Nikhil Balaraman

I think the mistake here is making it too long. I’d suggest an inverse triangle approach, and keep it short depending on the length and purpose of your briefing, probably no more than 5-10 slides. My typical lay out is: Company slide (founded in, team, key logos, etc) Market context (TAM/SAM/SOM as needed) Problem statement: Key persona & pain points Unique perspective: What’s your thesis/why you Product overview: Perhaps a traditional marchitecture slide to start and then some screenshots o ...Read More

Well first of all, it’s always tough to be a team of one. You are definitely going to have to ruthlessly prioritize and as a team of one, it can be easy to get stuck as the sales content/collateral & product launch factory. So with the spare time that you have, I think a few things that can help you understand the customer a bit better perhaps in order of ease: Sign up for daily newsletters from the industry trades that you’d want to cover your launches In those newsletters sign up for the w ...Read More

Short answer: build the framework, but allow people to be creative. Don’t micro-manage every single email. But maybe run some audits and always be close with the SDR leaders, and get a good understanding for why they are getting rejected/hearing no. Long answer:  PMM, and especially Brand marketing, are going to be helping in setting the tone and narrative of how we talk to prospects. For many of these prospects, the outreach from SDRs will likely be the first time they have direct contact with ...Read More

Depending on your target marketing and how active they are on these type of review sites, you may end up finding that G2 and TrustRadius are actually more effective than analysts. This is more likely to be the case if your economic buyer and your user personas line up more often than not, as it is not uncommon for buyers, especially of single seat tools or point solutions, to buy that software similar to how one might choose a restaurant for dinner in a city they’re visiting. As you start to mov ...Read More

Instead of focusing on the features, start with the use case -- why are we launching this we sub-product? What problem does it solve for our key personas or existing customers? Do we have examples of users adopting this product? Once you have an understanding for how/why people are actually using this, then move a step up in the pitch to the messaging. How do we frame the problem that our prospects or current customers are actually having that this new product/enhancement addresses? Ideally, the ...Read More

These things are bound to happen, but the good news in today’s world is that customers are likely getting their information from multiple sources. If I were in rapid response mode, I’d probably start by lining up some blog posts and customer testimonials that address the perceived weakness. Perhaps even hosting a webinar and running a counter narrative that goes directly in the face of the report…something like “Analyst X says we’re terrible at this…attend this webinar to find out why they’re wr ...Read More

It's going to be hard in the early days becuase you'll have a lot to do, and the partner channel probably is non-existant until ~20m or so in ARR. If you're selling into regulated industries this might vary/be sooner, but your main focus should be on enabling your internal teams. Good news is that once an official partner person is hired, you should already have some assets ready to go! Most of your existing assets can probably be lightly customized so that your messaging and positioning stay co ...Read More

I actually came to PMM from an SE role/background and would highly recommend people who are in technical roles consider PMM! The best part about this transition is that you're already trained on how to be an expert on the product, and how to best address and identify customer pain points, and craft solutions for those paint points.  Specific to making the transition from an SE or technical account manager role, I think the easiest step is to get involved with PMM is to provide feedback on pitch ...Read More

The chasm framework makes it seem like there's just one magic gap that needs to be jumped across, and then you can just set your sales and marketing efforts to autopilot and go on an indefinite vacation. For some companies that may be true...Zoom definitely had an exogenous force push them across the chasm. For most, I think you're always going to be feeling like you're on the early side of the chasm staring across the strait at the promised land. As it relates to B2B, I think the best thing to ...Read More

Having been through several of these at a few different companies, the advice I would offer is that for joint-sessions focus on the biggest impact announcements (e.g., new product demos, fireside chat with a major customer w/ Q&A, new company vision/mission, etc.), and make sure to put the time, effort, and energy into producing the content for these sessions--these assets can all be reused, and it’s an easy way to get the team excited. Have these sessions be less about Q&A and more of a ...Read More