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AMA: Microsoft Head of Marketing for Viva Goals and Viva Learning, Alina Fu on Developing Your Product Marketing Career
January 25 @ 9:00AM PST
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Microsoft Head of Marketing for Viva Goals and Viva Learning, Alina Fu on Developing Your Product Marketing Career
Top Questions
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
All size companies have their own set of challenges. From what I’ve heard from colleagues and friends, Series A companies may be more challenging for PMMs because of where they are in their product-market fit journey, how they regard Marketing/PMM, and what their urgent needs are. PMMs get quite ......Read More
509 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
Your network, your manager’s network, your company’s leaders, other companies’ leaders that you admire, etc. The worst thing that could happen is that they say “sorry, I am too busy right now” so if they are busy, ask if they have anyone they would recommend. I also attend a lot of events and if ......Read More
754 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
All of my roles have been satisfying for different reasons. I have found that I get most excited when I: 1. Learn new skills and enjoy doing the “grunt” work 2. Have a solid set of team members that I connect with 3. Am in an org where PMM is valued and influential There will always be ups ......Read More
870 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
I’ve held both B2B and B2C PMM roles and while they are definitely different, there are also similarities. Let’s start with what they have in common: 1. Capturing customer insights 2. Focusing on outbound marketing 3. Defining a marketing strategy Where you start to diverge is how much resou......Read More
735 Views
1 request
I would like to become a people manager and a strategic leader, whatever the attached title may be, from a senior PMM that I currently hold. How can I achieve this?
I have the opportunity to do so in a company that is rapidly growing, I believe. What kind of education should I look for? How should I signal this internally even if the role doesn't exist? To what extent should I be explicit about the need to create this role and my suitabilty?
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
How much do you trust your manager/management chain? I’ve had direct reports who share their career aspirations with me, even if it’s a role outside of my team, and I count myself lucky that they trust me enough to share that. When they did, I would put them on projects that would expose them ......Read More
1236 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
Every company has its own system or values that they look for during candidate review. During interviews, especially at larger enterprise companies, the recruiter or hiring manager usually has a rubric that assesses how much the candidate fulfills the criteria. Here are what stands out for me in......Read More
1698 Views
3 requests
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
I structure my PMM teams based on a blend of the following: * What are the goals of the PMM team * How the PMM team will be measured (this is related to how the company regards the PMM team) * What is the vision of an ideal PMM team I believe in an end-to-end approach to Product Marketing......Read More
904 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
I have a lot of meetings (sometimes triple booked) where a lot of context switching occurs every 30 min or so. I don’t say this to scare you off but to caution you that PMMs are one of the most interdisciplinary roles you can have and are the intersection between Product, Marketing, Sales and Cus......Read More
732 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
If I could only pick 3, it would be: * Storytelling * Competitive insights * Customer-obsessed Telling a story isn’t just filling out a messaging and positioning framework but about being able to pitch a narrative on why status quo is broken, paint what that world would look like, and why yo......Read More
1752 Views
3 requests
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
You can say that I fell into product marketing fortuitously. I started my career at Intel as a Technical Marketing Engineer (TME) role because I wanted to be customer-facing but my education was in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. I took this TME role because I am very extroverted......Read More
700 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
I’ve been the only PMM several times and think it only works if you LOVE being a PMM. Some people call PMM the “quarterback” who is charting the marketing strategy. Others refer to the PMM as the hub in a marketing hub and spoke model. I’ve also heard it described as being the CMO for your pro......Read More
270 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
I am an extrovert so I will share my observations. I have managed introverts on my team and they were excellent PMMs. They were super methodical, analytical and thorough. I truly valued what they brought to the team dynamic. Part of being a great manager is being able to assess people’s streng......Read More
610 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
I get this question a lot and I think it’s dependent on the hiring manager and the need at the time (stage of the company, maturity of the market, product-market fit, how ARR/NDR is doing, etc) I personally hire candidates that have completely different backgrounds and strengths from each othe......Read More
673 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
The people. I choose roles based on who I will learn from, collaborate with, and interact with. The people at the C-Suite/executive level and the people on your immediate team have a lot of impact on what you want to achieve and how you go about your role. Then the people outside of your team in......Read More
706 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
You move on. If you haven’t found success or there isn’t a concrete plan to change things it sounds like you have outgrown the role/team/company. It could be for a variety of reasons, some of which are outside of your manager’s control. There may also be a disconnect between your vision of the......Read More
717 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
Like any good first meeting, ask yourself some discovery questions: 1. What do I enjoy doing the most at work? 2. Why do I want to get into product marketing? 3. What products do I think are marketed well? Why? 4. What products can be marketed better? How would I market it differently? 5. D......Read More
1461 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
My junior PMMs have so much energy and enthusiasm but sometimes they miss the bigger picture. Thus, I would recommend honing in on: * Clear and concise communication * Strategic thinking and GTM planning * Being thorough - what impact does X have on Y I’ve noticed that junior PMMs usually ge......Read More
716 Views
1 request
Alina Fu
Microsoft Director, Copilot for Microsoft 365 • January 24
I think that depends on the hiring manager. I would even go so far as to suggest maybe you haven’t found the right role or HM who is looking for that broad horizontal PMM or you may be under-leveling yourself. As you become more senior, that is when the broad horizontal PMM skills come into play.......Read More
1391 Views
2 requests
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