For someone who is a mid-career (5-6 years in) Product Marketer and has an opportunity to lean into either PLG or SLG motions, which one would you recommend diving deep into?

Oh interesting! I've done both, but I truly believe PLG is the future for everyone. Or, I should say the paths are likely to converge! 

New organizational structures that are empowering end-users to make more decisions for themselves, coupled with extremely efficient try>buy experiences are reducing sales cycles and making the "executive buyer" persona less relevant (not irrelevant, just less of a blocker than it used to be). 

As hinted about, none of this means sales GTM motions are going away. Anywhere a problem and solution isn't extremely well understood, a sales person can provide necessary guidance. I just think that process will start to look a little more like sales-assisted growth motions, where we use product analytics to get smarter about where and when to insert humans into the loop.

If you're considering stayin in SLG as it exists today, you're likely committing to:

- More organization-level ICP research that will help the revenue marketing team better segment outbound initiatives

- More sales enablement (pitch practice, decks, competitive matrices, objection handling, and demos)

- More enteprise-grade content that can be gated for pipeline building

- More focus on executive-level CABs

If you're considering the PLG path, you're likely committing to siting a little further "left" into the headspace of end-users rather than navigating several stakeholders and organizational networks. This means:

- More end-user interviews and more product usage analysis

- More testing and iterating in the onboarding flow to help successfully activate and convert users

- (if you don't have DevEx or DevRel that has content quotas) more tutorials and use case guides

- More ungated assets like blogs, explainer videos, and solution pages

I should also note that I have both a Developer or "Self-Serve" PMM and an Enterprise or "Sales-Assisted" PMM at dbt Labs. Their work often does mirror one another (ICP, segmentation, and persona analysis), but does diverge when it comes to enablement and sales playbooks.

Both are super valuable, and gaining experience in both will make you a well-rounded PMM. Great for when you lead a team in the future :)

That being said, it also depends on what you enjoy. Having done both, PLG PMM work feels more B2C to me, where most of my time was spent working with campaigns, brand, and copy teams (other than product of course!). So if you enjoy working on customer journeys, creative briefs, and marketing assets, then that's a great fit for you.

Whereas with SLG motions, your primary stakeholders are enablement and the field. In these roles, I've worked on messaging projects that help shape the sales process, as well as programs that help enable the field on new product releases. I find this line of work more complex because you need a deep understanding of the sales process, which is unique to every company.

To summarize: Ideally you could try out both and see what you like. But experience in both is definitely a plus.

Wow! It sounds like you have great opportunity. I would recommend product led growth. So many companies are heading in this direction and these skill sets will be invaluable to you in the future. PLG has not slowed down and is infiltrating even the most complex B2B enterprise SaaS products. It's a great way to position yourself as a PLG leader in the future.