0 A Letter to the Reader

If you’re reading this, one of two things is probably true.

You’re a founder who has built something worth selling, and you’re trying to figure out how to explain it to the world … and maybe whether you need to hire someone to help you do that. Or you’re a product marketer who knows the discipline well and is trying to figure out how to operate in a world that’s changing faster than any job description can keep up with.

Either way, this guide is for you.

I’ve spent a long time in product marketing, as a practitioner first, as an educator second. I’ve done this job at early-stage startups and at companies with mature, resourced PMM teams. I’ve hired PMMs, been hired as one, and watched the discipline evolve from something most founders didn’t know they needed to something most founders now know they got wrong.

And then AI arrived, and everything changed … or is changing. Or at least, is changing enough that a guide like this needs to exist.

Here’s what this is: A field guide, not a textbook. It’s organised the way I think about PMM: what the discipline is, what it takes to do it well, how AI has changed the game, and how to actually start operating in this new world. Each section is short and practical. Most sections link to a longer blog post if you want to go deeper. None of it requires prior PMM experience to understand.

Here’s what this isn’t: It’s not a comprehensive academic treatment of product marketing. It’s not a one-size-fits-all playbook. PMM is a nuanced discipline, “it depends” is a legitimate answer to a lot of the questions you’ll have, and I’ll tell you when that’s the honest answer rather than pretend there’s a universal framework.

One thing I’d ask of you as you read this: bring your context. The most useful thing I can give you is a way of thinking, not a checklist to follow blindly. Your market, your product, your team, your stage … those variables shape everything. Use this guide to build your judgment, not to replace it.

And that’s the whole thesis of why I wrote this. We’re all running around doing our best, often overwhelmed. We need Humans and AI, working together. Judgment and execution, in the right proportions.

Let’s get into it.

Adam