Sherry Wu

See my answer above - the KPIs that you choose when launching a new feature of an existing product should always be tied to business outcomes.  When you launch features vs products, oftentimes the business goals can be framed in terms of product adoption and cross-sell / up-sell.  Here's an example.  Let's say you have two products: A and B. This feature is available on Product B only. Let's say launching this new feature may entice customers who have bought Product A to add on Product B. Your g ...Read More

I love this question. As PMMs, deciding WHETHER to launch a product in the first place is just as important as an actual launch. When planning a launch, it's important to define hurdle criteria & go / no-go milestones to determine when you launch. You can re-evaluate your launch if any of those criteria are not met. Some of the criteria that I've looked at include: Customer impact. If customers aren't able to use it, it's not the right time to launch. In your beta program, you should be aski ...Read More

There are two categories of KPIs - business KPIs and launch performance KPIs. For both types, the KPIs you choose to track depend on the goals of your product launch.  Let's say you're introducing a new revenue-generating product. The main business goals of the launch might be to create brand awareness for your company and create $XX pipeline for your new product, and close $XX ARR within two quarters (depends on your sales cycle).  Increasing brand awareness Business KPIs: Ask your comms team ( ...Read More

In my experience, this is one of the toughest things as a PMM. You always see the potential upside for making an announcement, and you can spin a story out of anything / convince anybody why something matters. But really, you need to exercise a lot of restraint to avoid overloading your sales teams (in B2B companies) and customers with the sheer volume of releases. I like to group features into regular channels (e..g monthly newsletters and webinars) so customers can appreciate the feature veloc ...Read More

I've worked at Series B startups all the way up to F500 companies. The theory behind product launches is the same - you want to align your launch to business goals. But, the HOW (the tactics and resources) and the WHO (the team) behind executing a product launch are really where there are differences.  At a F500 company, you've got dedicated teams for naming, brand, sales enablement, web, social, and more. PMMs might focus only on launch messaging at a larger company, and spend a lot of time on ...Read More

I answered this question previously, so I won't go into too much detail here. However, I thought this question was interesting because it asked for the Director-level take as well. A lot of what I do as a Director is not just think about myself as an individual PMM, but think about the function as a whole. As a Director (or, even taking away the title -- just as a leader/people manager), what I'm thinking about is -- how can I set my team up to achieve successful outcomes? So, in addition to und ...Read More

It totally depends on what's already there when you've arrived ;) What's easier to answer is what is OFF the table -- pricing refreshes, website overhauls, launching a strategic narrative. Those are big, time-consuming initiatives that shouldn't be undertaken without a foundational understanding of customer, market, product (and that takes time to develop). Some examples of quick wins I've delivered include: Creating a single resource for product releases -- this made our CS org insanely happy, ...Read More

An effective 30-60-90 will help you make progress across 3 pillars: What is your point of view on the company's current market standing? Where are there future opportunities? How do you define and establish the PMM function? How do you create scalable, repeatable processes for GTM success? The first 30 days are all about discovery. It's about deeply understanding the business, marketing fundamentals, and product. What are my company's business priorities? Why? What are some of the KPIs that our ...Read More

Homework exercises will vary, so there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer here.As an interviewer I usually look for a few things: Tie the GTM plan back to the business priorities. Tell me why the launch matters and what business impact it is expected to have. Tell me how you would measure the impact. Be clear on your target audience. Tell me how you selected that audience -- tell me your thought process. Account for the market / competitive landscape in your positioning. Do some light research on ...Read More

Come with data and frame your initiatives for your leaders. Part of your first 30-60-90 days will involve understanding what's working well and not-as-well in the GTM. Talk to sales, CS, and RevOps to get a picture. Are you seeing steep discount rates in a certain segment? Are reps complaining that it takes too much time to find collateral? Is your win rate against a certain competitor low? Is your churn rate high? Look at the data, dig in to understand the why behind the trends you're seeing, t ...Read More