Maximal

What Maximal does

Maximal is a privately held product management training and consulting firm founded in 1998 by Greg DiCillo (President) and Ray Wymer (Vice President), headquartered in Willoughby, Ohio. The firm helps industrial and B2B organizations close gaps in their product management organizations via a suite of proprietary, trademarked methodologies — GAP Discovery™ (a four-dimension organizational assessment) and Profiler PM™ (a personnel-alignment evaluation) — combined with customized training programs and comprehensive consulting engagements covering mentoring, organization design, process development, and product line management. Maximal has served a broad roster of named enterprise and mid-market clients including Kennametal, Siemens Energy, Danaher, GE Water & Process Technologies, PPG Industries, CVS, JP Morgan Chase, Lincoln Electric, Flowserve, Baker Hughes, AO Smith, Diebold, and Cole Taylor Bank.

The firm extends beyond services through Maximal Strategist, a proprietary web-based product management software positioned as an online decision engine that delivers enterprise-wide strategic insights into product portfolios in real time. Supporting go-to-market assets include a published book ("Dominate Your Space: Unleashing the Power of Your Product Managers" by Greg DiCillo), the "Find Your Gap" educational video series, the Maximal View blog, and active thought-leadership activity via LinkedIn.

Maximal operates a sales-led, enterprise field-sales motion: engagements begin with a free one-hour consultation, then proceed to GAP Discovery audits, Profiler PM assessments, custom training development, and consulting delivery, with quote-based pricing tailored to each organization. Revenue is generated primarily through professional services engagements (consulting and customized training), with a secondary subscription/recurring layer from the Maximal Strategist software. The firm is small (1-10 employees, operationally centered on its two co-founders with 75+ years of combined practitioner experience), has not raised institutional funding, and is independent with no parent company.

Name

Maximal

Legal name

Maximal

Website

https://maximalpm.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1998

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Maximal is a boutique product management training and consulting firm founded in 1998, serving industrial and B2B enterprises with proprietary GAP Discovery™ and Profiler PM™ assessments, custom training programs, and the Maximal Strategist portfolio software.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Management Consulting

SIC

Services-Management Services (8741)

akta.pro primary industry

Product Management (Core) (EDABAHAC)

Keywords

• Product management consulting
• Product manager training
• B2B consulting services
• Product portfolio management
• Industrial product management

Headquarters

HQ city

Willoughby

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Consulting Services: Comprehensive consulting engagements including GAP Discovery audits, Profiler PM assessments, mentoring and coaching, product manager organization design, process and system development, and product line management support. Delivered through structured engagement phases with free initial consultation.
2. Customized Training Programs: Tailored training programs developed in collaboration with client organizations, delivered through a three-step process: free consultation, training development, and training delivery. Programs are sustainable with work plans and deliverables for reinforcing learnings.
3. Maximal Strategist Software: Product management software sold as a web-based platform providing enterprise-wide strategic insights into product portfolios. Single platform with real-time insights.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Maximal provides comprehensive product management training and consulting services for industrial and B2B organizations, helping them maximize the success of their product lines. Offerings include customized product manager training programs, the GAP Discovery™ assessment method, the Profiler PM™ evaluation process, comprehensive consulting engagements (mentoring, organization design, process and system development), and the proprietary Maximal Strategist web-based software that delivers enterprise-wide strategic insights into product portfolios.

Product overview

Maximal is a product management training and consulting firm founded in 1998, offering a suite of services for industrial and B2B organizations. The core offerings consist of Maximal Strategist (a proprietary web-based product management software), GAP Discovery (a proprietary assessment method for identifying organizational gaps), Profiler PM (an assessment for evaluating product manager alignment), and Customized Training programs. The company also authored the book 'Dominate Your Space' as a resource for product management best practices. These products work together to provide a comprehensive approach to product management improvement—from gap identification and assessment, through training and consulting, to ongoing software-enabled execution.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Maximal Strategist: Product management software - the first and only online decision engine designed to provide enterprise-wide strategic insights into product portfolios.
• GAP Discovery™
• Profiler PM™

Products and services

• Maximal Strategist Proprietary web-based product management software — the first and only online decision engine designed to provide enterprise-wide strategic insights into product portfolios. An easy-to-use, single web platform providing real-time insights for orchestrating product management. Sold to industrial and B2B organizations via direct sales with consultation and implementation support.
• GAP Discovery Proprietary, trademarked assessment method facilitated by Maximal's professionals aimed at identifying Product Management GAP areas in an organization. Includes full spectrum analysis across Products and Services, People and Skills, Processes and Systems, and Planning and Strategy. Delivered as part of Maximal's consulting engagements for industrial and B2B organizations.
• Profiler PM Proprietary, trademarked comprehensive assessment process that evaluates whether organizations have the right people aligned for the Product Manager role. Includes evaluation of personnel alignment, resources, organizational structure, and performance metrics. Delivered as part of Maximal's consulting practice.
• Customized Product Manager Training Product manager training customized to business needs and the unique needs of each product manager. The training is deeply immersive, measured, and continuous, with benchmarks to measure results. Delivered through a three-step process: free consultation, training development, and training delivery, in collaboration with the client organization.
• Comprehensive Product Management Consulting Consulting services that include mentoring and coaching, product manager organization design, process and system development, and product line management support. Engagements are structured to identify and close gaps in people, organization structure, processes, and operating systems for industrial and B2B organizations.
• Dominate Your Space: Unleashing the Power of Your Product Managers (Book) Book authored by Maximal co-founder Greg DiCillo explaining the essentials for building and sustaining a high-performance product-management team that oversees all stages of a product's life cycle. Available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble as a thought leadership and supporting resource for Maximal's consulting and training practice.

Quantifiable outcome

• Identifies gaps impacting 75% or more of product portfolio revenue
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Aha!: Aha! is a product strategy, roadmap, and portfolio management SaaS platform used by product teams. It overlaps with Maximal's Maximal Strategist at the software level and competes for product-management mind share within industrial/B2B organizations.
• ProductPlan: ProductPlan is a product roadmap and portfolio management software platform. It is a partial competitor to Maximal Strategist at the tooling layer and increasingly encroaches into the strategic-product-management conversation that Maximal consults on.
• Mind the Product: Mind the Product is a global product management community and training provider producing events, workshops, and content. It is a partial peer in the training and content-marketing categories where Maximal also competes for thought leadership.

Direct peers

• Product School: Product School operates a global product management training platform with certifications, courses, and corporate programs. It overlaps with Maximal's customized training and consulting motion, though it leans more digital and consumer-tech in audience.
• Brainmates: Brainmates is a product management training and consulting firm with proprietary frameworks (e.g., Product Mindset) and enterprise workshops — comparable to Maximal in offering model and target buyer, though primarily serving the Asia-Pacific region.
• 280 Group: 280 Group is a product management and product marketing consultancy offering assessments, training, and consulting — closely mirroring Maximal's service portfolio and serving enterprise B2B clients with proprietary methodologies.
• Pragmatic Institute: Pragmatic Institute is one of the most established product management and product marketing training providers, offering multi-day courses and certifications. It directly competes with Maximal for corporate training budgets, particularly with industrial and B2B buyers.

Broad incumbents

• Kellogg Executive Education: Kellogg and similar top-tier university executive education programs offer product management and marketing courses to enterprise audiences. They compete for the same corporate-training dollars as Maximal, though with a much broader portfolio and stronger brand.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/maximal-product-management

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Maximal