How do you break up responsibilities when you're the first and only PMM and now you are hiring a new PMM to work under you? In a fast growing SAAS startup?

I tend to coalesce early-ish stage PMM teams by product pillar/functionality. For example, if you group certain features into capabilities, split roadmap ownership betwee you and your PMM. Bucket those product capabilities and divide and conquer (full PMM GTM lifecycle responsibilities). Once you've achieved product market fit, you can consider organizing the team by relevant personas and begin to hire specializations like: core PMM, customer marketing, lifecycle marketing, competitive intel, etc.

But definitely index on hiring generalists that have a platforms & systems mindset. These folks can scale and that's what you need when it's a small but mighty team. 

Congrats on growing the team! In a two person team, you have to look at the top priorities, where you can have the biggest impact (where you are uniquely needed the most), and where each of you are strong and excited to grow. You are in the fortunate position to consider what elements of PMM you enjoy most and which ones you would be happy to delegate so don't forget it. 

If you're really not sure, try doing a quick exercise of listing out all the PMM functions you support today, new functions you may need to support in the coming months/year, and rate them by size, impact, priority, and list out internal stakeholders/collaborators. From here you can start to see patterns and how it might make sense to break up work. 

It's important to note that the answer to this question will vary from company to company. First, you should have a good understanding of the current situation in order to identify the most pressing needs. Where are the biggest fires? Where can your effort make the biggest impact? It's also crucial to be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses. I strongly believe in hiring to complement your weaknesses. You don't have to excel at everything. Instead, hire someone who can take on tasks and free up your time to focus on areas where you are stronger. Consider this new hire as your deputy or partner. In a rapidly growing SaaS startup, spending a lot of time training a new hire may not be feasible. Bring on someone who has prior experience and is capable of solving problems. Similarly, focus on hiring someone motivated by the "messiness" of a fast-growing startup.

Congratulations on growing your Product Marketing team! Even with a team of two, there are a number of different ways you can consider structuring the team. The ‘north star’ question that will guide you is, “Why am I hiring?” And the answer will likely influence the profile of the people you choose to hire and how you divide up the work. Here are a few examples:

If you are hiring just to get help, for example to keep up with an accelerated pace of product innovation in a fast-growing company — and without major changes to your target market or product portfolio — you might bring on a more junior PMM to handle lower-tier feature launches, content creation, and sales enablement (if applicable), while you focus on more strategic responsibilities such as overall GTM strategy and process, market intelligence, and higher tier / new product GTM. Over time, you would teach some of your scope to your new hire, and eventually delegate more as they progress in their career and your team continues to grow.

If you are hiring because your product portfolio is expanding (you are currently making widgets and are about to start selling sprockets, too), you might structure your team by product line. In this case, you might hire a somewhat more seasoned PMM who can drive even a high profile GTM with minimal guidance, as you would still be responsible for one product line in addition to people management responsibilities, leaving less bandwidth to manage the delegated product line.

You might be hiring to drive market expansion via a new geo, vertical, or sales motion, or to accelerate those motions by bringing on expertise you don’t possess. In this case also you might hire a seasoned PMM with demonstrated expertise in the specific market you’re hoping to penetrate. You would maintain responsibilities in your areas of expertise & strength, and delegate & learn where your new hire is strongest, while ensuring that your combined efforts ladder up to your common strategic goals.

Hope that’s helpful framing for considering how you’ll structure your growing team!