The work isn’t an offsite. It isn’t a shared Slack channel or a new SLA doc. It’s the language sitting in your CRM fields. [AKA your core funnel data model]

I wrote a while back about deal sources and why naming them after departments wrecks alignment. That post covered the what. Four buckets, no department names, tipping points instead of credit.

This one is the why, and the how.

It’s also the argument that got me into the room where the board talks about growth. Those two things turn out to be the same problem. The teams that fight over attribution are usually the same teams whose marketing leaders are never asked about strategic commercial growth.

The buckets are the easy part. The hard part is the mindset shift that has to happen before them, and the RevOps work that has to happen after.

The First Question Most Teams Ask [Because they were conditioned to]

Where did this lead come from?

Paid search. Organic. Events. Outbound.

It feels like the responsible question. You have a dashboard, you have sources, you can point at a number and say that channel is working. Budget conversations get easier for performance marketing (before the dark social and zero-click content era).

Channel is a very internal way of thinking. It’s not a customer way of thinking.

Why Channel Can’t Answer It

Here’s the part that stings…channel doesn’t tell you anything about action.

If you get a lead and it says paid search, what does that mean? What did the prospect actually do?

Do you know? Can you answer that?

Now try it with organic. Try it with an offline source. You can’t answer the question. Most data models sometimes capture the action but not consistently. That’s why it doesn’t work.

And I’m NOT saying channel data doesn’t matter. It’s required. If you’re a manager or a senior manager, and honestly some directors too, that’s exactly the data you need to do your job.

It’s just not the first question you should focus on. It’s the fourth or fifth.

The first question is “what did the buyer do?”. Not what channel pushed them to do something. What did they DO.

Did they fill out a form? Did they scan a QR code at our booth. Did they do six small things that add up to something?

Channel is internal, selfish-focused of the organization. It tells you who to give credit to. It doesn’t tell you who to go talk to.

What a Lead Actually Is

Try this definition instead. A lead is a person who is worthy of some time bound pursuit.

That’s it. Somebody did something that tipped their hand, and now they’re worth your sales team’s very expensive time for a defined window.

Paul Stansik calls this building a big pile of maybes. A maybe is someone who just did something that means they might be open to talking about buying your thing. I like that framing because it’s honest about the odds.

You’re spending a huge share of your budget on a sales and marketing team. Those people have discretion over their time. So how are they spending it?

They should be spending it on people who took a recent action that suggests they’d take the call.

You can’t route sales time off a channel label. You can route it off an action.

Why This Elevates You

There’s a second benefit here, and it’s the one I actually care about.

Too many marketers get pigeonholed into “that’s cute what you’re doing over there, but it’s just marketing.” The department of shapes and colors. Nibbling around the edges of what it takes to grow a company.

I asked my operating partner at Parker Gale, who happens to be Paul Stansik, recently what he thought CMOs do.

Your job is to own the pipeline creation number.

That’s the whole answer. Not run campaigns. Own the number from all channels, actions, and sources!

When your investors tell you that, it’s a different way of working. It’s a different way of thinking about your career. I came up in demand gen, so that is my first instinct, but you also need to know how to build a brand and increase awareness with a message that actually resonates.

I made that shift at Refine Labs, and it catapulted my career, my reputation, and honestly my confidence. Not because I picked up a new tactic. Because I changed how I reported and who I was reporting to.

Sales leaders and CEOs. People outside the marketing department.

Here’s the mechanical reason it works. If you have a CEO, an investor, or a board, and everybody does, you have to talk to them in language they understand.

Nobody outside of marketing understands channels and the nuances inside each channel. No one gets it. Don’t bother explaining it to them unless they ask.

The financial model they’re running in their head every month has no cell in it for organic traffic. None. What it has is pipeline creation, and maybe a line for the leads that lead to pipeline creation.

That’s the whole model.

So if you’re unwilling to instrument your part of the business around the things that model cares about, you’ll stay right where you are. That’s just marketing.

One key thing I’ll point out is at OpenBrand, I own the total new booking pipeline, from all sources and for new logo & upsell. This immediately drives alignment between Tim, our Chief Commercial Officer, and me. There is no well the website sources this, but prospecting fell behind. It’s about what we can do together to achieve a better yield with the resources we collectively have. PLUS, our incentives are aligned. We are bonused on the same business KPIs (more on that in a different post).

The Post-it Note

Let’s say you buy all of that. What do you do Monday?

The mindset shift isn’t the hard part for leadership. It can be harder for individual contributors. Most companies can make it in a couple of months with some change to their reporting and basic changes to their underlying infrastructure.

The infrastructure bit is what scares people. You can’t do this without touching RevOps, and plenty of marketers have never gone near it. Afraid to put their hand on the hot stove.

Turn it up to 500 and put your hand on it. That’s my advice.

Step 1. Audit what you currently track.

Not what you wish you tracked. What is in there right now. Have someone do it for you if this isn’t your skill set.

Write down five things:

• Every place someone can convert today

• What fields you use to track lead creation, form fills, prospecting, inbound email, and channel

• How you currently track sources

• Whether you have a scoring model, and how it actually works

• What sales does when they want to prospect something. The real workflow, not the documented one.

Most people genuinely don’t know the answers. That’s not a knock. You’ll create value for the organization just by writing it down, before you change a single field.

