Gettin' to Market

Most product people know they're not supposed to get attached. But they do it anyway (and it rarely stops at the feature level). Nate sits down with Kelly Card, SVP of Product at ABC Fitness, to talk about what it actually looks like when a team treats their product like a pet instead of livestock. Not the obvious version (the PM who won't kill a feature), but the one that's harder...

Nate sits down with Chad Cosper, Principal Product Marketing Manager at insightsoftware and self-described Deadhead, to explore what the Grateful Dead accidentally got right about building a product people can't leave behind. They didn't set out to pioneer freemium distribution. They didn't design a community — they just created conditions and got out of the way. The taping section...

In this episode of Gettin’ to Market , Nate sits down with Steve Thompson (Senior Director, Product Marketing at insightsoftware) to talk about what really happens when your company gets acquired — and how to navigate the uncertainty without spiraling. Steve has been through three acquisitions and a bankruptcy. Nate has been through two acquisitions. They discuss: How to read the tea leaves (and w...

John's out this week, but Nate is joined by Michelle Slade, SVP of Brand and Communications at ABC Fitness, for a candid conversation about what brand actually is and where people get it wrong. Michelle brings a rare perspective: she started as a business analyst writing requirements before crossing over into marketing, and has built brand strategy for companies like Expedia, GameStop, and Sa...

You can't vent to your boss. Probably. But the real question is who can you vent to — and who else do you need in your corner to actually "survive and advance"? Nate and John get into the relationships that don't show up on any org chart but quietly determine everything from your next promotion to whether you're still standing after a reorg. Plus: AI's slow threat to...

John's out this week, so Kyrie Slater joins as co-host for a conversation about Sales Kickoffs and Marketing. Marketing and SKO share a sometimes uneasy relationship--so where does that leave folks on the team? Kyrie and Nate compare notes on their recent SKOs—who gets invited and why, whether these expensive events deliver ROI, and what marketers should actually bring back from them. Plus: l...

How much can one angry customer shape your view of the product? How much should it?  Nate and John discuss the outsized influence of vocal detractors, why being an internal product evangelist matters, and John's story of passive-aggressively loving a forum critic into becoming a fan. Plus: at-home health trends, software review consolidation, and the millennial phone-vs-laptop buying threshol...

When's the last time you updated your LinkedIn? If you're scrambling to answer that, this episode is for you. John and Nate sit down with Mary-Scott Van Arsdale—a marketing and content strategist who's helped build both corporate brands and personal ones—to talk about why your personal brand matters more than you think. Mary Scott breaks down the difference between corporate copy-pa...

Let's talk about the thing everyone thinks about but nobody wants to say out loud: compensation. Nate and John are joined by Rachel Stanley, Portfolio Product Marketing Manager at Red Hat, for an honest conversation about salary bands, equity, bonuses, and what actually matters when evaluating your comp package. Rachel shares her journey from PR to product marketing—and yes, the significant p...

Your company's investment level in a product fundamentally changes what your job looks like as a PM or PMM. John and Nate break down how your priorities shift across the spectrum: high-growth products chasing new customer acquisition, retention-focused products where stability is king, and that tricky middle ground where the product has value but go-to-market isn't working yet. Plus, whe...

Nobody likes having hard conversations at work. Whether it's telling customers the feature they requested isn't going to make it into the product, pushing back on scope creep from other teams, or explaining why you can't take on that "quick favor" that definitely isn't in your goals—these moments are rough. But they're also unavoidable. This week, John and Nate t...

We're ending the year with an extra-long bonus episode - 71 minutes of pure Disney chaos with zero product management frameworks. Nate and Kyrie just survived separate Disney trips with their kids, and John shares his deeply weird childhood Disney experience courtesy of his parents' Amway business. We talk about Disney's Lightning Lane system (a UX disaster), whether Disney adults a...

