Can you describe a challenging situation where you had to make tough trade-offs between short-term revenue goals and long-term strategic objectives?

This is a great question and a super common scenario within PMM. At Klaviyo, we've played around with a lot of different launch cadences and resourcing levels for launches. Product launches tend to be more about product adoption than any short term revenue gain. Yet, everyone agrees it's important to show a strong cadence of innovation to the market. This tension is especially acute if you're talking about new functionality that's important but isn't actually opening up new pockets of revenue for your company. So how to balance the two objectives, showcasing innovation while still prioritizing revenue?

Like many things in PMM, the answer is, it depends. You're always going to have limited resources, and both launches and revenue generation can be "always on" activities. Here are some questions to ask yourself if you have this challenge:

• Do you have a large team and/or budget? If so, you may be able to keep resources on both projects throughout the year. Or if you're the only PMM, you may need to make trade offs based on what seems critical.

• How often are you shipping features? At Klaviyo, we do a ton of launches all the time so we actually need to have a monthly launch cadence. Some companies may do quarterly launches, meaning they can spend a lot of their time on other projects that drive more short term revenue.

• Where are your metrics weak? I like to keep my eye on the marketing funnel to see where holes may be developing and then push to plug them. If you're not seeing enough MQL's, you may need to work closer with demand gen. If your features aren't being adopted, you may want to lean more into product launches and trainings.

• What are your top company-wide priorities? Do you need to grow fast or do you want to cement your reputation as a tech-savvy, innovative org? If the answer is both, you may need more headcount. :-D