De Product Manager a Founder con Beto Díaz, Founder & PM @ Balam
- Date
- 2023-09-14
- Host
- Product-LatAm
About this event
If you’ve ever worked closely enough to a product to think, “I’d build this differently if it were mine,” this conversation will feel very familiar. De Product Manager a Founder con Beto Díaz, Founder & PM @ Balam is a chance to hear what that leap actually looks like from someone who has lived both sides: product management and company building. This is not a generic startup talk or a vague career panel. It’s an in-person meetup designed for people who care about product, decisions, execution, and the real shift from shaping someone else’s roadmap to creating your own. About the Event This event brings together the worlds of tech, community, networking, meetup, and social connection around a topic that resonates with many people in product: what happens when a PM decides to become a founder. The focus is practical and personal, grounded in the experience of Beto Díaz, Founder & PM @ Balam, and shaped for an audience that wants substance as much as connection. At its core, this is a conversation about transition. Product managers spend their time identifying problems, prioritizing tradeoffs, aligning teams, and driving outcomes. Founders do all of that too, but with a very different level of risk, ownership, and ambiguity. This event creates space to explore that difference in a way that feels useful rather than abstract. Because it’s an in-person gathering, the format also matters. You won’t just listen and leave. You’ll be in a room with other people who are thinking seriously about product, startups, and next steps in their own path. That makes the evening as much about the people attending as it is about the speaker. What to Expect Expect a meetup format that balances insight, reflection, and conversation. The central theme is Beto Díaz’s path from product management into founding, with room to unpack the decisions, mindset changes, and operational realities that come with that move. You can likely expect the evening to include a few clear components: A featured conversation or talk centered on the journey from PM to founder Real-world perspective on what changes when you move from managing products to building a company Community interaction with other attendees interested in startups, product, and career evolution Networking time before, during, or after the main discussion Rather than treating entrepreneurship as a dramatic all-or-nothing leap, this meetup is a better place to think about the gradual questions behind it: When do you know you’re ready? Which PM skills actually transfer well? Which assumptions break quickly once you’re the founder? What new responsibilities become impossible to ignore? The social and community angle is important too. Great meetups don’t just deliver ideas; they create useful collisions between people with similar ambitions, questions, and constraints. If you’ve been wanting more honest conversations with others in tech, this is a strong setting for that. Why Attend There’s a big difference between admiring founders from a distance and understanding the path in concrete terms. This event helps close that gap. By focusing on a PM-to-founder journey, it speaks directly to people who already think in systems, customer problems, prioritization, and execution, but want a clearer picture of what founding demands beyond those strengths. You should attend if you want a more grounded understanding of: How product management experience can translate into founding What new pressures and tradeoffs emerge when you’re building the company, not just the product How other people in tech are thinking about career moves, side projects, startups, and long-term ownership What questions to ask yourself if you’ve ever considered starting something of your own There’s also value here even if you’re not planning to found a company tomorrow. Hearing how someone navigated this shift can sharpen how you think about leadership, ownership, decision-making, and product strategy in any role. For many attendees, the most useful takeaway may not be “I should start a startup now,” but “I understand much better what that choice really involves.” And for people who thrive on community, the room itself is part of the draw. Meeting other PMs, builders, and startup-curious people in person often leads to the kinds of conversations that don’t happen in a feed or group chat: more nuanced, more candid, and more memorable. Practical Details This is an in-person event, so plan to attend ready to engage, meet people, and participate in the flow of a live meetup rather than just passively watch. If you value the informal conversations that happen before the session starts or after the main discussion wraps, it’s worth arriving with enough time to settle in and connect. When: Wednesday, September 13 at 6:00 PM PDT Format: In person Theme: From Product Manager to Founder, through the lens of a real operator-builder journey A few simple ways to get the most out of the evening: Come with questions about product, startups, leadership, or career transitions Be ready to introduce yourself to other attendees in tech and product Think about your own transition points so the conversation feels more relevant and actionable Stay for networking if you want the full value of the meetup experience If you’re the kind of person who likes events with a clear topic, a strong peer group, and practical relevance to your career in tech, this is a very easy yes. It’s a focused evening for people who want sharper insight into the founder path and better conversations with others who are asking similar questions.
Who should attend
This is for people who want a smarter, more honest look at the path from product work to company building, while meeting others who think the same way. - **You’re a product manager** who has wondered whether your skills could translate into founding your own company. - **You work in tech or startups** and want to understand the real differences between building a product inside a company and building the company itself. - **You’re exploring a career transition** and want perspective that goes beyond surface-level startup advice. - **You’re an aspiring founder** looking to learn from someone who has operated in product and then stepped into a founder role. - **You enjoy community-driven meetups** where the value comes not only from the speaker, but also from the people you meet in the room. - **You want practical, relevant conversation** about ownership, execution, risk, and how careers in product can evolve over time. If you’re curious, ambitious, and want to leave with clearer questions, better context, and a few meaningful new connections, you’ll likely feel right at home here.