Can you win with a mediocre product? If your go-to-market is sharp enough. This week John and Nate are digging into the uncomfortable truth that not every product deserves to win, but plenty of them do anyway. Whether you're dealing with something faulty you haven't fixed, a solution without a real market, or just losing in competition, your go-to-market strategy can still move the needl...

You took the job. Day one hits. And you realize: the product is bad. Maybe it's broken, maybe it's losing to competitors, or maybe there's just no market for it. Now what? Nate and John break down the three types of bad products you'll encounter, how to diagnose which one you're dealing with, and what to actually do about it. From fixing broken functionality to pivoting wh...

You've got a great idea. Now comes the hard part: getting the right folks to care. Nate and John break down what it actually takes to sell an idea internally—from understanding whether you're solving a real problem to navigating the organizational politics that can doom even the best proposals.  They explore why most internal pitches fail, how to build credibility before you need it, and...

Your manager just left, a reorg shuffled the deck, or a new leader landed on your team. Now what? Nate and John break down the first 30 days with a new manager—what actually matters, what you should avoid, and how to set yourself up for success when the reporting lines shift. From the "managing up with data" playbook to why your first impression matters more than you think, this episode...

What tools are PMs actually using to get work done? John walks through his everyday tech stack: OmniFocus for personal tasks, Jira for team coordination, Confluence for documentation. But it's not about the tools themselves. It's about knowing when to use them and when they're getting in your way. We dig into the AI creep happening across these platforms, the temptation to automate...

When Congress pulled federal funding from public media in July 2025, it eliminated 15-30% of station budgets overnight. Alex Curley, founder of Semipublic, joins to break down what happened, what's next, and how his Adopt a Station platform is pairing supporters with stations in crisis.  Plus: Why GM killing CarPlay proves we never learn from our mistakes, and a lesson about vanishing careers...

From heat pump replacements to smart thermostats with speakers, Nate and John kick off this episode deep in the weeds of homeownership. But don't worry—they quickly pivot to more relevant matters: why nobody understands what marketing actually does, the surprising complexity of MarTech stacks, and whether meeting agendas are just corporate theater. Along the way, they tackle Red Lobster'...

What started as a listserv evolved into a 150K+ member community that keeps customers from leaving. Jeni Asaba, Head of Community at Jamf, breaks down how community became their product moat—and why you should stop overthinking and just start. We dig into platform migrations, measuring what actually matters, and why connecting Apple enthusiasts isn't about selling software. Whether you'r...

Can you really be great at product management or marketing without knowing the industry? John thought so—until experience proved him wrong. In this week's episode, we dive into the age-old debate: domain expertise vs. raw skill mastery. John shares his evolution from "just be good at the discipline" to realizing that specialized knowledge actually matters more than he wanted to admi...

Ever wonder how things actually get done in a tech company? This week, John and Nate sit down with Jennifer Silvestre, Business Unit Operations Lead at insightsoftware, to decode the art of cross-functional alignment. Jen shares her journey from market research to becoming a functional chief of staff (even if that's not her official title), and reveals the playbook for getting things done whe...

"One throat to choke." "Peek behind the kimono." "Let's go." You've heard them all, probably cringed, and maybe said a few yourself. John ran an experiment: he analyzed earnings calls from the top 50 tech companies and found that buzzword usage spikes when performance tanks. Turns out corporate jargon is just expensive filler. We go through our personal list...

What starts as "I need to practice presenting" can turn into a personal brand that opens doors. Ann Marie Chrudimsky, Enterprise Account Executive at Box, joins John and Nate to share how her Blue Microphone interview series evolved from Instagram book reviews to interviewing executives at her company's annual conference. The conversation explores why some of the best side projects...

In tech, change is the only constant—new tools, new org structures, new mandates from leadership. But when AI is disrupting workflows, return-to-office debates are raging, and your role feels like it's being redefined every quarter, what can you actually count on? In this episode, John and Nate dig into the fundamentals that remain valuable no matter what's changing around you. They expl...