Hiring the Right Product Marketer Can Make or Break Your Startup
It takes a lot of effort to find the right product marketer. If you find the wrong one, it can lead to many problems.
I remember the day I had to play the role of a startup therapist very clearly. It was a sunny afternoon when I sat down in the offices of a local VC firm I was partnering with. The firm had asked me to come in and mentor a few of their founders on product marketing and how the function could benefit their businesses.
At first, I thought that this would be an odd necessity because it's product marketing. It wasn't until I met the startup founders that I realized what was going on.
Two things were common across the entire group:
The success of their businesses depended on product marketing, something that all parties involved were well aware of. The issue was that they needed to hire product marketers as soon as possible, and that was easier said than done.
Some of the founders had difficulty finding a single product marketer to apply to their job listings.
The companies that hired product marketers chose the wrong candidate and are now stuck with someone who cannot do the job correctly.
I had been made aware of this problem before, but I was never before asked to help these startups solve it with such haste.
WHAT IS PRODUCT MARKETING?
Product marketing is the glue that holds a company together, integrating product management, marketing, and sales (B2B) / growth (B2C). Product marketing's fluidity is why, depending on a company's structure, you will see it sitting in the product group, the marketing group, or the sales/growth group. The way product marketing is practiced should be based on the current and future growth stages of the startup.
I am Bryan Dsouza, leader of product marketing at Berkshire Grey, a startup that creates AI-powered software and robotic systems designed to improve the supply chain industry. Prior to joining Berkshire Grey, I spent time in product marketing at Grammarly, with a focus on launching our business offerings. And previously, I held various product management and product marketing positions at Microsoft, working with both subscription-based and cloud-based products. I have experience in a number of industries such as B2B and B2C SaaS, PaaS, and now AI robotics, while always staying focused on product marketing.
My passion for solving complex problems in monetization and product-market fit pushed me to get involved with startups and VC firms.
The convergence of my product marketing background and the world of startups is opportune. I have likely spent more time in recent months giving advice on product marketing job descriptions and hiring strategies than I have on actual product marketing itself.
The issue is that product marketing is still a very in-demand job market. The positive aspect is that product marketers have a multitude of options to select from to best match their skillset. The negative aspect is that it has become increasingly difficult to hire the correct product marketer who would be a good fit for the startup's current stage and where they are looking to go.
A Little About Product Marketing
Product marketing is the connective tissue of a company, spanning product management, marketing, and sales (B2B) or growth (B2C). This is why product marketing will sit in the product group, marketing group, or sales/growth group, depending on the company's structure.
Product marketing should be adapted based on the current growth stage of the startup, as well as its goals for the next few years. The problem, however, is that many founders don't base the role on these criteria.
Let’s Unpack This With an Example
It was important for me to understand the current state of Grammarly and where we wanted the company to be in the near future when hiring product marketers for my team. Our growth up to that point had been organic, and we were looking to increase our value by emphasizing the competitive advantage that our users could gain by using polished writing within their own organizations. The strategy required product marketers with experience in scaling products, enabling sales teams to drive customer acquisition, and executing product-led growth motions. So I searched for candidates that met this criteria. Lo and behold, I found a couple who are doing exceptionally well in their roles and having a massive impact on the business.
What are the consequences of hiring a product marketing manager who doesn't have experience in scaling a startup or supporting a sales organization? Although that person would be a great product marketer on paper, it wouldn't be a career fit for Grammarly's desired direction.
One of three things can happen:
A product marketer with such a background would see the job description and run far from it because, even though the tactical needs were similar, the experience and vision were not aligned. A product marketer who is not street-smart would not be able to get past the first round of applying for the role.
If things go south, a desperate hiring manager would hire an unsuitable product marketer in a rush to meet the situation’s urgency and the startup would lose crucial time trying and failing to get to product-market fit. This could result in the firing of the product marketer or hiring manager, or the founder getting a telling-off from investors about the company's hiring ability.
Hire for More Than Just Cultural Fit
Product marketing is a complex field. However, you can simplify the process by staying focused on where you want your startup to be, and understanding what kind of product marketer can help you get there. Culture fit has been researched at length and for good reason. I want to focus on something different though, which is what I call "journey fit." There must be alignment between a candidate's experience/expertise/passion and the startup's journey.
This hiring approach is introspective and requires more than just sourcing resumes.
It is important to note that I did not label this as a "destination" fit. The name is intentional because anyone who has built or worked in a startup knows that the destination, while it can be (and should be) a great motivator, is not the only thing that delivers the most toil, sweat and gratification. The destination won't matter if you hire someone who isn't aligned with your journey because it will always feel out of reach for that person.
What Does Hiring for Journey Fit Look Like?
Product marketing job descriptions should be clear and concise. You are free to use as much or as little of this as you see fit, but remember to make it your own. This is not something you only do during the interview process, but rather something you can use to begin thinking about the job description.
Hire Smarter
There is no one perfect solution for hiring the right product marketer for your startup. However, hiring for journey fit will increase the chances of making the right hire. Just as hiring managers are continuing to differentiate themselves to attract the best product marketing talent, product marketers are getting smarter at reading between the lines on a job description. Your application pool will look very dry if it looks like any other, or worse, exactly like another.