Step 2. Write the hypothesis.

What should qualify? What do we hypothesize sales want to spend their time on?

It’s a hypothesis. You’re allowed to be wrong. Write it down anyway.

If you want to be rigorous about it and have decent data, Kaylee Edmondson wrote a great piece on pulling your historical deal data into Clay to find which signals actually correlate for your business, instead of the standard ones everybody else is using.

If you don’t have the resources for that analysis, ask your team what they think and use your gut. A gut hypothesis you can test beats a perfect analysis you never run.

Step 3. Install the infrastructure.

Good news. You’re probably tracking most of this already. It’s just in the wrong order and the wrong hierarchy in your reporting.

So you re-architect. Or you find you’re tracking it for some things and not all things, which is usually where I land.

Take the data model and color it. Green, we have this. Red, we don’t. Yellow, we have it on some things but not everything.

That exercise takes an afternoon, and it tells you exactly how big the project is.

(I have never met a CRM I didn’t immediately want to change. Known personality flaw.)

Step 4. Define and document.

This is the hardest step. It’s also the one that drives alignment, education, and change management. Everything before it is just fields.

You have to do it at two levels, because the audiences are different.

At the executive level, nobody cares what the fields look like. Your CEO does not care what the fields look like. They care how I’m going to report on what we do every week, how he’ll know if it’s going up or down, and what good and bad look like.

At the rep ops and marketing level, you need the detailed data model. I trained my whole marketing team on ours.

I don’t care if you don’t personally own a pipeline number. Our team does. Everybody needs to know how the funnel reporting works.

Here’s a snippet of more in-detailed steps I wrote to document our entire process

Final Thoughts

Some people get into marketing because you can’t do arts and crafts as an adult, and this is the closest thing to arts and crafts the corporate world has. I get it. Some of that work is the fun part.

Other people like the math. The strategy. The behavior change problem of finding, getting, and keeping a customer.

If that’s you, you’ll have to change how you think and how you talk. You can still do all the marketing shit you love. It just has to be in service of getting people to take actions that make them worth a salesperson’s time.

Very few marketing leaders do the work of translating what they do into language their sales leader and their CEO can understand. That’s the gap. It isn’t a relationship problem, and it won’t get solved in a meeting.

You don’t start working as a team until you’re all speaking the same language.

Usual caveat, because it always depends. This assumes you have a sales team with real discretion over their time. If you’re running self-serve and the product does the qualifying, your version of this looks different.

It’s not sexy. But if you want to level up and actually be a revenue leader, this is where I’d start.

P.S. If you run the Step 1 audit and find your tracking is already clean and correctly ordered, please tell me. I’ve never seen it ;)

How does that solve where to move investment or what programs to cut? It doesn’t. unless your just fighting for department budget but usually that doesn’t drive more revenue.

Instead of just talking about the issues and why they matter, which is helpful at a high level, I will also share how I’ve architected our sources at OpenBrand and why. I just love tactical example content!

The Norm

Most teams set up deal sources by department or names that mean department. Marketing, Sales, SDR, Partner. Or something that has been increasingly popular with VC companies, the Four funnel model. [AE, SDR (combo of outbound and scoring prospecting), Demos, Partner.

On the surface, it makes sense. You can assign ownership, build dashboards, map budgets, and show where pipeline is “coming from.”

But here’s how that actually plays out…it drive internal incentives to not be aligned and causes people to play the blame game and do whatever is needed to exploit your definitions. It’s human nature.

It looks clean in the CRM, but it’s chaos in real life.

This philosophy in internal focused and not customer focused. It doesn’t reflect how a deal actually starts or what triggered action. It give you credit, not insights to action. And that’s the problem — it reinforce silos instead of showing how the go-to-market engine really works together. Everyone knows the journey isn’t linear.

Why It Doesn’t Work

Language and definitions are more important than you might think.

That language changes how people behave.

And because the data’s framed around ownership, not buyer behavior, it tells you nothing about how or why a deal came into the funnel. The same event could look like a marketing win in one view and a sales win in another.

The truth is, it’s just recoding a moment. A tipping point.

That’s what most teams miss. It keeps you arguing about source labels instead of understanding how to replicate what’s actually working.

What To Do Instead

Context - OpenBrand runs a true ABM GTM strategy so all departments need to be aligned on goals and incentives.

Here’s a small but powerful shift we made that changed that dynamic completely.

Our deal sources (and contact conversion sources) don’t have department names. ON PURPOSE.

We only use four buckets:

1. Prospecting

2. Handraisers

3. Referrals

4. Scored Leads

Then we layer on sub details like the event, offer type, or campaign names. Because sales can drive hand raisers and marketing campaign can drive prospecting that converts.

That’s it.

And before you roll your eyes — yes, I know it sounds like departments. Isn’t prospecting = sales, and hand raisers + Scored leads + Marketing?

No, let me show you with an example.

Prospecting is usually sales-led, sure.
Handraisers can come from anywhere — website, Slack, LinkedIn DMs, customer intros.
Referrals can be internal, partner, customer, you name it.
Scored leads are signals that show intent, not marketing MQL fluff. (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd party signals)

Here’s the key:

We define a contact conversion sources (notice I didn’t use the term lead source) and deal sources at tipping points the moment that triggered outreach to that account.

There are other fields that track first touch and last touch. That small distinction changes how your GTM team sees the funnel.

