What type of marketing leader should you hire?
Answer: Hire a marketing leader with a product marketing background.
According to ICONIQ’s Marketing Leadership: A Hiring Blueprint for $0–$50M ARR, marketing leaders with product marketing experience are significantly more likely to help a company hit revenue milestones and reach IPO than peers with revenue marketing or corporate marketing backgrounds.
Product marketers operate at the intersection of market insight, messaging, and execution. They think strategically across products and customer segments, communicate with precision, and influence both markets and internal stakeholders.
What the data shows
ICONIQ’s research highlights key differences by growth stage:
Early stage ($0–20M ARR): Product and revenue marketers were 5–6x more likely to reach $50M+ ARR than corporate marketers. Nearly 70% of corporate marketers left before the company hit $20M ARR.
Chart: Stage of departure by marketer type - early stage
Early growth ($20–50M ARR): Product and revenue marketers reached $100M+ ARR at almost the same rate, but product marketers were 1.8x more likely to reach IPO.
Chart: Stage of departure by marketer type - early growth stage
Why product marketers outperform as heads of marketing
Strategic orientation
At Salesforce, Marc Benioff described Product Marketing as “the hub in the hub-and-spoke model.” Product marketers drive new initiatives and align go-to-market efforts across teams — a critical leadership mindset for CMOs.
Executive trust and stakeholder credibility
Long-tenured CMOs build trust with CEOs and boards through credibility, reliability, and company-first orientation. Product marketers naturally earn this trust because they deeply understand buyers, competitors, and positioning.
Mastery of framing and communication
Product marketers are expert storytellers. Their ability to frame complex ideas clearly in executive settings translates directly into leadership communication.
Leadership without authority
Since product marketing teams often lack direct control over product, sales, or demand generation, they learn to influence without formal authority — a key CMO competency.
Real-world proof: Salesforce alumni who became CMOs
Here’s a partial list of Salesforce product marketing alumni who went on to CMO or senior marketing leadership roles or founder/CEO roles:
Al Falcione - SVP Marketing, Salesforce, VP Head of Corporate Messaging
Alex Ortiz – CEO Bright Growth; CMO Sendoso; VP Marketing Tray.ai; VP Marketing QuanticMind
Andy Savitz – CMO Azul Systems, BetterCloud, AppDynamics, Aconex, KXEN
Andrew Leigh – CMO and Head of Global Alliances, Copado; Head of Marketing and Business Development, Jitterbit
Ariel Kelman – President & CMO Salesforce; CMO Fireblocks; EVP & CMO Oracle; VP Worldwide Marketing, AWS
Bobby Brenman – SVP Marketing Slingshot Aerospace
Dave King - CBO HeyGen; CMO Asana; VP Marketing, Percolate; VP Marketing, Highfive, Inc.
Eric Stahl - EVP Marketing Technology, Salesforce
Hilary (Salazar) Terrell - VP Marketing, Maze; VP Global GTM Enablement
Jager McConnell - CEO Crunchbase; VP of Product, Sales Cloud
Jason Garoutte - CMO Galileo; CMO Veza; VP Growth & Marketing Ops Twilio; CEO and Co-founder YesPath; GM Mintigo
Joe Lazar - Co-founder, Article Group
Julien Sauvage - CMO Cordial, GVP, Marketing, Clari; VP Product and Customer Marketing, Gong
Kraig Swensrud - Founder & CEO Qualified.com; Founder, GetFeedback, CMO Campaign Monitor; CMO Salesforce
Kris Lande – CMO Outsystems; SVP Salesforce Marketing & Community
Kris Muller - SVP, Brand Marketing & Communications at Confluent, SVP, Content & Product Marketing
Kyle Christensen – CMO Zuora, 6sense; SVP Marketing Invoca
Marcus Nelson - CEO Arkiro, Founder Exec Academy; Founder, CEO, CMO, Trapit
Mark Abramowitz - CMO Dataiku; SVP Product and Solutions Marketing ServiceNow, VP Global Marketing SiteMinder
Matt Gidney - Founder, The Growth Lab, Head of Brand, Verkada; Growth, Uber; VO Marketing & Business Development, Loyal3
Nate Skinner - CMO 8am; CMO Onfido SVP and CMO Oracle Advertising & CX, Global Head of Marketing, Salesforce Pardot, CMO Campaign Monitor, Head of Enterprise Marketing & Executive Programs, AWS; VP Marketing (Enterprise Marketing) Salesforce
Rob Cheng – Head of Marketing Elementum; Director of Force.com Platform and Product Marketing
Robin Daniels – CBO Zensai; CMO Matterport, WeWork, Vera
Sara Varni – CMO Datadog, Attentive, Twilio; SVP Marketing, Sales Cloud
Sarah Franklin – CEO Lattice; President & Chairwoman Advisory; President & CMO Salesforce
Sarah Patterson – CMO Samsara; EVP Marketing Salesforce
Scott Holden – CMO Vanta, Brex, ThoughtSpot; VP Marketing Salesforce Platform
Sean Whiteley - Founder, Qualified; Founder GetFeedback, SVP and GM Salesforce.com
Shannon Sullivan Duffy - CMO Okta; CMO Asana; EVP Marketing Salesforce
Tricia Gellman – CMO Box; CMO Drift; CMO Checkr, CMO Salesforce Canada
Ursula Ayrout – CEO & Founder, Measure Co; Operating Partner, Goldman Sachs; VP Marketing, Pantheon Systems
Key takeaway
If you’re hiring your first or next head of marketing, prioritize candidates with product marketing backgrounds.
They combine strategic vision, market understanding, and cross-functional leadership — qualities that accelerate ARR growth and increase IPO likelihood.
FAQs
Q: Should early-stage startups ever hire a revenue marketing leader first?
A: If you’re heavily pipeline-focused with a validated product-market fit, a revenue marketer can accelerate growth. But for early-stage or strategic pivots, a product marketer brings broader alignment across product, sales, and market narrative.
Q: What does corporate marketing do best?
A: Corporate marketing excels at brand building, PR, and company narrative — critical functions post-scale. However, in pre-IPO or early-stage environments, this role often lacks direct revenue impact.
Q: How can you evaluate a product marketer for leadership potential?
A: Look for individuals who can articulate how positioning drives pipeline, communicate cross-functionally, and demonstrate influence without authority.
