Colorful board game box titled "Heads of Product" with illustrations of people, published by Heads of Product, with text "Strategy / 1-4 Players / 2.5 H" and game description.
Orange HOP sign with black text and border.

Heads of Product®

not just
a workshop not just
a game

A fun tournament-style workshop that transforms how your team understands product… and each other.

Let’s play.

Get in touch
About HOP
game updates
Two people sitting at a table playing a board game with colorful game pieces, dice, and cards, smiling and enjoying the game.
Board game setup with colorful game pieces, cards, dice, and game boards for a business-themed game called 'PRODUCT'.

Heads of Product® is a simulation in which each player takes on the role of Head of Product in a rival company, competing for subscribers in the same market.

The game mirrors real life product leadership, forcing trade-offs, dealing with workplace challenges, and teaching players to think fast and be both agile and strategic.

In the workshop format, we play the game, then we talk about it. The discussion is led by the game’s creator, a seasoned product leader.

Heads of Product® players work at:

microsoft, adyen, Uber, Booking.com, Miro

why teams love it?

  • It’s fast (2.5 hours of gameplay + debrief)

  • It’s not a lecture, post-it workshop or a slide deck - It’s a board game, played in person

  • It shows what product decision-making feels like

  • Anyone can play! (Leadership, PMs, UX, dev, data, sales, marketing, uncles and aunts)

  • It may point to some hidden skills no one knew they had

    + It’s run by someone with real product experience, not a corporate trainer.

Get in touch
Book a free 30 minute chat
A group of six people sitting around a wooden dining table in a modern, rustic-style kitchen or cafe, engaging in conversation and smiling, with bottles and a bowl on the table, through a glass window or partition.
Colorful graphic with the text 'heads of product' in large letters, and smaller text reading 'HOP' inside an orange shape, and 'SaaS(y) Edition' inside a blue shape, on a purple background.
Board game with colorful cubes, a yellow dice, game cards, and score sheets on a wooden table.
Box of Head's Up! The Board Game, showing colorful packaging with illustrations of people, and text indicating it's a strategy game for 2-4 players.

The core competitive game quickly aligns your entire team - product or not. It develops deep insight into how product works, how it connects to the business, what drives success, and how each role contributes to it - by taking action and play.

the core workshop

  • Heads of Product® game quickly aligns your entire team — product or not — by providing deep insight into how product works, how it connects to the business, what drives success, and how each role contributes to it.

    You’ll hire, upgrade and lead your teams to acquire, convert, and retain those flaky subscribers. And of course - generate profit.

    You’ll make your CEO and investors proud, and react to market shifts and competitor moves - just like real product leaders would do.

    It has a different effect depending on a profession:


    🛠 Engineering → Understand agility and trade-offs between tech debt, product features, and business needs.

    📊 Data & Analytics → Proactively focus on work that creates impact.

    💰 Sales & Marketing → Experience the entire growth funnel to maximise conversion in a long term.

    🎨 Design & UX → See the direct impact of UX on business outcomes and team strategy.

    📈 Leadership & C-Level → Get a holistic view of how product works and how your decisions influence product success.

    📦 Product & Cross-functional teams → Understand how your roles fit together in the company success.

    1. Kick off – 30 min - Meet the group and introduce the game

    2. Game Time – 2- 2,5 hours - Play Hop in 3-person groups.

    3. Scoring & Break – 15 min - Log the scores and stretch your legs.

    4. Results & Reveal – 15 min - Find out who won.

    5. Reflection Time – 30-45 min - Reflect on the experience, share insights on how it connects to real product work in a guided discussion with the game maker who is an experienced product leader.

      Total duration 3,5-4h
      Workshop available in afternoons and evenings.

  • *excluding. VAT

    Available in Amsterdam and the Netherlands.

    For bookings outside the Netherlands, please get in touch. - Additional fees may apply.


