Chris Koehler

So, the simple truth is no one can be an expert across all disciplines of Marketing. Is it necessary to have direct experience across disciplines, say Demand Gen? No. Is it helpful? Yes. I believe there are two ways to gain valuable experience, direct and indirect involvement. Say your core competency is Product Marketing, but you want to get experience in Demand Generation or Comms. You can either get way outside of your comfort zone and ask to take on a new role in that specific discipline. No ...Read More

While networking is important, building your reputation as someone who is both strategic and execution oriented is critical. The industry is very well connected so focus on being world class at what you do. Be a person that people can count on to deliver just a bit more than what is being asked. Be willing to help others for no other reason than it is the right thing to do. Be a continuous learner and ask lots of questions. If you do this, the opportunities will come.  Also, don’t be afraid to r ...Read More

This is very dependent on the role you are stepping into, but I am a big fan of the book, First 90 days. Be mindful to spend time in the first 30+ days listening to customers, prospects, employees, and investors/board on what is working, not working, opportunities, and challenges. Be careful not to alienate the team you are leading by criticizing what has been done before you. There is always a story behind it. In your first 60 days, work with your leadership and cross-functional partners to dev ...Read More

I’ve gotten asked this question a lot, and honestly there is no right answer or easy path. Every company has a different need, and as I’ve talked with aspiring VPs - it comes down to what the founder values and the biggest pain point that needs attention.  As an example, here at Box, our founder cares a lot about our messaging, positioning, and the story that we tell the world. In this case, he looked for someone who could partner with that had strong Product Marketing experience.  Another examp ...Read More

Well, hopefully your first CMO job is working for a Founder/CEO who understands the value of marketing and the best way to learn this is to ask the CEO how they think about marketing in the interview process. You’ll know pretty quickly if they just care about certain aspects such as pipeline, PR, or storytelling. If they understand it, great! But if not, you’ll have to earn your place.  A couple ways to do that: 1. Think like a GM, not a Marketer. CEOs and Founders don’t think in Marketing terms ...Read More

My role at a public unicorn company is radically different than when I was a marketer of 1 at a $10M company. When you’re at a small start-up you don’t have scalable systems or others to get the work done. You are in the thick of it, and it’s all hands-on.  When you get to pre-IPO - you have a larger team and it’s more about how do you enable your team to do their best work? I’m less hands on day to day, and now my role is to provide guidance to pave the way, remove roadblocks, hire great people ...Read More