Description
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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