PM100 — LLM Foundations: Basic Concepts to Operate at Product Manager Level

This course is for product managers, program leads, and product-adjacent operators who need working fluency in LLMs — enough to make architecture decisions, brief engineers, price a build, and defend choices to a client — but who are starting from zero. No prior ML background is assumed. Every technical term is defined before it's used. Vocabulary is introduced slowly and reused deliberately across modules so it sticks. Every concept ends with an inline check-question, a hint that points at the reasoning, and an answer with the wrong-answer trap named. The two goals: (1) pass a foundations exam (20 MCQ, 4 options, 80% to pass), and (2) reach the PM operating level — for any concept, answer: when do I choose this? what does it cost? what breaks? what do I ask my engineer? what do I tell my client? Voice: calm, precise, direct. Banned words (never used): seamless, robust, unlock, leverage, cutting-edge, transformative, revolutionary, dive in, journey, empower, game-changer. No motivational filler. Numbers are always stated with their unit or condition; ranges are kept as ranges, not fake-precisioned. When a concept has a well-known trap, the trap is taught — because the traps are the exam.