Let’s use events as an example because that’s where attribution fights love to live.

Everyone loves to say “events are marketing.” Wrong, depends on the event strategy and MORE importantly how the customer engages.

• Events can create handraisers – Say you have a booth and you book a demo. Awesome!

• They can feed your scoring model – attended an event or webinar and that pushed them over a threshold.

• They can be pure prospecting – AE’s target key contacts to set up meetings at the event or meet people at the event and follow-up after and secure the meeting.

All of these dynamics can happen at the same event. Which is why you want to know these details.

It all depends on how you work the event. Prep the event. Covert the event for marketing and sales.

Here’s a the actual sources that might make this more sense for a recent event we attended.

Sales booked a meet at the event or after
→ Prospecting – Event – [Event Name]

If someone scanned a QR code for our special offer or filled out a sales request form at the event?
→ Handraiser – Event – [Event Name]

If they engaged with enablement content and later got scored with other data points
→ Scored Lead – Event – [Event Name]

Same event. Three different tipping points.

Here’s exactly what we did for new logo. It was different for Upsell but I have to keep something secret right?

But what about event ROI? Events stay as a sub source, so you can analyze influence and pipeline impact across systems regardless of department. That’s the win!

Another win…we have a decent amount of this automated!

Final Thoughts

Now you have one shared view of how the entire GTM team contributes to pipeline.

This structure forces better conversations. It connects investment to customer/prospect outcomes.
And it helps you budget around what’s actually working — not who gets credit. Maybe we learn we do less marketing investment at specific events and send more sales reps.

How you define “deal source” shapes how your GTM team aligns, plans, and scales. It seems tedious and in the weeds but I’d argue that weeds matter.

That’s my soapbox for today:
Stop labeling deals by department.
Start labeling them by tipping point.

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I thought I’d share 20 things that are authentically me. Why? It felt fun and I don’t like those 20 things I’ve learned or 20 lessons type posts. They feel too forced to me.

But first, here’s some data because that’s on brand for me.

I plateaued around 15k and sat there for awhile and you can see in the last year it been pretty slow growth. I added 4,000 followers in a little over a year. LOOKOUT for my next newsletter for how to hack the algorithm and course! (kidding obviously).

I got used to writing, which I don’t really like, and posting consistently and I learned I loved meeting people, helping people, and building my network. That’s why I continue to do it.

The Strategy

I have no strategy, no goals, and am not motivated by random “influencer” pay…so the next question I asked myself is why am I still growing (slowly)?

The answer - authenticity and tactical advice.

I write what I want, when I want, usually about something I think someone can learn from or apply in their role. Even with this SubStack, it’s a little all over the place and I don’t write a lot (because I don’t usually enjoy it so I have to really want to say something to type the words on the screen).

20 Random Things About Me

Buckle up, these are random. A mix of work things and life things. It was really the first things that popped in my head, in no particular order.

1. I’m on a golf league and my dad started teaching me as soon as I could sing a club.

   

2. Not following process is the easiest way to irritate me (work or personal).

3. I learned to wakeboard when we moved to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Catching an edge hurts a lot more now.

   

4. You are either thread in slack or you don’t. There’s no in between. I’m team threads.

5. We raise all our own chicken for the year. Butcher and process ourselves on our mini-farm (Waterfall Farms).

   

6. I’m a VP of marketing but not strong in design (ask my team).

7. This year I reset my habits and now workout 4 times/week (non negotiable) now.

8. I only enjoy small conferences. You loose me at over 1000 people.

   

9. I never met a CRM that was clean and I didn’t want to change. I’m very passionate about RevOps.

10. I got to bed by 8:30pm every night. 10pm is late on the weekends for me. You should see my sleep stats.

11. I’ve wanted a mid-90s truck for a few years. I finally found one I liked on Facebook Marketplace. Named her Jolene. She’s my new personality.

    

12. I register for webinar with no intent to ever be on live. I usually watch about 50% i register for so chill out on the live attendee rate.

13. I reach out to people for advice all the time. Mainly dm’s in Slack or LinkedIn. It’s a growth hack.

14. I always have food network or HGTV on in the background from 6-8pm. TV you don’t have to really pay attention too. It’s on right now while I’m writing this on the coach.

    

15. My husband taught me how to wake surf last year. It hurts less when you fall but less adrenaline rush.

16. I have two dogs. Rigs loves naps and slow walks. Wesley loves to chase turkeys, tree’ing squirrels and pretending he is a large guard dog.

17. For GTM advice…it ALWAYS depends. Business context matters. So If you ask me for advise, I always respond with questions.

18. I’m trying to be a reader but it’s not going well. Finished my first book in years the other day, felt proud!

19. I think in inputs and outputs. I’m trying to channel my creative inspirations but it’s a work in progress.

20. I love country concerts and baking sourdough. 🤠

    

Thanks for reading. This one was fun. I hope you got to know me more.

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P.S. What ChatGPT Thinks is “Authentically Me”

What chat said was authentically me according to my LinkedIn…

• Marketing should tie directly to business impact, not vanity metrics.

• You believe in buyer-first marketing — designing everything around how buyers actually evaluate and purchase.

• You’re consistent about making complex ideas feel simple and clear.

• You value data, but only when paired with real-world context and nuance.

