How to Use Launch Tiers to Align PM with GTM Team

👋 Hey PMMs, Save this guide by Yi Lin Pei: 📌 Product Release vs Product Launch vs GTM: "PMs and PMMs have always disagreed over launches vs. releases. Now, with AI accelerating shipping, that line is about to get even messier. What do I mean? First, let’s start with defining the terms: ✅ Release → The delivery of a product or feature. Shipped from an engineering perspective. A release can happen without a launch. ✅ Product Launch → A type of GTM that introduces new features or products to the market to drive revenue, win rate, and adoption. Marketing-driven. Doesn’t have to be tied to a release. ✅ GTM → The comprehensive plan a business uses to reach its market, sell products/services, and hit revenue goals. Launches are just one piece of it. — With AI and agile shipping, the traditional way of pegging every launch to a release schedule just doesn’t make sense anymore. Here’s where I see it going (and where it makes more sense): 1️⃣ Fewer, bigger marketing moments:  Shopify, HubSpot, and others already do this, so think bi‑annual or quarterly “editions” that bundle multiple releases into one narrative. This lets PMMs pool resources for bigger impact instead of spreading thin. 2️⃣ Shift from reactive launches to always‑on GTM: This means not treating every new feature like a standalone launch. Build a regular marketing cadence that becomes the operating system: --> Monthly product updates and weekly release notes --> Automated email journeys that introduce new + existing features based on user behavior --> Regular webinars or workshops tying features into a consistent product story The result will be a cohesive narrative that doesn’t change every time something ships, with big launches layered in as spikes. Of course, this is nothing new, but it's worth repeating and point out. – Because... right now, a lot of teams are in the messy middle.. and after speaking to dozens of companies, I realized even the best companies are figuring out how to adapt. Being a PMM in this environment means staying agile, focusing on why you’re doing something, and building context‑specific systems that work for your company, and of communicating your plan to PMs so they understand this rationale( and not that you don't want to launch their features there and then). I’ve been helping several startups through this shift in the past few months. While it’s still early to say, so far, re-adjusting the launch strategy and process has made launches easier to manager and resulted in stronger PM–PMM trust." -- 👋 P.S. What's your take PMMs? Make sure you give Yi Lin Pei a follow btw!

Great insight on the differences between product release, Go To Market (GTM) and product launch, even though they're closely related. #pmm

Product Marketing is the most misunderstood role in tech. Companies hire PMMs without truly defining what success looks like, then wonder why impact feels diluted. PMs build the product; PMMs build the story, positioning, and path to market. Yet too often, PMMs become “Swiss Army knives” — doing everything, owning nothing. When orgs confuse activity with strategy, Product Marketing becomes executional instead of transformational. The best companies know the clarity of role is what turns Product Marketing from support into a growth engine. #ProductMarketing #GoToMarket #B2BStrategy #TechLeadership #ProductManagement #PMM #B2B_Marketing

Product launches don't fail because of bad messaging. They fail because PMMs are building on guesswork. Product Marketing gets garbage inputs: 👉 Research scattered 👉 Roadmaps stale 👉 ‘Product Strategy’ buried in 40 comment threads Then comes the brief: ‘It’s time to launch! Turn this into a killer GTM.’ So you play detective - stitching fragments, making guesses. The best marketing can’t save a launch built on incomplete context. ❌ You can’t position what you don’t understand. ❌ You can’t message what you can’t see. This is where Miro changes the game. It’s the platform where product and product marketing actually work together on launches. Where alignment isn’t a meeting - it’s built into the workflow. ✅ Research centralized and visible ✅ Roadmaps alive and updated in real time ✅ Context accessible in a few clicks When you see the customer insights that drove the decision. When you understand the trade-offs that shaped the roadmap. When you know what got deprioritized and why… You're not guessing anymore. You're building a launch on solid ground. What's your take? (If context is the missing ingredient in your GTM, Miro will help you find it: http://miro.pxf.io/mOm42y) 

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐬. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 – 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞 They share the same initials — 𝐏𝐌 — and often, the same meeting invites. But the 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 (𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭) and the 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 (𝐏𝐌𝐌) play 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 in building successful products. Think of it this way The 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 creates the product. The 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 creates the story. Here’s how they differ — and where they align. 1️⃣ Core Focus Product Manager (PM): Defines 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 to build and 𝘸𝘩𝘺. Product Marketing Manager (PMM): Defines 𝘩𝘰𝘸 to position it and 𝘸𝘩𝘰 to reach. 🎯 PMs craft the product’s reality. PMMs craft its perception. 2️⃣ Responsibilities PM: Problem discovery, prioritization, roadmap ownership, coordination with engineering and design. PMM: Messaging, market positioning, go-to-market strategy, customer communication, and launch success. 🧩 The PM ensures the product works. The PMM ensures the world understands 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴. 3️⃣ Metrics of Success PM: Product adoption, retention, feature engagement, user satisfaction. PMM: Awareness, activation, conversion, brand perception, and market share. 📊 PMs measure 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦. PMMs measure 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭. 4️⃣ Collaboration Points They meet at critical junctions — during launches, messaging alignment, and feedback loops. A strong PM–PMM partnership ensures the product vision is carried 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐫𝐝. 🤝 It’s the perfect blend of 𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. 5️⃣ The Big Picture In high-performing organizations, 𝐏𝐌𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐌𝐌𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬. One shapes the solution; the other shapes the story. And together, they make the product both 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥. 💬 How does your organization balance the roles of PM and PMM? Do they operate separately or in sync? #ProductManagement #ProductMarketing #GoToMarket #ProductLaunch #ProductLeadership #Strategy #DigitalTransformation #PMM #ProductManager