    Group Size:

    • Minimum: 6 participants

    • Group size must be divisible by 3

    • Ideal experience: 6 to 18 participants

    Pricing

    • From €120 per participant (*ex. VAT) Detail pricing -per team size

    • Minimum charge applies for 6 participants ( €720 ex. VAT)

    • Not included: location, catering, travel or accommodation

    Not sure if this is right for your team?

    Check the FAQ or get in touch, happy to help!

Check Availability and book
Six yellow stars in a row.

“HOP helped me understand the pressures PMs face and why certain tradeoffs are made. It’s made our collaboration more empathetic and way more effective.”

- Data Analyst
Six yellow star-shaped objects aligned horizontally.

“I did not expect it to be this engaging! This was fun, despite feeling TOO REAL!!! 😱”

- Sr. Product Manager
Five light yellow star shapes arranged in a row.

“I kept thinking about the game weeks after the play. It adds perspective and allows you to zoom out and see how things effect each-other.”

- Product Director
A person with a beard and orange hat using a flashlight to look at a laptop, while a woman with crossed arms watches.

why play hop?

Modern teams struggle with:

  • Misalignment between product, data, engineering, marketing, sales, and leadership

  • Frustration over unclear priorities and decisions

  • Missed opportunities for collaboration and shared ownership

A cartoon image of a woman celebrating with a checkered flag held high in one hand and her other arm raised, while a man beside her holds a laptop and makes an OK gesture with his hand.

Heads of Product® workshop solves that by delivering:

  • Core understanding of product thinking

  • Shared language across roles

  • Alignment around what drives success

  • A fun, energising team-building experience that people will refer to and talk about afterwards

A collection of six colorful cartoon-style boxes for a card game set called "Heads of Product" expansion packs. Each box features a different title, illustration of a character, and labels indicating the contents. Titles include "Goal!" with a person holding a phone and coffee, "Experts" with a woman thinking, "Shaky Market" with a woman using her phone, "Innovative Tech" with a woman on a scooter, "Dependencies" with a person taking a photo, and "Dirty Games" with a man in a cap.

many ways to play…

Heads of Product® is a flexible system that adapts to your team’s size, style, and goals.

From competitive to co-op modes, and from beginner-friendly to advanced challenges, Heads of Product® can be tweaked to evolve with you.

Mix in modular extensions like Shaky Market, Dirty Games, Experiments, Goals, Dependencies, or Innovative Tech to shape the experience around what your team needs to explore.

You can ramp up the difficulty or focus on specific skills like stakeholder management, prioritisation, or team planning.

Every session feels fresh and every version unlocks new insights.

If you’re interested in a deeper exploration with your team, discounts are available for multi-session packages.

Get in touch
Book a free 30 minute chat
Two stacked box games titled 'Heads of Product' and 'Heads of Production' with colorful illustrations and icons on the sides.
Group of young people laughing and working together on laptops in a library.
A tabletop board game setup featuring various colorful game pieces, cards, and charts. The center has a pile of small multicolored cubes, with additional orange, green, purple, and black game tokens. There are also many dice, including a red 6-sided die, yellow, pink, and black dice. The game includes cards laid out with illustrations and labels such as 'market' and 'CEO'. Various charts and reference sheets are visible on the table.
A logo with blue circles and text that spell out "HO" and includes a blank space in "CO_OP".

A cooperative way to play Heads of Product® and make your product team as efficient as possible. This edition of the game is most beneficial for product teams exploring their ways-of-working.

hop-co-op

  • Unlike the core game, HOP-CO-OP is a cooperative edition where four players team up to grow a single product together against another team of 4.

    In each team: one player steps into the role of Head of Product (HOP). The other three play as Product Managers, each responsible for a different part of the funnel: Acquisition, Conversion, or Retention.

    The HOP sets the big picture: they align with CEO and investor expectations, define company or team goals, manage the budget, and upgrade teams.

    The Product Managers focus on growth within their domain, handle cross-functional dependencies, and make the case for the resources they need.

    The gameplay simulates the impact of different collaboration styles and decision-making approaches:

    • How should goals be used to drive alignment and focus?

    • What makes planning actually efficient?

    • Do roadmaps really help? If so, how?