• You’re open about process — sharing the behind-the-scenes work, not just outcomes.

• You lean toward frameworks and structure, but you balance them with instinct.

• You care deeply about cross-team alignment (sales, product, marketing all pulling together).

• You reject “growth hacks” in favor of sustainable GTM strategy.

• You like showing your work — breaking down what you did, why, and what you learned.

• You view brand as a trust-building function, not just a design/logo exercise.

To be honest, this was one area I was self-conscious about when stepping into a marketing leadership role. Why? Because I’d never been the person setting up product marketing foundations from scratch. I’d seen what good looked like and contributed to product marketing projects, but I hadn’t owned the function end-to-end.

Spoiler alert: that shouldn’t stop you from going after it, or dull your confidence.

I have confidence that I can learn, practice, and get shit done.

About two years ago, I made the intentional decision to sharpen my product marketing skills. I knew how essential it was, and I wanted to be a more well-rounded marketing leader.

My background is in demand gen and ops, but I wasn’t about to let my strengths hold me back from building new ones, or let a weakness stay that way.

If you want to get better at product marketing, here’s how I’d approach it:

Step 1: Learn What “Great” Looks Like

Before you can grow in any skill, you need a clear picture of where you’re headed. And that picture needs to be great, not just average.

Here’s where I started:

• I joined PMM Alliance to understand the fundamentals of product marketing and what the education curriculum was in the market.

• I learned from marketers I admired, folks with undeniable PMM skills. By learned, I mean studied what they did and consumed their content.

• I got to observe and practice in real-time while working with Victoria on The Vault, especially when it came to customer interview frameworks.

  • I wanted MJ Smith crush the Refine Labs messaging/positioning, sales deck, and sell a lot of deals. And watched her go from 0-1 at CoLab.

• I listened to podcasts and webinars from the likes of April Dunford, Andy Raskin, and Wynter on messaging, positioning, and storytelling.

There’s so much great free content out there. My advice? Don’t spend money on courses or communities until you’re ready to take action on what you’re learning.

Once I had the time and was ready I purchased the PMM Jetpack by Jason Oakley to jumpstart my efforts. (I already so many of his LinkedIn posts saved, it was an easy decision.)

Step 2: Pick Specific Areas to Focus On

“Get better at product marketing” is too broad. You need to narrow your focus so you can actually build a plan and start executing.

Here are some areas you might choose from:

• Strategic narrative

• Sales enablement

• Customer research (live interviews, Gong call reviews)

• Website content (product or industry pages)

Don’t try to do it all. Choose 1–2 skills you want to improve based on:

1. What would make the biggest impact in your current role

2. What you’ll realistically have a chance to practice

For example: if it’s unlikely you’ll get time with customers, shift your focus to internal interviews. Interview sales or support to extract insights, then turn those into a piece of sales enablement.

You still get the reps asking questions and pulling a narrative together, and you’ll end up with something like… dare I say… a one-pager. Or something else entirely. Let the research guide the output.

Step 3: Take Action + Create Something

Consuming content doesn’t build confidence. DOING THE WORK DOES (just like working out, do the reps to get the muscles)

Here’s how I got started, in this exact order:

Messaging: Homepage headline project

In my first month in a new role, I tackled our homepage headline. I followed MJ's framework (see this LinkedIn post and this follow-up), dropped everything into a Google Doc, and created 3 headline options.

After a round of team feedback, I brought it to our CEO for final input.

Decided and updated the H1 and subhead by the end of the day.

Strategic narrative: Interviews → content

I interviewed key internal stakeholders to clarify ideas and turn those into content. Real examples:

• Modeled Market Share

• Why Traditional Retail Data Falls Short

• Why OpenBrand page

These interviews created clarity, alignment, and tangible artifacts. Website updates and launches can be great forcing functions.

Sales enablement: Repositioning our product suite

We took what had been individual products and packaged them as a cohesive suite. This included:

• Renaming

• Product page updates

• New overivew pdfs and slide decks

We rolled this out to sales with fresh positioning and messaging they could actually use.

I also consistently ask for feedback on these. You can immediately tell if they are being used or not.

Website updates: Scaling once the foundation was in place

After building confidence and a baseline strategy, I started delegating and scaling. We launched new product pages and industry pages, led by the marketing team with strong fundamentals in place.

Here’s a few pages that we saw consumption and conversion from

• Why OpenBrand

• For Brands

• Economic Forecasting (new capability)

• Outdoor Power Equipment (industry pages)

Final Thoughts

You don’t need a PMM title to start building product marketing skills.

You also don’t need permission.

Start small. Pick one area. Take action. And when you’re ready, then invest in paid resources or communities to go even deeper.

The more you do it, the more confident you’ll feel.

There’s nothing groundbreaking about getting the basics right. But here’s the thing. most companies don’t actually do them well. Most people just check the box and move onto the sexier things.

In my new role I’ve been focused on setting up the right foundations building a modern tech stack. You know, the unsexy stuff: data hygiene, pipeline management, lead lifecycle tracking. The kind of things that seem so simple and obvious that people assume they’re covered—when, in reality, they’re often a complete mess.

So let’s talk about the real challenge: Not just doing the basics, but doing them well. And more importantly, customizing them for your business so they actually drive impact.

