurent. He’s not just a co-founder. He’s a real partner. Different personality, different strengths, same work ethic. Couldn’t do this without him. That part’s not about skill, it’s about trust.

A Note on Respect: The Hidden Hustle of Small Business

There’s something I’ve realized through this experience that’s hard to unsee: small businesses are working unbelievably hard just to stay visible.

Customers today expect a full experience, especially in the Bay Area: a beautiful brand, a clean website, gorgeous packaging, witty social media, seamless ordering. And they expect it from everyone: not just the big players. But behind that polished front, there’s often just a couple of people doing everything.

We’re doing our own design. Our own packaging. Our own website updates, photography, marketing, fulfillment. It’s fun, but it’s also relentless. Most people don’t see it.

Take Alera. She is a native from Jamaica and runs a small catering business. We regularly meet at at Platform 43 Kitchens, our shared commercial kitchen in Oakland. She brings cooks amazing food and serves her community with love and energy. She’s always smiling. But when you talk to her, you realize how hard it is to make ends meat. The grind is real. And there's no team behind her. It’s just her.

That’s the case for a lot of people in this space. They’re not missing a “growth strategy.” They’re just maxed out: juggling labor, rent, sourcing, and survival. So when a business doesn’t have a perfect site, or a pro email address, or a polished pitch, give them grace. They’re probably too busy keeping the lights on.

The next time you meet a small business, don’t ask how scalable they are. Ask how they’re doing. And if you like what they make, buy it and spread the word. It means the world.

Final Thought

If you’ve worked in product, you probably already have a surprising number of founder skills:

• Prioritization

• Customer obsession

• Tool fluency

• Fast iteration

• Clear storytelling

• Strategic packaging (of ideas and cookies)

But some skills, you only earn the hard way. Like managing cash flow. Or finding the right pouch size. Or talking to strangers while standing behind a folding table at 8AM.

And yes, in our case, becoming truly great at baking. We didn’t start from zero, but we definitely put in the reps.

So if you’re thinking of making the leap from PM to entrepreneur: bring your superpowers. But leave room to get messy. Flour everywhere. You’ve been warned.