Brett Queener

I would say that most VCs and seed or A-stage believe that if they had a great marketer, things would be different. Part of my job is to make sure that I build a relationship with people in my network and steer them to my companies.  As hard as the job of a CMO is, we’d all love amazing ones! Great marketers emote and have connections to the company. The 2 hardest roles to hire for in a start-up are 1) a great marketing leader and 2) a great SDR leader In marketing, we forget that we didn’t get ...Read More

Being a CMO is a hard job that really boils down to your leadership ability. I think that this question is dependent on a few things: It’s stage-dependent. I think it’s important to figure out at what stage you’d like to be the CMO at. Early stage? Later stage?  My bias is software companies, but I personally believe that you need strong PMM chops to be a successful CMO because I think it comes down to the power of the narrative and the problem that you are solving. What’s the problem and how ar ...Read More

I think this is a really hard one. When I talk to marketers, they often feel like they are a square peg in a round hole.  FInd a company that really cares about marketing. What is the problem that they are trying to solve and why is that impactful? Why are they committed to it? Understand what they are looking for in marketing. More leads? A more compelling story? Is it that nobody sees the value of what you’re doing? Are deals not closing? You can’t create urgency? I’d ask the founder how they ...Read More

Year 1 roadmap depends on the stage. I work at earlier-stage companies. Year one roadmap at an early stage is 1) Do we know our ICP and do we know what drives them, 2) Have we proven we know what routes to reach those people and 3) Do we have a pretty good recipe for converting them from the marketing funnel to opportunity 4) Do we know what content or training or knowledge our salespeople need to move opportunities or active trials to paid customers? Have you built a very strong team? Do I see ...Read More

The earlier stage you go, the more you are acting as a mechanic who is building a custom vehicle. You’re trying to find market fit and you’re doing a lot of testing. You have a lot of theories, but little data.  You may fail 8/10 times, but when you do get a data point it’s exciting! It can be very stressful, and even lonely.  Especially if you came from a later-stage company, and your team goes from 8 to 1 per day, you will feel that difference. You may try to outwork the problem and work 20 hr ...Read More

It depends on the company that you’re working at. The idea of a CMO as an expert in all of the domains (brand, demand gen, pmm) is unrealistic. I do not think that there is an expectation that you are great at all of these things. I think you have to have a broad view of marketing, be a tough judge of talent, have experience hiring really great people, and have the right mix of quantitative and qualitative skills. You have to be good at both paying attention to win/close rates and being very ana ...Read More