What are the best paths into PMM for early in career folks? What do you look for when you're hiring?

I've been hiring entry-level (and higher) PMMs for 8 years, and beyond the typical things that are in the job description, here are the differentiators that separate the great candidates from the so-so candidates: Comfort with ambiguity: The problems we deal with in product marketing are inherently ambiguous. There's no "right" answer, but there are answers that are "better" than others. If you're looking for a role that has step-by-step instructions or a checklist, PMM is not your job. Have a p ...Read More

The great thing about Product Marketing is that there are so many different entry points. I came from more of a content marketing background, but I've known amazing PMMs with a product background or customer success background that also crush it. Each path comes with its own strengths and value to the organization. So there isn't a wrong path. If you want to go into PMM, try getting involved with more PMM activities that will give you the experience to add to a resume. Find a mentor (when I disc ...Read More

Exciting that you're considering product marketing as a career! One good thing: you’re not competing with 100 graduates from Product Marketing University because no such school exists. I have seen successful transitions to product marketing from product management, sales engineering, consulting, corporate marketing, consumer brand management, and customer success. I have also seen people come straight from an MBA program. (occasionally directly from an undergraduate program, but IMHO it's better ...Read More

So happy you found product marketing and it interests you! I actually wrote about this topic years ago: https://medium.com/projectproduct/10-skills-traits-youll-find-in-exceptional-product-marketers-12fccfd35e2a Now, today, I can narrow it down to just a few traits I look for as I find these skills very difficult to teach/train in the workplace. I can help and teach those early in their careers how to overcome public speaking fears, how to price and package a SaaS product, or how to go about com ...Read More