PMM, Brand or Growth Marketing, what’s the easiest way to get to CMO?

Being a CMO is a hard job that really boils down to your leadership ability. I think that this question is dependent on a few things:

1. It’s stage-dependent. I think it’s important to figure out at what stage you’d like to be the CMO at. Early stage? Later stage? 

2. My bias is software companies, but I personally believe that you need strong PMM chops to be a successful CMO because I think it comes down to the power of the narrative and the problem that you are solving. What’s the problem and how are you solving it in a creative way that gains momentum? Unless you are a strong product marketer, I’m not sure that you can be successful as a CMO.

3. Exception:  If you’re a great Demand Gen person, and have a great PMM person that you can pull in, I think you could be successful. For example, if it’s an early-stage company you need strong product marketing to ensure you have the right product market fit and narrative. That being said, demand gen is key here. If you are going to a later-stage company, a demand gen background is helpful, especially if they’d like to become multi-product or go to different markets. Then it’s figuring out, how do we do that? As you get larger and become a multi-product offering, you need a narrative that excites people.

I’ve gotten asked this question a lot, and honestly there is no right answer or easy path. Every company has a different need, and as I’ve talked with aspiring VPs - it comes down to what the founder values and the biggest pain point that needs attention. 

As an example, here at Box, our founder cares a lot about our messaging, positioning, and the story that we tell the world. In this case, he looked for someone who could partner with that had strong Product Marketing experience. 

Another example is that the company has nailed the messaging but there’s no demand or maybe they have a demand gen engine built, but no brand. 

The question is: what does the company need, and do you have the right skillset to fulfill that?

I believe Marketing is the most multi-disciplined C-suite role, and CMOs often talk about being a T-shaped marketer (deep in one discipline but broad across all). We know what success looks like for Sales (revenue) or Customer Success (retention or customer satisfaction), but for marketers it is not always so clear and you have to figure out how to measure and explain success.