What is my best option for major to pursue for product management?

If you want to go into product management, I think a CS degree will be most valuable. I would also recommend supplementing it with other business courses (strategy, marketing, finance, communications, etc.) but you don't necessarily need to go deep in those subjects. There really is nothing more valuable than experience, so I would encourage you as much as possible to keep working on your startup while in school and apply what you learn to your product to improve it. If you want to pursue a career in product management, I would also strongly encourage you to avoid the temptation of pursuing other high-paying jobs out of school (banking, consulting, etc.) just because they pay well, or because your friends are doing it, or because they seem like prestigious jobs. Stay true to yourself and focus on building products and you will be much happier in the long run. I faced a similar decision in college and can completely understand where you're coming from. If you want any more advice feel free to message me.

I tend to agree more with Tim, but keep in mind that the "classic" route to product management that he suggested comes at a hefty price both literally (tuition & lost income) and figuratively (time & lost opportunities). There is a lot of debate about the value of getting an MBA degree, so do your research from this perspective as well. Finally, the decision might depend on the sector you want to have a product management role in: startups versus corporate world. If in startups you can grow in PM role organically ("from within") from CS, MIS, business, marketing background, corporations tend to have more formal requirements for PM roles, which  frequently include an MBA degree (at least as nice to have). Just my 2c.

I would recommend not doing a business major. While I'm sure you can learn valuable things in business courses, this could be a tragic lost opportunity. Your mind is in a formative state in college: your goal should be to stretch it as far it will go, watch it break apart, and then figure out how put it back together. Think less about what major will look good to potential employers and more about creating a blend of coursework that will cultivate the modes of thought you will need to thrive. Here's what I suggest: Computer science + whatever humanities area you are passionate about. Computer science will teach the technical underpinnings of product development which has pragmatic value, but more importantly it will illustrate how far formal systems can go, which is very far. A humanities discipline, in contrast, will show you realms where formal systems are impoverished, lacking, and misapplied. Navigating this tension between the technical and non-technical is at the essence of product management. Product managers must understand the logical and business underpinnings of the products they guide, but they also need to know how to imbue a product with purpose, beauty, and meaning. If your school offers it, a multidisciplinary major like cognitive science might be perfect since it bridges computer science, neuroscience, linguistics, psychology, and philosophy. It would force you to reconcile radically different ways of conceptualizing the human mind. Your brain will bounce around between ideas like a product manager's brain bounces between engineering, design, and sales. Taking heavy coursework in both computer science and (e.g.) art history could be bad ass. If you can both understand how to architect a software application and write a convincing essay about why the public finds a sculpture scandalous, you are on your way to product management. Another strong choice would be a mix of computer science and philosophy. Instead of repeating myself, see I think a business major is a bad way to go because it is too pragmatic for the stage of life you're in. You should spend college fostering a deep sense of purpose that will inspire you your whole career. You can pick up the business skills along the way as you need them to achieve your vision.

Computer Science. It's true that there are a lot of different ways to become a PM. But all else being equal, you'll have an easier time with a CS background. Big tech companies who train PMs from scratch often require a CS or "similar" degree. This is because their products are often highly technical, and the PM will be required to understand and advocate for technical implementation details. Also, to be frank, some of these places have just had better luck with technical folks being willing to dive in and do a lot of nitty-gritty work to get the product launched, relative to their counterparts with business backgrounds. Note the degree requirements on the Google, Yahoo and Facebook Associate Product Manager job listings. [1] Smaller companies may only have one or two PMs, so they typically hire PMs with a bit of experience because they're not equipped to train one up from scratch. If you don't want to start at a big company, the best route into PM at a startup can be to start as an engineer and then move into a PM role as the company grows. These kinds of transitions are common and relatively easy if you're hardworking and excited about product stuff. The best thing you can do in addition to your major is to work on side projects with your classmates. For product roles specifically, try to actually launch some small products to users. If you can show that you can actually acquire users, retain them, and deliver value to them -- even on a small scale -- you'll have a huge advantage. [1] https://www.google.com/about/jobs/search/#!t=jo&jid=3264001 https://www.facebook.com/careers/department?req=a0IA000000CwBjlMAF&dept=grads&q=product+manager https://tas-yahoo.taleo.net/careersection/yahoo_global_cs/jobdetail.ftl?job=1346145&lang=en&ylng=en&yloc=us

There is a difference between what companies are looking for (your short-term landing a job) and what is really needed to be an effective product manager (your long-term career success). For the long-term, get a solid foundation in hard science or technology (physics, CS, EE, ME, etc.) and equally important in human behavior sciences (sociology, psychology is preferred). Don't worry about marketing and business as you can learn those fast independently. If you sprinkle with some basic design/art education, that will serve you very well as well.

I will recommend CS minor + business major. But actually degree isn't that much important for product management. It will help and provide theoretical foundation, but the experience gained during an employment is very important. Working at a start up most likely will help to learn everything from the scratch as you need to think and do more than in a big company, you will get lots of lesson learned which will significantly benefit your product management career. For longer term, getting a MBA will be good for your career.

I would also suggest looking into human computer interaction and information design. It can be very useful for a product manager and would compliment your CS minor quite nicely. There is a lot of heavier coding in one of the main languages like C++ or Java in CS, (maybe a tiny bit in HCI), that you would never really use as a product manager. It is very important for a product manager to understand what are the capabilities and trade offs with technical design choices, and what are the capabilities and required time needed to execute/take advantage of whatever technologies you are working with. You need to be able to talk to the developers/engineers and speak their language. You DO NOT however, needed to be able to do their job, i.e. build it/code it at a professional level. This is why it may be overkill to do CS if you don't have a passion for coding. That being said, having a CS degree never hurts.