    • How can we deal with dependencies without slowing down?

    • What role does transparency play in delivery and trust?

    It’s a safe, high-energy space to test your operating model, experiment with different decision dynamics, and see what happens when you tweak team structure, communication, or prioritisation.

    1. Practice decision-making without risk
      Try out new ways of setting goals, prioritising, and allocating resources.

    2. Reveal collaboration patterns
      See how dependencies, misalignment, or lack of clarity slow teams down.

    3. Build shared mental models
      Align product leaders around strategy, planning, and execution.

    4. Level up team culture
      Strengthen trust, empathy, and communication across product functions - while having fun.

    1. Kick-off – 30 min

      Meet the group, introduce the game, clarify roles and objectives.

    2. Game Time – Round 1 – 90 min

      Play the first session in 4-person teams: one Head of Product, three PMs.

    3. Scoring & Break – 15 min

      Log scores, stretch legs, grab a snack.

    4. Reflection & Strategy Reset – 30 min

      Review what happened. Decide how to structure your team, set goals, and work differently.

    5. Game Time – Round 2 – 90 min

      Play again - try new tactics, team setups, and planning rhythms.

    6. Scoring & Break – 15 min

      Submit final scores, short reset before closing.

    7. Results & Score Reveal – 15 min

      See how the scores changed - and what that says about your choices.

    Final Reflection & Group Discussion – 30–45 min

    What did you learn? What shifted? How does it map to real product leadership?

  • Availability:

    Available in Amsterdam and the Randstad area.

    For bookings outside the Netherlands, please get in touch.


    Group Size:

    • Minimum: 8 participants

    • Group size must be divisible by 8

    • Ideal experience: 8 or 16 participants

    Pricing:

    • €150 per participant (ex. VAT)

    • Minimum charge applies for 8 participants

    • Not included: location, catering, travel or accommodation

    Not sure if this is right for your team?

    Check the FAQ or get in touch, happy to help!

Get in touch

Heads of Product® players work at:

A tabletop game setup featuring a colorful game board, numerous small wooden and plastic game pieces, playing cards, dice, and player sheets. The game appears to involve strategy and resource management.
A card on a table with a cartoon illustration of a woman thinking about an experiment, with the words 'Paid Experiment', 'Hot Deal', and '4 Profits', and a speech bubble with 'A/B?'.
A tabletop Monopoly game in progress with colorful building blocks, game cards, dice, and money sheets laid out.
Cards from a storytelling game featuring illustrated characters, one with a girl and the word "CEO" above her crossing her arms, and another with a man holding a laptop making an OK gesture. The cards are on top of a colorful box that states "80 card
Colorful board game box with the title "Head of Product" and several cartoon characters illustrating different scenes. The box has orange and purple sections with logos and text including "Head of Product," "Saasy Edition," and "HOP." It contains str
A hand holding a card from a game, with a red message box and a worried emoji. The card says: "Your latest ad campaign offended half the internet," and lists game rules about churning users and gaining free users, with a note about losing profit if u
A card with text and a small cartoon face. The text reads: 'Your CEO heard a podcast about 'Founder Mode'. You must cut staff costs. Lay off one rookie team. If all teams are pro downgrade.'
Stack of colorful cards on top of books and games, including cards with illustrations and text, with a visible helicopter toy or game box in the background.
Board game piece with an illustration of a woman crossing her arms and the word CEO in large yellow text at the top, on a table with playing cards and a pink die.
Close-up of colorful game pieces on a purple board, including orange, green, purple, and white figures, with blurred game tiles and a calendar in the background.
A card from the game 'Back After Fire' standing upright on a table with cartoon illustration of a woman in an orange jacket, black skirt, and glasses, with papers flying around her. Other game components, including a pink die and stacks of cards, are
A colorful tabletop board game featuring small plastic cubes, some stacked and some scattered, along with various game cards, tokens, and player pieces. The game board displays sections labeled 'Market,' 'Product Buyer,' and 'Angel Investor' with poi
Cartoon illustration of a boy making a peace sign with one hand and holding a laptop in the other, wearing a white t-shirt, black pants, and sneakers, with short spiky hair and freckles.