Step 1: Stop Assuming the Basics Are “Handled”

I’ve seen a lot of tech stacks and worked with over 15 B2B SaaS companies in the last year. And let me tell you—what seems like common sense often isn’t common practice.

I’ll give you some context into my new role. Our Hubspot instance is newer and CLEAN. WOW! What a dream. This is so much better than walking into a disaster to untangle.

For example, we didn’t have required closed-won and closed-lost reasons. Seems like a small thing, right? But if you don’t require it, sales won’t enter it. And suddenly, you have zero visibility into why you’re actually winning or losing deals.

It’s not just about the field. The data in those fields are FAR more important. If you cannot draw any insights from the field values, then you might as well not have the field. I’ll go into this more in the next section.

The takeaway? Assume nothing. Even the most basic systems need scrutiny.

Step 2: Make Your Data Actually Usable

It’s one thing to collect data. It’s another thing to make sure it’s useful. (This might be my new moto.)

I referenced win-loss reasons, and let me tell you—if your dropdown list says “Budget,” “Timeline,” and “Not a Fit,” you might as well not track anything at all.

What changes are you going to immediately implement after reviewing a report with those values?

At OpenBrand, we got specific. We tailored our reasons to reflect the nuances of our market—things like “Category Coverage” (because certain industries care more about specific sub-categories) or “Contract Consolidation” (because we’re rolling multiple contracts into one for a more streamlined billing process for our customers).

The point? Customizing your data fields means your team can actually do something with the insights.

Step 3: Build for Scale, Not Just Today

It’s tempting to throw in some quick fixes and call it good. But good luck dealing with the mess six months from now when your company grows and your systems can’t keep up.

I took a future-proofing approach from day one. For example, I didn’t just tweak our lead lifecycle in HubSpot—I built it with two to three years from now in mind. I thought about what sales and marketing would need when we expand into new categories and start scaling our different GTM motions.

Sure, it took more time upfront. But I guarantee we won’t be scrambling to rebuild things later.

Step 4: Get Hyper-Specific with Your Target Accounts

Our total addressable market isn’t huge. We’re not chasing 50,000 SMBs—we’re going after highly valuable and big accounts. That means every single touchpoint needs to be relevant, and we have to be focused on quality over quantity.

So instead of relying on generic firmographic data from an enrichment tool, we created our own segmentation fields inside HubSpot. We built custom account types, category groupings, and have specific product and industry details that an enrichment tool won’t have.

We did this because that’s what our team actually needs to prioritize outreach and drive revenue.

That’s what they actually need to run quick lists and filter their pipelines.

This is where people go wrong with ICP definitions. They treat it as a static list of industry, company size, and revenue when it should be dynamic and tailored to how your business actually sells.

Follow a solid framework but customize it to fit your growth strategy and product.

Step 5: Use What You Have Before Buying More Tech

I love a good RevOps tool as much as the next person, but tech doesn’t fix bad processes.

Before I invest in any new software, I ask:

• Can I do this with what I already have?

• Have I truly maxed out my current tools?

• Will this solve a real business pain today, or am I getting it just in case?

For example, instead of buying a separate meeting scheduling and routing tool, we’re leveraging what HubSpot already provides. We’ll only upgrade if and when we hit real limitations. When that point comes, I’ll be in-market, know exactly what I need, and covert fast.

But on the flip side, some things are non-negotiable—like knowing exactly when a target account visits our website. That was an immediate must-have because it directly impacts sales engagement and pipeline.

The Bottom Line

You don’t need to do everything. You just need to do the right things—and do them well. (That’s what everyone says.) It’s simple but NOT straightforward.

So before you run off and buy another tool or revamp your lead funnel for the tenth time, ask yourself:

• Are our fundamentals actually solid?

• Can we use the data we’re collecting?

• Are we future-proofing our systems, or just patching holes?

The best RevOps strategies aren’t about bells and whistles. They’re about getting the foundations right, making them work for your business, and scaling intelligently.

And if you’re still tracking generic chatGPT win-loss reason, we need to talk.

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The last two roles I landed, which were Director+ level, I didn’t get there through my resume or applying for a job.

I got them through an introduction based on people I have worked with in the past, people I have helped, and my reputation. As you progress into leadership roles this becomes the norm and you’ll see fewer of these roles posted.

In fact, the new role I landed never posted the job.

How to get a network

If you are not investing in your network, you should. There’s really no excuse, no matter your job. Your network isn’t just there when you need a job. They can help you get untuck, give feedback, relate to situations you are dealing with, and mentor you. The benefits outweigh the work of creating and nurturing your network.

Andrea Lencher-Vecker posted about this recently, I agree with her. If you fail to network, you put yourself at risk (no matter how talented you are).

Treat building your network like a side hustle. It takes time to build. I’ve spent the last 5 years focused on building my network.

Ideas to build and scale your network:

• Connect with old co-workers and offer to connect over coffee or lunch (in-person or remote)

• Make 30 new connections per week on LinkedIn

• Ask your current network who else should you connect with based on X topic or goal

  • Referrals to new people is a great flywheel to scale who you know

• Make a list of people you want in your network and introduce yourself

• Join a few communities and PARTICIPATE. Offer your expertise and try to connect with people 1:1 or in small groups.

• Attend local networking groups

You need to nurture and build trust in your network. This is consistent work but you also get value out of this work.

Ideas to nurture your network:

• Create and share content on social, newsletter, your own notion site, etc.

