Why Pittsburgh Needs a ProductCamp.

Now more than ever Pittsburgh needs a ProductCamp. 

When you ask someone to name some of the world’s top innovation ecosystems, Pittsburgh probably won’t be the first city they name; however, as we all know, that's changing. 
 
Pittsburgh is among a handful of cities that have the institutions, the innovative capacity, and the core science and technology competencies to compete in the race to become leaders in the world’s next-generation technologies.

​And although an innovation culture is difficult to achieve, companies can intentionally design an innovation culture that unearths and builds new growth engines, reduces the risk of experimentation, and increases ROI on R&D.
 
How?
 
One of the key ingredients if Pittsburgh will be successful as an innovation center is growing its product talent, specifically product management. 

As Andrew Moore, Dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University states ‘behind every great product is a product manager.’

 
To that end, ‘Product Camp’ is finally coming to Pittsburgh! (See the article featured in the Pittsburgh Business Times here.) 
 
The timing couldn't be better, as Pittsburgh has for years built the startup and innovation ecosystem and now needs to take it to the next level. And the product management ingredient will be a vital role in its success.
 
If you have never heard of a ProductCamp before, it is a ten-year-old "unconference" for product professionals.  By "unconference," it means that ProductCamps are in many ways like traditional corporate conferences, except that:

• Generally, ProductCamps are free.
• ProductCamps are put on "by-and-for" the people who go. Instead of having pre-scheduled speakers, anyone who wants to attend can propose a session. Participants at ProductCamp will vote on the topics and the most popular sessions are put on the schedule.
• At ProductCamp, there are no passive "attendees," there are only active "participants," meaning everyone is expected to contribute in some way (e.g. presenting, volunteering, setup/teardown).

ProductCamp was started in Silicon Valley by Rich Mironov, and followed up by Austin,  Boston , and many other cities.  Today, you can find thriving ProductCamps in almost every major city in the U.S., and many cities around the world including London, Vancouver, Melbourne, and many more.

One of the best things about ProductCamps is that they are put on locally.

The Pittsburgh ProductCamp event will be a one-stop shop for people to meet experts, better their crafts, and share their expertise.

You can learn from the best and brightest here in Pittsburgh about products and managing products, no matter what stage or what business you’re in.  
 
The event will be held on a Saturday September 22, 2018 from about 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m at the new Carnegie Mellon Tepper Quad. 
 
Learn more about submitting a session below!
 
We look forward to seeing, and hearing you, at Pittsburgh's first ProductCamp!

Submit a Session

Greg Coticchia

President, ProductCamp Pgh

​Greg Coticchia, MBA, PC, is an award-winning technology executive with over thirty years’ experience in high tech products and services. He currently serves Carnegie Mellon University as its founding Executive Director for its Master’s Program in Product Management (MSPM). 

He previously served the University of Pittsburgh as both its founding Director of the University of Pittsburgh’s Student Startup Accelerator, ‘The Blast Furnace’, and as its first Executive in Residence (EIR) for software and information technology. Earlier in his career, Mr. Coticchia has led or been a major contributor in two of the largest and most successful software companies in the world, LEGENT (now CA) and AXENT (now Symantec). Greg has been in fourteen start-ups and founded four, and has held executive positions for better than two-thirds of his career, participating in various size organizations, from '$0M to over $1B' in revenue. He has participated in raising over $73M in venture capital in his career, and has actively participated in over seventeen mergers and acquisitions, at both the company or product level. He has served as CEO (four times), President and COO, and has been involved or responsible for the launch of over 100 products and solutions, and several companies. Greg has served on many boards (including NFR/Checkpoint, Four Rivers/Accruent, AXIOM, PDMA and others). A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh in Industrial Engineering, where he also received his MBA, he currently teaches several courses including B2B marketing at the University of Pittsburgh Katz School Of Business. He holds certificates in Entrepreneurial Management from Carnegie Mellon University and Professional Coaching from Duquesne University. Coticchia was named as a finalist three times for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and for the Tech 50 CEO of the Year. He was also named a 2006 Distinguished Graduate of the University of Pittsburgh (Katz).