In this episode, Matt Carnevale sits down with Jessica Andrews, VP of Marketing at Copper, a CRM built specifically for agencies, consultancies, and media companies, designed to help relationship-driven businesses find ideal clients, win new business, manage projects, and nurture customer relationships. The two discuss Jessica’s journey from Senior Product Marketing Manager to VP of Marketing, how she’s navigated imposter syndrome, and her strategies for leading a successful marketing team.
Matt and Jessica cover:
- Strategies for shifting from IC to a marketing leadership role
- Why product marketing is the foundation of great marketing
- How product marketers can position themselves for leadership
Timestamps
- (00:00) - - Introduction to Jessica
- (02:32) - - Transitioning from product marketing to VP of marketing
- (06:29) - - Dealing with imposter syndrome and learning to trust your instincts
- (09:12) - - The shift from execution to strategy in a leadership role
- (10:54) - - Why taking time to think is crucial for marketing leaders
- (12:17) - - The power of networking and learning from other marketing leaders
- (14:18) - - How talking to agencies helped shape Copper’s marketing strategy
- (15:37) - - Why product marketing is the foundation of great marketing
- (17:16) - - The importance of cross-functional alignment in marketing leadership
- (19:54) - - Understanding the mindset of sales teams and how to collaborate effectively
- (22:48) - - The challenge of getting buy-in for product marketing initiatives
- (27:49) - - Balancing being a strategic partner vs. an order taker
- (30:29) - - How to respond to last-minute requests and set expectations
- (32:51) - - Strategies for building strong relationships with sales and product teams
- (36:03) - - How to become T-shaped and prepare for marketing leadership
- (38:21) - - Learning demand gen and paid ads
- (40:31) - - Why marketing leaders need to understand revenue and business impact
- (42:39) - - Advice for product marketers who want to grow into leadership
- (43:25) - - Closing thoughts and final takeaways
Send guest pitches and ideas to hi@exitfive.com
Join the Exit Five Newsletter here: https://www.exitfive.com/newsletter
Check out the Exit Five job board: https://jobs.exitfive.com/
Become an Exit Five member: https://community.exitfive.com/checkout/exit-five-membership
***
Today’s episode is brought to you by Walnut.
Why are we pouring all this effort into marketing just to push buyers to a “request a demo” or “contact sales” button?
Come on, today’s buyers don’t want to talk to sales right away. They want to explore your product themselves, see how it works, and understand its value before booking a meeting.
That’s where Walnut comes in.
Walnut empowers marketers and GTM teams to create interactive, self-guided product experiences in minutes. Embed these experiences on your site, in emails, or anywhere in your funnel to let buyers engage on their terms, from awareness to close and beyond.
That's the beauty of Walnut - you're getting a platform that your sales and CS colleagues can use to showcase the product too.
And the best part? You get real intent data—see which features prospects love, where they drop off, and what’s actually driving pipeline. Demo Qualified Leads are the new MQL.
Over 500 companies, like Adobe and NetApp, use Walnut to drive 2-3x higher website conversion rates and 7 figures in pipeline on a yearly basis. So do you want to drive more leads, shorten sales cycles, and actually show your product instead of hiding it behind another typical B2B CTA?
Go check out Walnut.io. And if you tell them Dave from Exit 5 sent you, they'll build out your first demo for free!