By Brian Smith, CEO, The Main Stage

The career detour that taught me how to actually build—and lead—a product

“Get to know the product. Know it better than the people who built it. Then—and only then—will you become a great marketer, salesperson, or executive.”

That advice came early in my career from Jim Tompkins, former President and COO of New Balance—a leader who helped scale the company roughly 16X during his tenure. At 24 years old, I didn’t fully appreciate what he meant. I just knew I wanted to be in marketing or sales for an athletic footwear company—and I wanted it fast.

Tompkins had a different plan.

He told me that if I really wanted to break into New Balance—and eventually into marketing—I should apply for a product manager role within R&D. At the time, it felt like a detour. In hindsight, it was the blueprint.

Where the Real Work Happens

In the late ’90s and early 2000s, New Balance had a split personality. The marketing teams and executives sat in a polished building in Brighton, Massachusetts. But the real heartbeat of the company—the R&D team—operated out of an old factory in Lawrence.

Guess where Tompkins spent most of his time?

That told me everything I needed to know.

As a product manager for the cross-training line, I lived in the details. I worked with designers, artists, CAD teams, and material specialists. Every morning started the same way: logging into my desktop to review product images coming in overnight from manufacturing teams in Taiwan.

This wasn’t theory. This was execution at a global scale.

From Sketch to Shelf

I had the opportunity to travel to Taiwan, sit down with factory teams, and truly understand what it takes to bring a shoe to life. Not just aesthetically—but economically.

Margins mattered. Materials mattered. Every stitch mattered.

One of the most complex challenges? “Take-downs”—creating youth versions of flagship adult shoes. The goal was simple in theory: maintain the look and integrity of the original while hitting a drastically lower price point.

In reality, it was anything but simple.

Later at Reebok, this became even more critical when working on signature athlete lines for icons like Allen Iverson and Venus Williams. You couldn’t cut corners. The product had to feel premium, look identical, and hit cost targets—all at once.

That’s where you learn the difference between good ideas and executable ones.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

Because of that foundation, I’ve never taken product development for granted.

As someone who sits on the marketing and business side, I’m constantly aware that every “simple ask” can have complex downstream implications. Whether I’m working with footwear developers back then or software engineers today building platforms like The Main Stage, I understand that behind every feature, every build, every tweak—there’s real effort, trade-offs, and precision.

So I ask better questions. I listen more. And when I don’t understand something, I dig in until I do.

That mindset is rarer than it should be.

By the time I got to Reebok, it was clear that many marketing and sales professionals lacked this foundation. Promises were made without understanding feasibility. Timelines were committed to without appreciating production realities.

And yet—developers always found a way. Often at great personal cost, including last-minute trips across the globe to ensure delivery.

That disconnect doesn’t scale. Understanding does.

The Entrepreneur’s Edge

Today, as an entrepreneur whose customers are other founders, I see this lesson play out constantly.

Many founders come from marketing, finance, or business backgrounds. Development and manufacturing are often outsourced—which makes understanding them even more critical.

The most impressive founders I’ve met aren’t always engineers or coders. But they’ve taken the time to learn the language of development. They understand the build process. They can challenge assumptions intelligently—and collaborate effectively.

That creates leverage.

On the flip side, developers and engineers aren’t expected to master marketing or sales. That’s not their lane. But mutual understanding across functions? That’s where great companies are built.

Think Like a Quarterback

The best leaders operate like elite quarterbacks.

They don’t just know their role—they understand what every player on the field is doing, why they’re doing it, and how it all connects.

That perspective changes everything.

It makes you a better decision-maker. A better communicator. A better talent evaluator. And ultimately, a better leader.

Full Circle

At 24, I thought Jim Tompkins was missing out by not pushing me into a sales role.

After all, at 23 I had just taken top honors in a Dale Carnegie sales course—beating out seasoned professionals—and was already successfully selling Microsoft Office Certification training classes… which is especially impressive considering I didn’t even own a computer.

Now I know the truth: I wasn’t ready.

At New Balance, under leaders like Tompkins and NB Founder Jim Davis—true “shoe dogs”—enthusiasm alone wasn’t enough. You had to understand the product from the ground up. From the first sketch in a design meeting to the smell of glue drying on a prototype fresh out of Taiwan.

That experience prepared me to oversee Reebok’s tennis category at age 26. It prepared me to advise medical device companies navigating FDA 510(k) approvals. It prepared me to build and lead in software.

Most importantly, it taught me how to think.

The Takeaway

If you want to lead—really lead—learn the product.

Not at a surface level. Not just the pitch.

Learn the build. Learn the constraints. Learn what it takes to actually bring something into the world.

Because when you do, everything else—marketing, sales, strategy—gets sharper.

And you earn the right to win.