Kavya Nath

This is a great question and something I’ve also used when interviewing candidates. I completely see how it can be daunting and spans varying levels of expectations. Personally, the thing I try to emphasize as part of this task is that I’m not looking for a perfect deck or designed project plan. But what I’m interested in seeing is how you strategize and think through a GTM approach. From research on market and competitors, to aligning internal stakeholders around packaging, pricing, positioning ...Read More

The ability to work effectively across cross-functional teams is an extremely important part of a PMMs role. And each team you interact with has a very specific set of needs and dependencies in order for the working relationship to thrive. PMM and Sales: This is a relationship that gets to the bottom-line = revenue. It's easy for the PMM role to quickly become a content creator (decks, one-pagers, etc). Where product marketers need to spend time is in understanding the sales process and the cust ...Read More

The most successful product marketers are ones who lead with empathy and take on the customer point of view. I actually wouldn't separate out high-level GTM strategy from product/feature specific launches. The skills you've listed as high-level overall GTM (messaging, positioning, pricing, packaging, etc.) are the fundamentals to be able to launch any product or feature. Tactically all PMMs should be able to write, and present, and analyze data to make decisions that help grow revenue and suppor ...Read More

The key things that standout are when a candidate's responses highlight cross-functional collaboration, trust building with stakeholders, and a 'we'll figure it" mindset. A great way to assess this is by not only asking for examples of how they would launch a product, or how they develop go-to-market strategies but it's also by digging into questions like: Have you ever had to change someone's mind on a strategy you were suggesting and how did you go about it? How have you been able to influence ...Read More

This is a great question and I would say one that depends entirely on what your product line is comprised of. Larger SaaS with multiple products: For a larger company that has multiple product lines, splitting PMMs up by product line is going to be the most successful. This will allow individuals to become SMEs in their area while covering the scope of the role from end to end. Of course, if you're able to have multiple PMMs supporting each product-line (which can often be the case) you can star ...Read More

I would start by taking a hard look at all the things I felt I accomplished over those two years (writing a list helps!). Next start bucketing them into categories of skills (positioning, GTM, content writing, etc.), then have a little retrospective of how well you felt you did on the things you accomplished. I think you’ll naturally start to see areas where you yourself (given the time to reflect) feel like you knocked it out of the park or could maybe take a different approach or do things a b ...Read More

In one word - prioritization. In two words - ruthless prioritization. Which products are driving sales - prioritize support there over products that aren't levers that lead purchase decisions. Same for features - which feature sets do customers ask for and want the most - prioritize that over smaller features that won't be impacting buying decisions. Use the same approach for adoption and retention - what does your data show? What are the products and features your customers are using the most? ...Read More

The biggest learning and maybe an obvious one is that what works in one region may not work in another. Cultural differences absolutely can and do impact how things like sales, marketing, and customer engagements are received. If your company is expanding globally to new regions, spend time with your teams on the ground there - join sales calls and learn about how business is conducted in those areas. These insights will help you develop the right go to market strategies. In addition to that - m ...Read More