Hiring Your First Marketing Team with Jen Grant, 3X CMO

Jen is currently the COO of Cube.dev, formerly the CEO of Appify, and held the CMO title at Box, Elastic, and Looker. As a 3X CMO, Jen has seen it all. In this episode, Lauren asks Jen Grant the top five commonly asked questions she gets from founders building their first marketing organizations.

What kind of marketer do I hire first? [2:48 - 4:54]

What comes first, product marketing or a demand gen? Jen and Lauren discuss how you identify the kind of marketer to hire for and when you know that you have product market fit.

What does a good product marketer look like? [5:13 - 7:27]

A great product marketer, especially in a highly technical company, can create a value proposition that resonates with the target buyer. Jen and Lauren discuss how your first “marketer” might actually not come from a marketing background at all.

When is the right time to bring in a product marketer? [7:49 - 9:17]

More often than not, the CEO and founder of an early stage business should be the best at marketing their product, so when does it make sense for a founder to bring in an outside leader? The most valuable thing a product marketer can bring you according to Jen is a new perspective and a fresh set of eyes. Jen talks about the importance of bringing in a new perspective that can see the product in a different light.

How do I evaluate the performance of my marketing organization? [9:17 - 13:50]

How does a seasoned CMO evaluate their marketing hires? Is their demand generation lead spending money in the right areas? Are we all operating off of the same data? With roles that are more qualitative, how do you determine success? These are just a few of the topics Jen addresses.

What is the biggest mistake you have made in hiring?  [16:18 - 19:35]

Jen provides some advice for founders based on hiring mistakes she has made in her career and talks about the most important character trait she looks for when evaluating talent for an early stage organization. She also describes what it means to be “GSD.”