Strong preference toward "any seat on a rocketship". It's much better to join a strong company, in any role, then to take a role in a company that's going into a ditch. All that said, identifying the best companies vs. the ditch-bound is challenging, especially for a startup company and extra-esp...more

In B2B: Make sure your sales team is activated to share information with you. Much important competitive information will not be public, and your sales reps are in the best position to hear about and gather new data. Just keep in mind that you don't need to react the same way they do to new infor...more

I think this question is addressed repeatedly on Sharebird, and elsewhere. All I will note here is that B2B and B2C product marketing are very different, in my experience. B2B jobs are heavily focused on sales and sales enablement, while B2C jobs often focus on optimization and feature-function a...more

I wouldn't recommend a PMM first, specifically. The first hire should be someone who can help to test and then execute effective methods of generating demand. This could be a PMM with demand generation interest and experience, or it could be a demand gen/growth marketer with a strong understandin...more

In the B2B world, I wouldn't consider hiring a product marketer who is truly new to the workforce. They will need too much handholding and don't have experience with a variety of tasks---I want at least 2 years of experience in a relevant role such as sales, demand generation marketing, consultin...more

Definitely read what the analysts are talking about, as they guide the trends in technology buying. Gartner is the king of the hill, Forrester and IDC are good, and there are many others including (probably) specialists in your industry. If you don't have a subscription to analyst research, yo...more

I had a PMM candidate tell me that he was not comfortable presenting to audiences. Obviously a deal-breaker there. Every PMM needs to present. I've reviewed resumes or LinkedIn pages which were poorly written. Not someone I am going to call, as every PMM needs to write well. If writing isn't y...more

Product marketing or content marketing teams. Content marketing tends to be more often responsible for high-velocity content such as daily blogs and social media. More strategic pieces like product briefs/datasheets and white papers are more likely come from a product marketer. I would think o...more

I have to partly disagree with Mike--PMM can be an excellent path to CRO/GM/President or to CEO, albeit with stops in between. I know people in the Valley who have this progression. Typically after succeeding as a PMM they take on responsibility for managing sales, and can then own the P&L for a ...more