Brett Queener

I would say that most VCs and seed or A-stage believe that if they had a great marketer, things would be different. Part of my job is to make sure that I build a relationship with people in my network and steer them to my companies. As hard as the job of a CMO is, we’d all love amazing ones! Great marketers emote and have connections to the company. The 2 hardest roles to hire for in a start-up are 1) a great marketing leader and 2) a great SDR leader In marketing, we forget that we didn’t get into marketing because we are a bunch of automatons. We got into it for the art and craft. It's what can we do that draws and elicits emotional responses from someone who wants to engage with us. Protect that “kernel”, as I call it. What is it you allow people that they can’t do on their own? People buy for two reasons. The first is fear (something bad will happen to me if I don’t) and the second is greed (something will help me). Don’t forget that.

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 think this is a really hard one. When I talk to marketers, they often feel like they are a square peg in a round hole. 1. FInd a company that really cares about marketing. What is the problem that they are trying to solve and why is that impactful? Why are they committed to it? 2. Understand what they are looking for in marketing. More leads? A more compelling story? Is it that nobody sees the value of what you’re doing? Are deals not closing? You can’t create urgency? I’d ask the founder how they think through that. Remember the head of marketing is to make sure that you hit your numbers. You need to understand the challenges that your CEO thinks could impact your ability to hit that number. 3. I’d ask to talk to 5 of their happy customers. Do they really love the company? Their feedback will build the energy so that you do not have to create that as a marketer. 4. Talk to whoever owns sales and figure out what that partnership looks like. Often times when CMOs fail it is a disconnect with sales (or growth if product led).

Year 1 roadmap depends on the stage. I work at earlier-stage companies. Year one roadmap at an early stage is 1) Do we know our ICP and do we know what drives them, 2) Have we proven we know what routes to reach those people and 3) Do we have a pretty good recipe for converting them from the marketing funnel to opportunity 4) Do we know what content or training or knowledge our salespeople need to move opportunities or active trials to paid customers? Have you built a very strong team? Do I see you as not just the person who not only talks about what marketing is doing but who thinks about it as what is the total demand that the company needs to create? (whether it comes from sales development or other places outside of marketing). We need to know if you can create a pipeline that supports scaling sales. What you don’t want to do is add a lot of sales capacity if you aren’t comfortable that you’ve built the demand and pipeline for them to be successful. Also, I think with within marketing, you’ve done a good job grading your org as it relates to brand awareness /content/ community / demand gen /conversion / pmm and being self-aware to understand: here’s where we are, why we focused on this area, and key areas to focus on next.

The earlier stage you go, the more you are acting as a mechanic who is building a custom vehicle. You’re trying to find market fit and you’re doing a lot of testing. You have a lot of theories, but little data. You may fail 8/10 times, but when you do get a data point it’s exciting! It can be very stressful, and even lonely. Especially if you came from a later-stage company, and your team goes from 8 to 1 per day, you will feel that difference. You may try to outwork the problem and work 20 hrs a day if you don’t prioritize correctly. It can be very stressful, but also rewarding. Being the head of marketing at an early-stage company means that mistakes can feel more personal. It’s just you, and this makes mistakes feel more personal. At a larger org, job #1 is to be an amazing leader. It’s your job to understand the problems at a high level, hire the right people, fire when necessary, and ensure that everyone is aligned. Job #2 is executive presence with the CEO, board, and peers. You are trying to figure out how to take things to the next level. And lastly, the problem set that you’re trying to solve. You’re not trying to find market fit - you are trying to go after a new market, region, etc - how do we figure out how to take things to a new level?

It depends on the company that you’re working at. The idea of a CMO as an expert in all of the domains (brand, demand gen, pmm) is unrealistic. I do not think that there is an expectation that you are great at all of these things. I think you have to have a broad view of marketing, be a tough judge of talent, have experience hiring really great people, and have the right mix of quantitative and qualitative skills. You have to be good at both paying attention to win/close rates and being very analytical (numbers based), while also paying attention to the narrative. (How are you from a storytelling perspective and what is resonating?) I think you have to be good at one of these things, but not all of them. And also, it’s important that you’ve built good relationships with others who you can pull in to cover the things that are not your strong suits. Hire people to supplement the areas where you are not as strong.