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Kristen Kanka

Head of Product Marketing, Enterprise Solutions, Morningstar

About

Hi! I’m Kristen Kanka, Head of Enterprise Software Product Marketing at Morningstar, Inc. I manage three teams of product marketers and a creative group. In my role I oversee product launches, camp...more

Content

What have been your biggest learnings on scaling a business globally?

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Kristen Kanka

Head of Product Marketing, Enterprise Solutions at Morningstar | Formerly CaptureX, Medline Industries • January 26

The most important thing is understanding that regions work at different paces—the rate of acceleration between role types and career progression. And it’s also import...Read More

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When building a team, how would you ideally split responsibilities? By product line? By PMM function (CI, enablement, GTM, etc)?

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Kristen Kanka

Head of Product Marketing, Enterprise Solutions at Morningstar | Formerly CaptureX, Medline Industries • January 26

I love this question – and I am going to take a different approach to my answer here. One of the things I think product marketers can struggle with is responsibility v...Read More

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What are the key things (traits, skills, experience) you prioritize / look for when hiring? How can we best assess during the interview process? Are there any specific questions you like to ask or things to look out for?

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Kristen Kanka

Head of Product Marketing, Enterprise Solutions at Morningstar | Formerly CaptureX, Medline Industries • January 26

Storytelling is the biggest trait is look for. I want all of my product marketers to be able to tell stories that anyone can follow that inspire action. Everyone I int...Read More

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What are the three most important metrics to measure the impact of a product marketing team?

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Kristen Kanka

Head of Product Marketing, Enterprise Solutions at Morningstar | Formerly CaptureX, Medline Industries • January 26

Revenue - this should specificially be marketing contributed or influenced. Retention - this is typically a percentage and the target number will be dependent on the ...Read More

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What are the biggest challenges in growing and scaling a team? What were your biggest obstacles and how did you overcome them?

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Kristen Kanka

Head of Product Marketing, Enterprise Solutions at Morningstar | Formerly CaptureX, Medline Industries • January 26

The biggest challenge for me is scaling my management style as the team has grown. It’s not easy! I want to be a manager who’s responsive to the needs of my direct rep...Read More

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I've seen more work going into smaller regions that may not yield a high ROI (more enablement material, training is required w/ the smaller regions). Any recommendations on how a team can use their resources and time wisely when covering a global market while ensuring that each of the regions feel supported.

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Kristen Kanka

Head of Product Marketing, Enterprise Solutions at Morningstar | Formerly CaptureX, Medline Industries • January 26

I talked above about regional nuances, and how understanding those aspects of a region are crucial, but that doesn’t mean a huge shift in strategy is needed for every ...Read More

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Credentials & Highlights

Head of Product Marketing, Enterprise Solutions at Morningstar

Formerly CaptureX, Medline Industries

Product Marketing AMA Contributor

Building a Product Marketing Team

Studied at Bachelor of Science from Eastern Illinois University

Lives In Chicago, IL

Hobbies include Cooking, Baking, Squeezing Puppies, Wrapping Presents

Knows About Team building, Business Planning and Strategy, Cross team collaboration, Market Sizin...more

Speaks English