Why Product Marketing only lives (and dies) in B2B tech with Garrett Jestice

Product marketing is marketing at it's purest form (not our words) —but only if we redefine what marketing actually means. Garrett Jestice, founder of Prelude, explains why tech companies get marketing backwards, how AI shifts risk from building to selling, and why messy go-to-market isn't a channel problem—it's a foundational problem. We dive into the CPG vs. SaaS marketing divide, why founders don't get PMM, and the brutal truth about connecting your work to revenue. Spoiler: If you can't explain who you're selling to and why, more ads won't save you.

More from this convo...

• Why product marketers are the "purest form of marketing" (but tech ruined it) •

• The CPG lesson that every SaaS company needs to learn •

• How AI is making "can we build it?" irrelevant •

• Why your messy GTM isn't a lead problem—it's a foundation problem •

• The Cheerios brand manager approach to product marketing •

• How tech companies segmented marketing into irrelevance •

• The brutal truth about connecting PMM work to revenue • Why early-stage companies are PMM paradise •

• The "small wins" strategy for proving PMM value • How to sell yourself internally (when founders don't get it) •

• Why more ads won't fix your broken positioning

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction & First Redheaded Guest

01:00 Guest Introduction: Garrett Jestice, Prelude Founder

02:00 The Big Question: Are Product Marketers Actually Marketers?

02:30 "Purest Form of Marketers" But Not Today's Definition

03:00 The CPG Background: Cheerios at General Mills

04:00 Brand Managers as General Managers

04:30 CPG vs. Tech: Where the Real Risk Lives

05:00 AI Shifting Risk from Building to Selling

06:00 The Minneapolis Connection

07:00 Physical Products vs. Digital "Ones and Zeros"

09:00 The Segmentation Problem in Tech Marketing

11:00 Product Team vs. Marketing Team Divide

13:00 Why Founders Don't Understand PMM

15:00 The Language Barrier with Engineering Founders

17:00 Building in Public & Personal Branding

19:00 Rapid Fire Round Begins

21:00 Worst Marketing Advice Stories

23:00 Budget Allocation Debates

25:00 The AI Hype Cycle Discussion

27:00 Personal Branding for PMMs

29:00 The Newsletter Renaissance

31:00 SEO in the AI Age

33:00 Career Journey: CPG to SaaS

35:00 Founding Prelude Agency

37:00 Early-Stage Company Focus

39:00 The Foundation Problem in GTM

41:00 Working with Founders Who Don't Get It

43:00 Getting Wins in Their Language (Revenue)

45:00 Connecting PMM Work to Revenue

47:00 Small Wins Strategy

49:00 Messy GTM Execution Fix

50:00 Channels vs. Foundations

51:00 How to Sell Consulting Internally

52:00 Closing & Where to Find Garrett

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