AMA: BILL Head of Product Marketing - Platform Products, Charles Tsang on Stakeholder Management

When it comes to setting timelines, I try to be as directive as possible—while still leaving space for adjustments and alternative proposals. It’s a bit like a negotiation.  ;-) You need to put a stake in the ground, but stay open to input. Starting with a clear stake in the ground is important because, as the GTM lead, you often have the broadest view of cross-team dependencies. For example, you might know that a product milestone or campaign deliverable has to align with a customer event or la ...Read More

My interpretation of this question is that it’s about how you build relationships with the right stakeholders and establish operating mechanisms to socialize, align on, and execute on PMM strategies.  As a newcomer, the best way to connect with stakeholders around product marketing strategy is to start with a clear map of who your stakeholders are. For most PMMs, that means product, sales and other customer-facing teams (like customer success and support), and the broader marketing org. From the ...Read More

When it comes to deciding how much stakeholder feedback to take in versus when to set boundaries, two things come to mind (using messaging as an example). First, having a clear DACI is critical. It gives you the structure to gather broad input while also making it clear that not every consulted voice will have their feedback incorporated. As the PMM, your role is to consolidate and synthesize that input, form a strong point of view, and ultimately work with a single approver to sign off. Second, ...Read More

Balancing alignment with avoiding “too many cooks in the kitchen” really comes down to clarity of roles, and for me, that starts with a DACI (Yes, I’m obviously a big fan of these 😊) If you’re truly concerned that you’re working on something where alignment will be dicey make sure at the beginning of a project, you make it a point to define the DACI and set expectations clearly. It’s especially important to remind stakeholders that “C’s” (consulted) are not “A’s” (approvers). Their input is valu ...Read More

One way AI can make cross-functional alignment easier is by helping you cut down the time it takes to build an evidence-backed point of view. As PMMs know, alignment often hinges on how you frame your messaging strategy and whether you can substantiate it with strong customer insights. Gathering those inputs traditionally means interviewing customers, reviewing secondary research, and combing through hours of Gong calls—a process that can take weeks or even months. That lag often slows down alig ...Read More