Hiring the wrong marketing leader.

This is one of the biggest mistakes we've seen early-stage software companies make,

Just because a marketer comes from a well-known company doesn't mean they're the right person for the job. The same goes for someone who's only been in the tactical trenches without much strategic experience. It's not quite that simple.

Your company's growth stage needs to match the strategic skill mix and experience of your marketing leader.

In the beginning, you need someone with a "Big M" skillset who understands how to make a few informed strategic bets and get the engine running:

• Positioning & messaging

• Ideal customer profile & personas

• Go to market strategy

• Content strategy

• Account-Based Marketing program

• Budget and channel investment mix

After you've gotten off the ground, you need a more scrappy and tactical skillset to help you learn, test and tweak your existing programs.

• Scale content and tie back SEO

• Install and tune the Martech stack

• Optimize the funnel/reduce funnel friction

• Reduce customer acquisition cost (CAC)

• Diversify and fine-tune demand gen

• Experiment with messaging and paid

Then you need another set of "Big M" skills, this time with a bit of a different angle:

• Product packaging & pricing

• Build channel and partner programs

• Optimize average revenue per user (ARPU) & lifetime value (LTV)

• Increase retention

• Reduce cost to service