Alexa Scordato

AMA: Stack Overflow Former VP of Marketing, Alexa Scordato on Structuring a Product Marketing Team

August 13 @ 10:00AM PT
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We are growing our product marketing team, and I'm wondering how to structure the roles and work for a team of three.
i want to know who i need to hire to start my product marketing team. We are starting with product insights, product launches and sales enablement
Starting with those three functional responsibilities - insights, launch/go-to-market, and sales enablement makes a ton of sense for a team of that size. Depending on the...
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If product marketing is embedded within product, what that usually tells me is that marketing is a secondary function to product. If you're operating within a product-led...
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This is related to the question above with regards to marketing's ability to influence the roadmap. There's no right or wrong way to do this. It's a matter of the role a ...
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How do you prepare yourself to become a Product Marketing Director and manage a team, without any experience managing anyone previously?
I'm on my 5th year of product marketing in my career, with another 5 years before that in general demand gen at very small companies. I've had management experience in the past, but not in a Product Marketing role. Often times in smaller companies, there will be 1 or 2 PMMs, usually in a very flat hierarchy, or a single boss, with no room to really move up a proverbial ladder and into management experience. So what are ways that I can prepare myself now, so that if the time comes to apply for a Director position (either internally or at another company) that I can be considered even without recent people management experience? Are there any courses for this that are highly regarded in the management arena?
My first piece of advice: Talk to your direct manager about this and make it known that a) you're interested in becoming a manager b) you'd appreciate any professional de...
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The first 2 PMM's are going to wear many hats and serve many masters. There's unfortunately no way around that given the breadth of the function. The biggest tension is s...
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How do you proactively identify areas of the business where PMM can add the most value and make the biggest impact?
i.e. do you have a few questions you keep in your back pocket or assumptions that you always test when assessing the business and choosing which things to pursue?
1. Is the business taking a product to market, trying to achieve product market fit, or accelerate demand? I recognize that some teams might say, "All 3!" but if you had ...
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It's a good practice for anyone at a company, regardless of function, to ask themselves how their role impacts the bottom line. I think of revenue as a shared goal that h...
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Where to start? Every company has different policies for promotion criteria, but ultimately it needs to take into account 2 things: merit and business need. Business need...
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