FAQ

  • No. The game provides a sped-up product experience.

    Even non-tech participants will recognise familiar concepts, and those in tech will gain useful new insights.

  • Absolutely! Might even be more fun.

  • In the competitive game, you’ll sharpen your product instincts, make tough trade-offs, and experience the ripple effects of your decisions — all while having fun. It’s fast-paced, intense, and full of “aha” moments about goals, roadmaps, and the realities of product delivery.

    Going deeper:

    HOP-CO-OP offers a more strategic, collaborative experience. It helps your team:

    • Build a shared mental model of how product works

    • Spot bottlenecks and improve ways of working

    • Understand how the funnel maps to your own product

    • Align cross-functional roles around what really drives outcomes

    Both versions are built to challenge, teach, and energise product teams.

  • Not yet.

    But quite possibly by the end of 2026.

    Sign up for the updates on pre-sales here.

  • The real value isn’t just in playing. it’s in the guided reflection afterward.

    The workshop helps teams connect their game experience to their own work challenges in a conversation led by an experienced facilitator(that’s me).

  • It’s most beneficial for companies that are organised around their own product and are having a hard time aligning their teams.

    It is also super helpful to traditional companies considering or in a midst of a shift to a product-first organisation by showing the ways of working in a glance.

  • Online version of HOP is in the making. I expect it to be available by Q1 of 2026.

    However if there is a lot of interest I may speed that up. Let me know if that would be something for you.

  • Yes.

    Heads of Product® comes in two editions:

    • SaaSy Edition, focused on selling monthly subscriptions

    • Retaily Edition, focused on driving repeat purchases

    While it may not replicate your exact business model, the game teaches how funnels work, how product decisions drive outcomes, and how teams collaborate across functions. These lessons apply to every company, whether SaaS, B2B, B2C, startup or an enterprise.

    Every business has a funnel. This game helps your team understand and master it.

  • Yes! It’s a custom (and may be expensive) project.

    I can absolutely design a tailored version of Heads of Product® for your specific business (industry), or even create a completely new game. For example, to onboard new team members to your product or teach your unique processes.

    Custom work like this involves more time, strategic input, and licensing considerations, so it’s not a low-cost option. but if you’re serious about using play as a learning tool, I’d genuinely love to explore it with you.

    Let’s talk.

  • Not yet, but I’m considering a train-the-trainer program and a licensing agreement in the future.

    Let me know if you’re interested - if there’s enough demand, I’ll make it happen.

  • No.

    These guys did. <3

Hi I’m Jo.

I am a consultant and a product coach with a decade in product management. I help leaders and their teams build a culture of innovation, playfulness, and human-centricity, delivering market-leading products.

I’m also the inventor of Heads of Product® (aka HOP).

After a decade in product leadership, I saw a common thread in even the best of companies: frustration, misalignment, and wasted effort between cross-functional teams. Product, marketing, sales, data, engineering, and leadership often speak different languages, and it shows.

I created Heads of Product® to change that.

In under four hours, this workshop gives teams a first-hand experience of what it’s really like to lead products, not through theory, but action. It builds empathy, clarity, and collaboration. And because it’s designed like a game, it’s also a lot of fun.

When teams understand the forces behind great product decisions, they stop working in silos and start building things that matter together.

Let’s play.

Get in touch
Book a free 30 minute chat
or find me on Linkedin

get in touch

Request a quote, reserve a workshop slot or ask me anything. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible, usually up to 2 working days.

If you want to hear more about the game or chat in person you can book a 30-min consultation here (free of charge ofc).

Orange sign with the word "HOP" in black letters.

play HOP without a team or join a pre-sale waitlist?

We’ll be launching public game-plays, community of HOP players and open tournaments, and eventually a buyable edition for individuals and teams.

If you’re curious and want to stay in the loop, leave your email and be the first to know when Heads of Product® is coming your way.