• Connect people together inside your network. “Hey, you should talk to X about Y”

  • Sam Kuehnle is a master connector.

• Ask for feedback on things you are working on AND repay the favor

• If anyone asks for something from you, do it (even when you might not want to)

• Ask for a meeting and offer coffee or lunch

There are plenty of other ideas but this list should get you started!

How to activate your network

If you are nurturing your network, this will be faster and easier. If not, this may take a little more time.

The network multiplier is WHY a nurtured network can be so helpful and quickly speed up the process of talking to hiring managers.

Here’s what I recommend:

1. Reached out to 5 - 6 people and let them know I am starting to look for another role

   1. Tell them what you are looking for, share your About You page, and ask them to keep their ears open for you.

   2. Ask them to be introduced to any leaders they respect but aren’t hiring or any connections they might have with recruiters, PE or VC firms, etc.

   3. Wait a few weeks and reach out to 5 - 6 more people. Repeat!

2. Set up job alerts for roles that fit your criteria

   1. Understand the market for those roles. Watch what type of companies are hiring and read each job description to see nuances.

   2. If you find a role posted, immediately connect with the hiring manager and recruiter. First look for mutual connections. It is always best to get introduced from someone they know and trust.

   3. If you don’t have any connections with anyone at the company, send an outbound message to the hiring manager first and then the recruiter. Be sure this is HIGHLY personalized and it shows you did your research. Of course link your About You page.

      1. Pro-tip: Use video, most don’t and you’ll stand out.

3. Review your connections and ask for introductions into a second degree connection.

   1. Be proactive about getting new people into your network who are a high probability to know companies and people who might be hiring or thinking of hiring.

   2. Reach out to previous recruiters you’ve talked to. People forget this but recruiters you have a relationship or connection with can be a gold mind.

Booking Calls

You will need to be proactive here. If you get introduced to someone, follow-up immediately and make it easy to schedule a call with you. Use a free calendly link so you don’t have to waste time going back and forth.

If you get introduced to someone not in HR, usually they will do a quick screening call or immediately schedule with someone on their team. AKA you go straight to the front of the line.

Ensure you prepare for this call. Share you About You page ahead of time with a few call outs. Prep 5 - 7focused questions.

I cannot enforce this enough but you need to SHOW UP AND SHOW OUT in these calls. This means lead with confidence, be curious, be specific when talking about yourself or answering their questions. Be clear on what you are looking for.

Finally ask for next steps and follow-up. Send a thank you note.

Bonus: Reach out to someone else on the team about the role. This you can deploy if they mentioned someone else on the team or who this role would be working closely with. This proactive outreach MUST be tailored to what you learned about the company and role.

Final Thoughts

That’s the end of the three-part series on how to land your next role. I wrote this to help others and share what worked for me.

Here’s a few great tips about job hunting from Kyle Lacy, CMO at Jellyfish.

See you soon for my next post. No topic yet but it will be about GTM and my journey of learning, testing, failing, and winging it!

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“We can cut the basics and jump into the company details.”

“Wow, this is very impressive.”

These are all quotes from CEO’s from intro or exploratory calls I had.

You can stand out and differentiate by creating an “about you” page.

In part 1, I covered how to figure out what you want in your next role and set guardrails. Next, you need to market yourself uniquely. There’s truth in the old saying, “It’s not what you know, but who you know”. Now, you need both and proof to land a solid role.

It’s what you know, who you know, and how you showcase your value.

Let’s get into this “about you” page concept. I’ll show you how to flip the script on the traditional resume to stand out and how you can, too.

What is an About You page?

The name needs some work, but that’s what I’ve called it until this point.

About You Page = A resource that someone can consume that immediately conveys whether you are a potential high fit for a role. It outlines your working style, work reputation, responsibilities, impact, and key differentiation.

I wanted to create something I could send to people I was introduced to through my network, or knew directly, that gave them WAY more information about my work and working style than you can find on LinkedIn or a resume.

How did I come up with this? I didn’t.

I thought about all the candidates I’ve interviewed for leadership roles, and there was one thing ONE late-stage candidate did that immediately impressed everyone.

She provided a pre-read to her late-stage panel interview. This Notion page included all the typical info you want to know about a candidate and usually vets in the first hiring manager interview. (Working style, marketing principles, key experiences/projects, results).

It was genius because other stakeholders needed to be educated quickly on this candidate, and she controlled the narrative. It cut down on time to cover these items in the group interview, so we had a highly productive panel interview. Talk about taking the friction out of the hiring process!

P.S. This candidate was Kaylee Edmonson when she interviewed for the VP of Marketing role at Refine Labs. She got the job. (P.S. She has a great Substack called Demand Loops, check it out)

I decided to use this as inspiration and add some things.

Components & Structure

Below is how I structured this Notion page. I thought about creating this on a website, but I knew it would slow me down, so I just decided to use Notion and ship it. I could always build it into a website later. (Yes, I purchased the domain sidneywaterfall.com just in case ;))

The order was something I played around with a lot and is really easy to change. Ultimately. I lead with my differentiation and what people say about me. Hit them with the social proof!

About Me

How to describe yourself to someone else who isn’t hiring? What are your superpowers, and how do you think about your role (or the role you want)?