New product builders treat product-market fit like a finish line. But here's what they are missing: PMF isn't a single milestone. It's one journey after another. Each time you seem to have achieved one, you auto-enroll yourself in the pursuit of another one. For example, getting from zero to one is its own PMF journey. It has its set of challenges, like tight budgets, micro-pivots, and fickle org structures. But going from say, one million to ten million, is an entirely different challenge. You restart a new PMF journey for a different set of dynamics. You can have PMF for one stage and lack it entirely for the next. Ex: Asana launched in 2011 with a pure product-led growth model. Freemium from day one. Small teams could sign up, find value fast, and spread it across their organization. When they hit a certain scale, that was a sniff of PMF cycle 1. Later on, they decided to amp up their upmarket presence. But enterprise isn't just a bigger version of the same motion. It required different product features like security and compliance. It required different sales processes. It required different customer success models. They had to build what they called an Enterprise Readiness Squad, pulling together product, engineering, legal, and sales just to make the transition work. They were starting from zero again in a lot of ways. That was PMF Cycle 2. By the way, the upmarket trajectory is just one example. There are other PMF cycles as well: → Going to a new geography means relearning local buyer behavior. → Launching a secondary product means proving value all over again. → Going after an adjacent industry after an acquisition means earning trust with a segment that has different pain points. The list goes on. That's why PMF isn't a checkbox. Moreover, while you are in one cycle, you could suddenly lose PMF due to external factors. Just like how AI wiped out entire categories of SaaS tools that relied on manual workflows, now automated by LLMs. ❌ Asking "Have you achieved PMF?" ✅ Asking: "Which PMF journey are you on right now?"

Most PMs fail to have a tight grip on their roadmaps on three seemingly simple concepts: Table stakes, differentiators, and focus. -> The Real Job of a Product Manager Most PMs are told to “be commercial” or “think strategically”, but the guidance on how to do that is usually blurry. It helps to structure your roadmap on these three dimensions, but specifically, table stakes and differentiators are something most PMs never learned. 1. Table Stakes: The Price of Admission Table stakes aren’t exciting, but without them, you aren’t even in the game. They’re the bare minimum your market expects, and they shift over time, especially in dynamic spaces like SaaS or AI, where today’s “wow” is tomorrow’s "must-have". Nail your basics first, or risk losing product-market fit altogether. Calmly, relentlessly keep asking: What does the market expect next year, not just this quarter? Where does our product miss those expectations? In what order should we close the gap, prioritizing high-impact/low-cost wins? 2. Differentiators: Why Anyone Should Care Differentiators get you chosen instead of ignored. They’re the specific solutions you deliver better than anyone else, with measurable business impact. The trick is choosing one and mastering it - don’t dilute your story or confuse customers with a buffet of half-baked “special” features. A commercial PM: * Finds the recurring, growing ICP pains worth solving. * Measures their current coverage of those needs honestly. * Crafts a clear business case, rooted in evidence, for every differentiator they plan to build or sunset. This is how growth and marketing teams win with conversion, retention, and upsell, because customers can recognize what’s actually different and valuable. A smart roadmap with these areas covered fits on one slide, is aligned privately before it ever goes public, and frames every initiative in terms of business impact. Communicate in ranges rather than absolute numbers; be honest about uncertainty, and always lead with the problem, not just the solution. An in-depth article has now been published on my Substack. #productledgrowth #productmanagement

I came from a finance background, and that was key to helping me drive impact as a PM. This is a great video/article from Leah Tharin on how to become a commercial PM.

𝗕𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱. Unavoidable, but 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 to create momentum rather than something that simply holds you down (or back). In the fast-paced world of marketing, bottlenecks can hinder progress and stifle creativity. But 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘄𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. Agile Marketing empowers teams to streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and ensure marketing is never the bottleneck. By adopting Agile principles, we work smarter, not harder, and align marketing efforts with broader business goals. AgileSherpas | Accelerating Marketing Results with Scalable Agility is bringing these benefits forward in broader ways through co-authoring the Marketing with Agility Competency with SAFe by Scaled Agile, Inc. 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘥? 📅 Join Andrea Fryrear, Monica Georgieff, Elizabeth Venter-Botha, and Andrew Sales at next Tuesday's LinkedIn Live to dive deeper (🔗 LINK IN THE COMMENTS 💬) 𝗗𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗸! #AgileMarketing #TheoryOfConstraints #Webinar

🌐 The Future of Product Management Starts With Digital Presence In today’s landscape, having a strong online presence isn’t optional — it’s foundational. Whether you're building a website, app, or SaaS product, your digital footprint becomes the first point of credibility, interaction, and growth. Here’s why product leaders are putting web + mobile + SaaS front and center: -Your digital presence is your operating system >It’s not just a storefront; it's where your product lives, breathes, and evolves. All feature decisions, user feedback, and growth plans revolve around how your product works online. -Users expect seamless transitions >Many users start on web, shift to app, then use features inside SaaS environments. A cohesive experience across platforms is non-negotiable. -Investors and partners look online first >Before a pitch, they’ll evaluate your digital presence. If your website, app, or SaaS interface looks half-baked, trust is hard to earn. -Scale demands modular design >To grow, you need systems that work across web, app, and SaaS contexts — reusing components, design systems, and logic. -Continuous product evolution happens in the wild >Your product must evolve based on how real users interact with it. That evolution has to happen online, iteratively, consistently. Building with web + apps + SaaS in mind from Day 0 isn’t an edge — it’s the expectation. 👉 Read the full blog here: The Future of Product Management: https://lnkd.in/dgU4uP5i 📅 Want your digital presence to be advanced, coherent, and built for scale? Book a free consultation call: https://lnkd.in/dv5ekTMN