AMA: Sauce Labs Group Manager, Product Marketing, Madison Springgate on Product Launches

It's all about strong, ongoing relationships with our product managers. I make it a point to meet weekly with my product partner to discuss the latest updates from both the product and GTM perspectives. Then, we hold bi-weekly meetings with the larger PMM and PM teams to review the roadmap. These lead up to a comprehensive monthly roadmap review, ensuring we're all on the same page and that our sales team is informed about any changes.

This is my favorite part of product launches—finding creative ways to tell the product story! * I always make sure we have at least two demos for promoting the new product. I work with my product manager and dev teams to create a technical demo that dives deep into the product specifics. I’m also a huge fan of Navattic interactive demos—they’re more high-level and highlight the core value props. * Webinars are another favorite; they’re a great way to engage directly with customers about the launch. At Sauce Labs, we have two types of launch webinars: our "Hot Sauce Releases" webinar covering all the latest launches, and specific launch webinars that focus on one product in detail. * And then I would definitely recommend doing an explainer video for larger launches - they’re a fun, visual way to communicate the product’s value and get everyone excited (especially through social)! 

When you are launching a product internally, the process needs to be collaborative and (more importantly) fun! * I first create a product launch brief that covers everything you need to know about the product - the positioning, GTM plan, competitive analysis, etc. This doc is shared widely across the company for everyone to review and give feedback. Aligning on this brief is key as it forms the foundation of our GTM strategy and guides the rest of our launch assets. * About a month before the launch, I host a GTM kickoff call with a deck to talk through the product positioning, customer evidence, and we showcase a live demo. * As the launch date gets closer, I lead a sales enablement call to dive deep into the launch details with the sales team about the product. This call not only trains the sales team on how to talk about the product with customers but also gets everyone excited about the launch. * After the product is launched, we celebrate internally with Slack and email announcements, sharing all the fun new resources for everyone to check out and post on social.

At Sauce Labs, our product marketing team owns the sizing up of each launch based on its strategic importance and business impact. Each launch is unique, and the size helps guide the level of GTM support we provide. Here’s how we break it down: * Extra Large: This is a big one— super strategic with huge revenue potential and industry impact. It solves a major problem for our customers, and is an opportunity for thought leadership and press coverage. * Large: Medium revenue potential, but still important that it solves a customer problem, potentially opening a new market or user base. * Medium: These are “table stakes” or “catch up” launches with small revenue potential, mainly requiring communications to current customers. * Small: Typically a changelog or maintenance release with minimal revenue potential, needing basic internal awareness.

As the PMM, I like to think of us as the quarterbacks of the launch. We determine the strategy but we have to heavily rely on our partners to execute it. At Sauce Labs, we’ve worked across stakeholders to develop a Launch Checklist Template that outlines every launch activity, with designated owners to ensure alignment on responsibilities. We also hold a Launch Team Interconnect bi-weekly meeting to review the launch timeline and GTM plan, ensuring everyone is on the same page and aware of their action items. It’s essential to get buy-in from various teams and leverage their expertise in telling the launch story. And remember, product launches should be fun! They showcase how our business is innovating and delivering cool new products, so it’s really important to make it an exciting time and celebration for all teams.