Unlock your potential and build momentum in your product management career through coaching and courses with KVD Coaching.
Unlock your potential and build momentum in your product management career through coaching and courses with KVD Coaching.
Hello, I’m Kirsten Van Detta, your coach at KVD Coaching.
My 10-year journey in product management - from innovative startups to leading teams at LinkedIn to co-founding a startup - has equipped me with the unique ability to guide and inspire you, whether you are aiming for your first product role, seeking to excel in your current position, or aspiring to lead.
From mentoring my own product management teams to volunteering as a PM coach, all the way to founding KVD Coaching, it's been a rewarding path, dedicated to helping others gain momentum in their PM careers.
Choosing me as your coach means you're gaining an ally and partnering with someone who has successfully navigated the complexities of the job - such as building influence, mastering negotiation, engaging users and stakeholders, team-building, building and scaling successful products, and measuring success.
I bring a diverse perspective, from pioneering and scaling products at startups to leading large, global cross-functional teams, as well as years of experience in successfully coaching aspiring and growing product managers.
Together, we will transform your potential into performance, ensuring you not only achieve your immediate goals but also lay a strong foundation for building momentum in your product management career.
I’ve been where you are. I know how difficult, exhausting, and confusing, while simultaneously exciting, inspiring, and meaningful it can be.
So, whether you’re starting out, scaling up, or shifting focus, I’m here to help. Let’s build your momentum together.
Are you looking to rebrand and transition into a new PM role?
Transitioning from a Project Manager or Business Analyst to a Product Manager?
Shifting from internal PM to commercial PM?
Pivoting from B2C to B2B?
I specialize in translating your experiences to fit the PM role you’re aiming for, guiding you through this exciting career shift with ease.
For current PMs, from Associate PMs to Senior PMs, my coaching is designed to inject momentum into your career.
I'm all about transforming ‘The Muddled Middle’ into real momentum, helping you build your professional trajectory.
Whether you're eyeing a leadership role, like Group PM or Principal PM, or you just landed one, I can help you make the transition from thinking like an individual contributor to thinking like a leader while bringing your team (and teammates-turned-direct reports) along.
Do you have a specific focus area in mind?
Are you struggling with certain types of situations and need an ear?
Stuck in a scenario you can't seem to navigate?
Wondering if you should stick with product management or pivot?
Wondering what's next?
Whatever it is, we can work through it together and create a coaching and mentorship partnership that works for you.
“No matter who you are, you need two kinds of friends in your life. The first kind is one you can call when something good happens, and you need someone who will be excited for you. Not a fake excitement veiling envy, but a real excitement. You need someone who will actually be more excited for you than he would be if it had happened to him. The second kind of friend is somebody you can call when things go horribly wrong—when your life is on the line and you only have one phone call.”
- Ben Horowitz, The Hard Things About Hard Things
A product management coach can be both of those people — A genuine partner in your success and the person who helps you work through a tough situation.
Coaching is not teaching.
Coaching is not telling you what to do.
Coaching is not a set of instructions.
Coaching is not therapy (though a great product coach can feel like the best therapist sometimes).
Coaching is guided discovery, where the true power lies in unlocking your potential. As your coach, I bring this understanding to every session, focusing on empowering you to find your own path to success.
My guiding philosophy is centered on meeting you exactly where you are in your professional journey and helping you navigate to where you aspire to be. .
This approach is rooted in the belief that everyone has the inherent potential to achieve their career goals in product management, but the path to success is personal and unique.
My approach is rooted in active listening, empathetic understanding, and challenging you to think critically and creatively. I believe in facilitating a space where you can safely explore your ideas, fears, and ambitions, and where we can collaboratively craft strategies that resonate with your unique situation.
My role is to guide you in synthesizing your experiences and aspirations into actionable steps towards your goals.
I take pride in having guided over 100 aspiring and ambitious product managers towards achieving their career goals.
But let's dig into some real talk about choosing a PM coach for a minute.
There is a very important distinction you should make between other types of coaches and product management coaches.
While other types of coaches don't need to be practitioners in your field, product management coaches should absolutely have a depth of experience as a PM.
Why?
No amount of books, certificates, courses, webinars, or podcasts can substitute for real-life product management experience in a coaching relationship.
These things are certainly not without merit. Courses teach. Webinars guide reflection. Books form thinking. But learning without action is purely consumption. It is not creation or growth.
If a coach has studied but not applied what they've learned, they do not understand what you need to grow because they have not grown themselves.
Marty Cagan, of SVPG, said, “I do not see how a person can be an effective product coach without actual, relevant product experience".
This is why I also include recommendations from peers, partners, and leaders I’ve worked with alongside my client reviews.
It's important to evaluate a potential coach: