Osman Javed

Great question. In the early days, focus is key, so be wary of taking on too much in PMM. With that said, here's how to think about scaling. Nail the Basics Set the Foundation: First and foremost, you want to ensure your team is united around a compelling strategic narrative, brand messaging, and core brand pillars. It's crucial to validate your product market fit, as many companies are still in the discovery phase at this stage. Aligning on  product messaging, product pillars, differentiators, ...Read More

Great question, here are 3 potholes to AVOID when building 1. Not becoming the undisputed expert on your product, market, and audience:  Great PMM teams form strong opinions through rigorous research across market, product, and competition Focus on three areas: market/persona understanding, competitive intelligence, and deep product knowledge My favorite research methods: win/loss analysis, paid expert interviews, Gong calls, customer interviews, using competitor’s products, and podcasts 2. Not ...Read More

Great question! Measurement for PMM has been a long debated topic and vary greatly company to company, but here's a framework for thinking through it. Key Considerations: PMM should align itself to company objectives. If a company is focused on driving renewals, PMM should be focused on driving renewals. PMM shares ownership of metrics with other teams. For example: Product and PMM share adoption and launch metrics Sales and PMM share revenue and sales efficiency metrics Marketing and PMM share ...Read More

What are some surprising ways that candidates have stood out to you in PMM interviews? What are your biggest watchouts? PMMs are notoriously difficult to hire. The best PMMs I've worked with are Balance left and right brain Are equally adept at fast thinking and slow thinking Can maintain the 10,000' view while understanding the details at 1,000' It’s important to identify the 1-3 skills that will be most important for your company and domain. Then look for experiences that suggest they’ll excel ...Read More

While I'd love to say "You'll know when you need more PMMs!" most reading this will know it's not that easy. The ratio of PMMs to PMs or AEs is typically influenced by: Product complexity: More complex products require additional PMMs to effectively market them GTM motion: Sales-led models require greater focus on sales enablement, whereas PLG models require greater focus on user onboarding, adoption, and campaigns. In my experience PMM scales more closely with PM. Early-Stage (Series A/B): 1 PM ...Read More

In my experience, there are a few key differences between positioning for developers vs. business buyers. While the following aren't hard and fast rules, they are generally good rules of thumb. Please take them with a grain of salt! The Product is the pitch for Developers Developers don’t want a sales pitch, they want to see what your product can do. I’ve found that if they can’t try it quickly or see it in action, they move on fast. With business buyers, the product still matters, but it's in s ...Read More

Here are a few of my favorite channels for sourcing competitive intel: Prospect Calls Jumping on sales calls or listening to Gong recordings is the best way to uncover common objections, alternatives they're considering, and vectors for competition (e.g., price, quality, ease of use, etc.) Win/Loss Win/Loss excellent if your team can support it. It can sometimes be difficult to prioritize a Win/Loss program at an early-stage startup where resources are limited, but the information that comes fro ...Read More

I love this question! Competitive insights are one of the fastest ways for PMM to earn a seat at the strategy-table and influence the roadmap table. In theory, competitive insights should be a key input to product decisions, but in practice, they often fall by the wayside due to limited resources and competing priorities on the product team. As the competitive pulse of the company, PMMs are well-positioned to deliver insights that other functions don’t have the time or perspective to uncover. Id ...Read More

You can do the analysis once, but use different formats for different teams. 1. For Sales and GTM teams: Battlecards and Enablement Focus on what you can say to win against CompetitorX Create 1-pagers or slide decks with the following: Competitor strengths and your rebuttals Competitor weaknesses and proof points Past wins/losses against said competitor Landmine questions Objection handling Competitive proof points (logos, quotes, benchmarks) Links to good Gong calls or good reference articles N ...Read More