Hien Phan

Oy! First, good luck! I have done the "first" before. I don't think you have the luxury of 30/60/90. I think it's more like 30 days to identify the problem and tackle easy wins. Sixty days build out a basic launch framework, then a GTM strategy, align both with leadership. Then 90 days to test and what you build and revise based on market feedback. My advice is to prioritize like crazy.

KPIs are hard for PMMs. (1) we don't directly influence everything. (2) we have a lot of indirect influence. But my rule of thumb is figuring out your North Star Metric, meaning what is that one metric you can influence that drives say, pipeline, and what are those input metrics? For example, if you're doing a sales play, your input metric might be how often they have used your messaging (Gong is a great tool for this) or your assets (Highspot). In this simplistic example, your North Star Metric might be deal velocity, influencing the ultimate metric: win rates. You get the idea. Here are some of mine. North Star Metrics: Deal velocity Input Metrics: Use of messaging/and content at different buying stages, product adoption Lagging Metrics: Win rates, increase in ARR, expansion 

First, welcome to PMM. It would depend on what kind of PMM they are looking to hire. I would do three buckets. (1) a thought leadership piece or website/landing page (2) a launch plan or GTM plan (3) examples of enablement like slides etc. They want to see if you have done core PMM activities: messaging, launch, and strategy.

I have no idea how you prep your presentation. But for an assignment like this one, I think what employers want to test is your ability to assess the problem and provide a solution. So before I would even start on the assignment, I would try to highlight the problem statement. What problem is this product trying to solve? Who are you solving it for? And importantly, is this a problem, the user recognizes or not at all? These questions will help you detail your strategy before you go into messaging and GTM strategy. Start with the problem statement and how said product solves it. Then flow into details about the problem and then approach to solving it.

When I think of GTM, it's from demand to advocacy. You aren't responsible for every step of this journey but are a significant contributor to enabling and owning the customer buying journey. Questions I always ask myself when I join as a GTM PMM are as follows: 1. Do my fellow marketers have what they need to create demand, growth, and brand campaigns? Do they have the strategy, positioning, and message to do their job? Do they understand the persona/ICP segments? What's missing? How can I enable and support them for success? Do they have the content? 2. Do my sales team have what they need to be successful? Can they talk about the value of my product or platform? Can they show it? Do they have assets or content? Do they know who they are targeting? 3. How can I help with expansion? How can I help market services? 4. Who are my partners and stakeholders in these areas? 5. Which area is most important for the company right now? Where should I prioritize my time? These questions will help formulate what to do. Now you aren't responsible for all the activities but for strategy, positioning, messaging, content, and asset development (to a certain extent) — you will be the lead. Being best friends with your enablement org and your sales engineering org will help you far, especially for #2 and #3. The one area I didn't cover is the partner organization. For some org, GTM PMM has a say, other orgs you enable your partner marketer to do the job.

1. Diagnosis - what's my opportunity? What's the pain I'm solving? What's the problem? 2. Guiding Principles - given the above. How should I address this problem? This section arent' tactics. 3. Coherent Actions - your tactics. Remember, if #1#1 isn't clear, focused, and concise, then #2#2 isn't either, which means #3#3 isn't as effective. I highly recommend a book called Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt.

Whether a brief or a presentation, you should always have a core internal doc outlining your strategy and roadmap. I am religious about this exercise—given that it will evolve. Otherwise, you're doing something that someone might not agree with, which will screw up your GTM efforts. Within that presentation, you should have documented your core persona and ICP, competitive landscape, positioning, messaging, differentiated value, and capabilities. Alignment shouldn't just be the broader GTM team and your product team. The list includes a pitch deck, battle cards, demo guides, and data sheets (competitive, industry, solutions) for external customer-facing documents.

The main difference is around change management. When SMB and mid-market companies buy software, there isn't a huge change management aspect because of their size. "Enterprise," defined as more established companies like (P&G, etc.), would like to know how you will help them succeed with your software. So this means services, solution partnerships, and etc. The other two differences are pricing and packaging and multiple persona messaging. Enterprise like to buy with scale and with value, so the right pricing and packaging is important. The last is around multiple persona, I haven't been in a situation where the enterprise was just one main buyer and no other stakeholders, so its important to message to the buying committee. The last advice I would give is define what enterprise means for your company. The definition should go beyond just company size, but including vertical, persona, and etc. The detailed definition will help you define your GTM strategy and messaging. Most growth companies fail at the above and most large companies rely too heavily on their size as a differentiator.

Ha! this skill is probably the hardest. When it comes to messaging, everyone will have an opinion. Before you drive alignment on the messaging, align on the problem and solution. That is 50% - 60% of the battle. The rest is just wordsmithing. Depending on the level of messaging, I would incorporate them into the messaging development process.

I'm biased. I'm a former consultant and market researcher— market research always follows priority verticals and market efforts. Depending on the stage of your organization, you might not have the luxury of full fledge research, but you need to at least talk to customers. Get some contextual awareness or directionally where you're going, then continue to validate and optimize over time.