AMA: You.com Director, Product Marketing, Ben Geller on Go-To-Market Strategy

February 4, 2025 @ 10:00AM PT

Ben Geller

Former Director, Product Marketing & Demand Generation at You.com

Hi all, I'm Ben Geller, most recently Director of Product Marketing and Demand Generation at You.com

👋 Based in:: Los Angeles, CA
🧠 Top of mind:: Just finished Priya Parker's "The Art of Gathering" and can't stop thinking about it. So much of what we do as PMMs is bring people around a table to solve hard problems—Priya gives you a framework on how to do this with intention and purpose. Highly recommend.
💬 Ask me about:: AI startups and being a founding PMM. I've done it twice, at ZipRecruiter from early days through IPO, and at You.com from Series A through a $1.5B Series C.
🍦 Fun fact:: Outside of work I love ceramics. There's no better feeling than creating something with your hands.

Go-to-market strategy can be so broad and different by company/market. How do you define it and get alignment across the team?

Ben Geller

Former Director, Product Marketing & Demand Generation at You.com | Formerly LinkedIn • 1y

At You.com, we’ve adopted a new agile GTM approach that’s been working well. One of the biggest challenges in GTM strategy is that you can spend too much time planning, but until you start executing, you won’t know what actually works. How We Approach GTM Alignment: Start with Clear Objectives & Metrics – Define success upfront by setting clear goals (e.g., pipeline growth, adoption) and key results for the launch or time period. Outline a High-Level Plan – Develop a 30,000-foot view of key ...Read More

1,016 Views

1 request
What are the core documents you create for every GTM?

Ben Geller

Former Director, Product Marketing & Demand Generation at You.com | Formerly LinkedIn • 1y

One of my favorite documents I create for a product launch is a PM <> PMM Launch Handoff Brief I use this document to help facilitate and standardize the transfer of information from PM to marketing. This will help you ensure product marketing has the context they need to bring this new product to market. We generally have the product owner complete this document with PMM at the beginning of launch planning. Don’t have time to meet? Have the PM record a Loom clip talking through each quest ...Read More

1,704 Views

1 request
How do you size/tier GTMs? What are some of the best ways to dive into competitive intelligence?

Ben Geller

Former Director, Product Marketing & Demand Generation at You.com | Formerly LinkedIn • 1y

Generally, for tiering GTM Launches, I like to think about the extent to which the product experience & how we market the product changes. Here's the tiering system I recently implemented at you.com that has been battle tested in 50+ launches: Tier 1: Major Product or GTM Shift Description: Product experience and/or how we market the product fundamentally changes Frequency: 2-4/year Campaign Strategy: Dedicated Campaign Example Distribution Channels: Heavy PR push, eEvents Pre-launch testing ...Read More

1,508 Views

2 requests
How do you approach pivoting GTM strategy if you're not seeing expected results i.e. pipeline growth, customer momentum,ACV and ARR goals etc.

Ben Geller

Former Director, Product Marketing & Demand Generation at You.com | Formerly LinkedIn • 1y

If you’re not seeing expected results, the first step is diagnosing whether it’s a strategy challenge or an execution challenge. One of the biggest pitfalls is optimizing metrics when the real issue is a flawed strategy . Identifying this early saves time and resources. Strategy Challenge If the fundamental GTM strategy isn’t working, no amount of optimization will bridge the gap. This requires stepping back, aligning with stakeholders, and exploring entirely new approaches. A key signal is an L ...Read More

995 Views

2 requests
How do you balance the need for immediate feedback through leading indicators with the longer-term tracking of lagging indicators to measure the success of a GTM strategy, and how do you ensure that attribution across cross-functional teams remains clear and actionable?

Ben Geller

Former Director, Product Marketing & Demand Generation at You.com | Formerly LinkedIn • 1y

Before determining what metrics you use to track success, it's critical to first align on the Objective—what you seek to achieve with your GTM strategy—stated in plain, clear language. For example, if the Objective is to determine the best channel for generating sales pipeline, then: Leading indicators may be cost per lead, quantity of leads, and quality of leads Lagging indicators may be $ value of pipeline created, and conversion to MQL/SQL/Customer/revenue. That being said, if your Objective ...Read More

979 Views

2 requests

AMA: You.com Director, Product Marketing, Ben Geller on Go-To-Market Strategy

View AMA Answers

Go-to-market strategy can be so broad and different by company/market. How do you define it and get alignment across the team?

What are the core documents you create for every GTM?

How do you size/tier GTMs? What are some of the best ways to dive into competitive intelligence?

How do you approach pivoting GTM strategy if you're not seeing expected results i.e. pipeline growth, customer momentum,ACV and ARR goals etc.

How do you balance the need for immediate feedback through leading indicators with the longer-term tracking of lagging indicators to measure the success of a GTM strategy, and how do you ensure that attribution across cross-functional teams remains clear and actionable?