I kept this section to about 200 words. I focused on how I think about GTM, how I describe myself, and my general POV on how a successful GTM team should run.

I also included a short description about me outside of work. In most of my introductory calls something from this section got brought up in the conversations.

P.S. If you want to see the whole page. Reach out and I’ll share it.

Work Reputation AKA “What people say about you”

Be sure to highlight a few quotes from various titles and choose titles that you will likely be working with directly, involved in the hiring decision, or a level above you.

I had a few, but I wanted a few new ones, so I reached out specifically to two people and made the ask.

Pro-tip: Ask for these when you leave a role so you can build them over time. I find they are more specific when you get them immediately versus a few years later.

KPI Impact

Simplify the keywords and descriptions and focus on your impact. People breeze over resumes, so give them something simple to consume to understand what you did. You can elaborate later and show the inputs you created to drive the impact.

Try to focus on quick bullets for business KPIs that apply to the roles you are targeting. You should target 3-5 metrics for each role. For each bullet, you should clearly articulate how you achieved that metric and back it up with evidence.

This section is more straightforward since it resembles the traditional resume.

Working Style

How do you work, participate, and communicate? These are important aspects of hiring anyone in any role but seem to be a checkbox item in most hiring processes.

In this section, you want to communicate your personality, working preferences, communication style, leadership style, and beliefs.

As a hiring manager, I can quickly understand how someone would work with the team, how they would integrate, and how I can make them successful if I know these things. So why not be upfront? Plus, it shows that you are self-aware (as long as it’s not a generic description).

I broke this into two sections: My personality and leadership style.

• Personality section: I highlighted my Myers Briggs personality classification. I have taken this test many times throughout my career and at different stages and always scored the same. Try it here for yourself!

• Leadership section: I highlighted four pillars of my leadership style and a brief paragraph about my experience.

Content

This section is where you can showcase your work or examples of things you created. What you highlight and input in this section will vary by experience and the roles you are targeting.

If you do not have any content or examples produced, you’ll need to create something. This could be a blog post where you outline a project or showcase your skills in a thought leadership article. There are a bunch of different things you could point to, and you should have 2 - 3 items to link to.

Remember, this doesn't have to be published. You can create something in Notion that someone can only access through the link on the page.

I realize not everyone produces their own content, but I have been for the past few years through speaking (webinars, podcasts) and writing opportunities, so that is what I highlighted. It was also a part of my role in my last two companies.

I linked in a wide variety of topics and formats that convert a range of topics so that if someone scrolling sees a topic that resonates, they can just consume that.

Tips for using an About You page:

• When someone asks for a resume, send them this instead. You can export it to a PDF and submit it for a resume as well, but I’m not sure how the ATS systems would score it.

• The best use for this is going outbound or to send once you have a connection.

  • If you are going to use this in an application you may need to add in some target keywords based on the job description.

• Share with someone and get feedback

• Ask people in the hiring process what they thought about your page

• Share the link in your thank you emails or send directly to people you have not met but will be interviewing with shortly. Don’t leave it up to HR to socialize this internally for you.

Now that you have created a resource to market yourself, it is time to activate your network. I will convert this in part 3.

P.S. How do you like this content? This is post two so there’s still a lot to work out. Leave a comment or DM me directly on LinkedIn.”

What type of grass do you like?

First, you need to decide when you are ready to start looking for another role. I won't pretend there is an easy formula or framework for this. A deep dive on this topic could be a whole post, so I’ll keep it short.

Your mind wanders and can play games with you, so here’s what I recommend:

• Write down facts about the state of the business and your observations. This helps you keep center on factual or objective statements.

• Log how frequently you feel you should leave. Review the patterns. Are the feelings related to specific tasks or one project, or are they pretty variable?

  • Pro tip: When you log this, ask yourself, “Is this a solvable problem that I can influence?”

• Understand what you are walking away from and write it down. (See a key theme here? Write it down)

• Don’t focus on potential other outcomes too much. The grass is never greener, it is just different grass.

And after you’ve done this…trust your gut!

You need to decide you are ready to walk away. If you are quietly looking but haven't made that choice, you are wasting your time (in my opinion).

Remember, the grass isn’t greener - it’s just different grass. (Now, the title of this section makes sense.)

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Defining what you want and your guardrails

The job market is very different from the last 3 to 4 years, and I want to acknowledge that many different situations spur a job search. I’m sharing my personal experience and hoping to share how people helped me and what tools and tips they shared.

I do believe that whether you are currently employed or not, you should go through this exercise to help you focus and document these things. You may not have the luxury of getting everything you want, but you should set guardrails to help you navigate this process and set non-negotiables.

That may be harsh, but it’s the reality. You’ll never get everything on your checklist and may need to bend on guardrails. At least you’ll know where you are bending prior.

6 components of a role

• Market / Industry / ICP

• Product / Sales Motion

• Company Financials / Stage

• Job Responsibilities

• People / Team

• Compensation

You should sit down and go through each of these categories and ask yourself questions about each component. This will help you narrow in on what you are truly looking for and, therefore, provide a better focus when searching for opportunities.

I’ll use myself as an example. This is literally what I have saved in my notes app. Your responses to these questions will be unique to you.

Market / Industry / ICP

• Example Questions:

  • What market characteristics are you most interested in? Competitive market, new category, niche market, large market, vertical, horizontal

  • Do you want to stay in the industry you are currently in? What other industries would apply to your experience?

