What skills would you prioritize most for the first demand gen. hire at a series B startup?

The answer here is nuanced. I have a background in product marketing, so I am biased, but if this role is the first marketer overall, I would actually prioritize a product marketing hire or skill set and focus on the foundations:

• Positioning, value props, messaging, personas, pitch decks, roadmap, leave behinds
• Sales and product feeback loops- customer insights, win loss analysis
• Customer stories- social proof of product market fit
• Competitive intelligence

If this hire is the first demand gen hire, with the assumption the high level areas above are covered, I would prioritize the following skills (some of the below is repetitive from the skill set question also asked in this AMA):

• Understanding of sales teams, inbound vs. outbound, and willingness to get scrappy and executing in the field (ie. joining sales calls, pitches, etc), and taking these learnings to then zoom out and develop a demand gen strategy, campaign calendar, and the know-how to patch leaky buckets in the funnel.
• Project management and relationship management: working cross functionally is essential to devlopping strategic demand gen programs and campaigns. Demand gen is the central hub if you will- the central team that brings together channel owners (note, in smaller orgs, they might also be the channel owners), product teams, sales teams, content, field, etc. The ability to pull plans and tactics together to create time bound, TOFU, MOFU, BOFU or full funnel campaigns requires the demand gen team to be organized, while holding other teams accountable (to deadlines, targets, and more).
• Audience and industry knowledge: having a deep curiousity to understanding target audiences, the buying group, various personas, coupled with a solid understanding of industries and verticals allows demand gen marketers and teams to develop tailored strategies for the various audiences. To support this, the DG marketers also need to understand how their competitors market against their product, and understand why deals are won, or more importantly, lost.
• Data and financial acumen: DG teams are tied to targets, and need to forecast, and propose/invest budget accordingly. Understanding how this, coupled with deep understanding of each stage of the funnel, plays a role in CAC (customer acquisition cost), CPL (cost per lead), etc. will allow teams to optmize for efficiency and impact.

Focusing specifically on demand generation, I would recommend skills that best fit a growth marketer. This is because growth marketers have to think differently from traditional demand gen marketers, which is advantageous in a startup. This type of skill set is focused on activation, engagement, and retention, and includes both hard and soft skills, such as curiosity, performance marketing, SEO, project management, data analysis, and marketing strategy.

At a Series B startup, acquisition is typically a priority, but with a growth marketer, you'll also be able to understand the impact of various touchpoints and interactions. You'll need to address questions such as, "How can we generate more pipeline or sign-ups based on our ideal customer profile?"

Here is another question I answered which may be helpful:

What does growth marketing mean to you? How does it fit within the rest of the marketing org?