Austin Carroll

I'm always looking for PMMs that are excited to be there. It seems small, but if they have done research on the company and (even if they have never worked in the industry/space before) can point to something in their background that shows me they have a true interest, that's a standout candidate for sure. My biggest watchouts are people who cannot answer the case interviews. I don't care too much about the "right answers" or even if they are structured (like consulting/PM interviews do), I just want to see how they think and if they have a solid understanding of building a GTM strategy. When people are unable to quickly rattle off some basic ideas, it really makes me question if they could hold their own in meetings or brainstorming sessions.

These are some of my favorite interview questions. * What is your favorite product? * What interested you in this company/ space? * Walk me through [project/ launch] on your resume. What tactics did you use? What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them? I also like to give a case interview question as well, usually a variation of "Here is a new tech product. How would you go about planning and executing a launch?" I like this better than a take home assignment because it showcases expertise and is more similar to brainstorming sessions in PMM.

I don't think it's ever too early for your first PMM hire as they can help identify the product-market fit, positioning, and messaging. To make sure you have set up for success, make sure you have some people staffed (either full time or contract) where they can share work and delegate the strategy. Often times, this means having copywriters/content people, paid ads support, and product managers that are managing the product releases/roadmap.

We did something similar at Brex with the launch of Brex Bill pay last summer. We had a simple Bill Pay product on our original platform, but were bringing it upmarket on 'Empower' - our more advanced spend management platform. Existing Customers: As with any re-launch, it can create customer confusion so I always recommend starting from your existing customers. How can you ensure your new messaging and positioning appeals to them? We conducted customer interviews and even validated the new messaging with a quick survey prior to launch. Campaigns: When re-launching a product, I have found that competitive campaigns can be the easiest to quickly change perception of where your product is in the marketplace. For instance, you may have seen Brex's "Concughhhh" campaigns (OOH, SEM, Social ads). This allowed us to quickly position ourselves in the T&E space against Concur, without necessarily addressing that we are primarily known as a "corporate card for startups." Partnerships: I also think intentionally creating new partnerships (either through referrals partners, co-branded events, affiliates, etc.) can also add a lot of validity to your re-launch here. Hope this helped!

I have in the past, mostly due to external factors like internal readiness (help center articles, website updates, launch assets), but I don't recommend it. If you have a lot of customers using the product or feature, or perhaps even beta customers, it can lead to customer confusion if it hasn't been properly explained. You can also lose the ability to have a PR hold on the information, leading to you being "scooped" and not being able to control the narrative or product messaging.

It depends on if Product does roadmap planning based on acquisition and revenue levers or if they are considering new roadmap features to minimize churn, make a better product experience, or compete against competitors. Product marketing can pull data, conduct surveys and interviews, and do competitive research to inform them, depending on what data they are most likely to use. It's all about knowing your product partner and what matters to them.

Of course, it depends on if you're talking about Spain, Central America, or South America, as the business realities and fluency are different in each country. In Spain, I would suggest reaching out to venture-backed startups, especially those looking to expand to the US (and that align with your previous focus industry). Your experience would be invaluable to them and they often have a lot of people who speak and conduct business in english. You may have similar luck with US tech companies expanding their presence in Mexico. The second option is to find a remote role that is open to employment in other countries. This is often in the travel tech space, but I've seen this be possible in Edutech as well.

This is always the hard part! However, I find it best to think of your current customers and prospective customers as different audiences. So, what channels can you reach your prospective customers? I usually look at the channel map and assign each a goal - so an in-product notification may drive product usage, emails may educate users, and social media and blog may showcase our new features.

Well, first of all, congratulations on finding Product marketing so soon! I know many of us in the profession today didn't learn about PMM until much later in our careers and were "switchers" from product or marketing or even sales. That being said, there are not a lot of right out of college PMM positions available (with the exception of Google and Salesforce). I would highly recommend building up your knowledge of all the functions that PMM has to consult on and work closely with. If you can get exposure through internships, reading articles, and networking to topics like sales, PR, social, paid ads, messaging, positioning, and product management it will help a lot. Another thing I always recommend is putting together some projects where you showcase you understand what a PMM does. So, volunteering with a charity or startup to work on their webpage/messaging. Then, writing the experience up on a personal portfolio site. This can go a long way in interviews. :) Best of luck!

To ensure sustained excitement among existing users and advocates, consider offering exclusive perks and incentives for them. Simplify transitions with clear guides and rewards. Beyond the launch, adapt marketing strategies by evaluating the effectiveness of ads and overall positioning. Be ready to make adjustments to maintain engagement over time. 1. Engage Existing Users and Advocates: * Identify key advocates and existing users who are passionate about your product. * Create exclusive pre-launch access or benefits for these users to generate excitement. Provide comprehensive guides and tutorials to help users navigate new features seamlessly. * Collect user feedback during the transition period and address concerns promptly. 2. Plan Beyond Launch: * Develop a marketing strategy that goes beyond the launch. Consider, how will people learn about your product in 1 month, 6 months, 12 months? * Explore new channels or partnerships that align with this new launch and are ongoing. * Assess the effectiveness of pre-launch marketing channels, messaging, and positioning and adjust them as needed. For instance, for every launch at Brex we optimize the messaging in our segment and product homepages. * Use the launch as a mechanism to create new content and social that can be slowly shared over the course of the next few months, providing value and keeping your audience engaged.