  • Do you want to target companies selling to an ICP you have worked with? Are you open to other ICPs?

• My POV:

  • A company in a market that has some market share, but there is a lot of room to disrupt or increase market share. I’d prefer that versus defending or keeping market share.

  • I’m open to other industries and actually would prefer not to go to the martech Saas company but it is not off the table. The product will drive my decision here.

  • I prefer not to go to a company that sells to B2B marketers unless I am obsessed with the product. I want a new challenge and want to apply the new skills I’ve learned to another ICP. I do not have a specific ICP in mind, but I am keeping an open mind.

Product / Sales Motion

• Example Questions:

  • What type of products or solution sets are you comfortable with? Point solutions, True platform play

  • What type of product & GTM experience do you have, and what do you want to explore next? (PLG subscription, PLG Sub & trial + Sales Lead, Enterprise Sales, SaaS or Saas + Service model)

  • What selling dynamics are important to you? (ACV, Sales cycles, conversion path, land and expand model, etc.)

• My POV:

  • I am open to different types of models based on the company stage.

  • I am not the best at a true product-led motion that has a high % of its base from subscription revenue, and I’d prefer not to go to a service-based company.

  • I prefer sales-led, sales-led + PLG Trial or freemium. I am very comfortable with product + service models.

Company Financials / Stage

• Example Questions:

  • What company stage are you comfortable with and have experience in?

  • VC funded, Private Equity, or Bootstrapped?

  • Key Financial metrics to dig into (GTM Efficiency, Growth Rate trends, Gross margins, Churn, EBITA

• My POV:

  • Private Equity, bootstrapped, or public company. At my previous company, I reviewed companies GTM efficiency and it’s not great out there. I didn’t want to work for a company betting on a raise or already upside down and trying to dig their way out. I have previous experience working at all types.

  • The stage depends on the role & responsibilities a little, so here’s what I wrote down.

    • [PE or Bootstrapped] VP/SVP of Marketing role: $15m - $200m ARR (50 - 500 employees)

    • [Public or Profitable] Head of Department (Demand/Ops) Role: $400m - $1b (1000 - 5000 employees)

  • Not interested in working for a super large 10,000+ employee company

  • Profitability was a big item on my checklist

Note: You’ll get to the financial questions when you are in later rounds, but you can ask some basic questions in the early part of the process.

Here’s a LinkedIn post from Syndey Sloan I bookmarked with a detailed list of questions.

Job Responsibilities

• Example Questions:

  • What do you enjoy doing? And not doing?

  • What makes you competitive with your experience? Where do you have an advantage?

  • Do you enjoy leading a team? If so, how small or large?

  • What skills have you mastered, and what skills do you have experience in but are still working to refine?

• My POV:

  • I have strong skills in demand generation, integrated campaigns, content distribution, and operations. I have leaned into product marketing, product strategy, and GTM strategy.

  • I wanted to move away from consulting or managing multiple companies. The context shifting is a lot to manage, and I wanted to go all in with one company to truly impact the end result.

  • I prefer leading smaller teams (2 - 5 direct reports and total team sizes under 20).

  • I didn’t want to go solo, so I knew I had two options

    • 1. Leading the marketing function at a smaller company

    • 2. Leading a smaller marketing function at a larger company

People / Team

• Example Questions:

  • What type of leadership team are you looking for?

  • What are the important characteristics of people you would be working with?

  • Executive level - Is this their first time in this executive role, or do they have prior experience?

• My POV:

  • Passionate about the problem the company is solving and how it is being solved

  • A seasoned leadership team that isn’t just founding team members. Prefer at least 50% to be execs with prior experience.

  • Strong operating rhythm and structure for goal-setting

  • Preferred a CEO who is more seasoned and has experience with an exit

Note: This is the most challenging category to dig into during the interview process. You have to be really thoughtful of the questions you ask to investigate this.

Compensation

• Example Questions:

  • What is the lowest pay amount you are comfortable with?

  • What is your ideal range? Why?

  • What is the mix of sales + incentives?

  • What is most important to you from a compensation perspective?

• My POV: (I’m not sharing my actual numbers, so I’ll give you some tips)

  • Have a ballpark number and range. This question will come up. My range was a $50k difference. This way, we knew if we should even continue the process.

  • If you are open to bonuses and incentives, define the % you are comfortable with and outline different incentive structures you are open to. (Annual bonus, quarterly, custom comp plan, etc.)

  • Pro tip: Don’t just make this up based on what you are currently making and want to make. Do your research and see where the market is for the types of roles you are targeting. I contacted peers to get a feel for the current market rates and looked at job descriptions that listed ranges.

It takes serious thought and time to get as specific as possible. Once you have completed this it is time to focus on how to market yourself and activate your network (Part 2). You should create a checklist for the role and for the company. Then, you can objectively evaluate opportunities, which can help you structure your questions.

Remember, you are interviewing them. It is not a one-way street.

See you for Part 2: Marketing Yourself and Activating Your Network.

Sidney Waterfall

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P.S. Wow, I didn't realize how therapeutic writing long-form content with no one else’s objective on my own is. I honestly don’t enjoy writing, and this substack was a way for me to force it so I would get more comfortable and better. I may change my tune 15 posts from now, but this is actually enjoyable.

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