How are PE-backed environments unique for SaaS CMOs? And what’s the difference between the CMOs who flourish in PE-backed companies and those who flounder? In the latest episode of The Get podcast, I dive into the nuances of marketing leadership in PE-backed B2B SaaS orgs with my guest Julie Zadow, Growth Marketing Leader at The Riverside Company. We explore Julie’s role in private equity as a marketing operating partner, insights into aligning marketing strategies with investment firm goals, and the impact of AI on marketing roles and operations.
We discuss:
- What it’s like to be a marketing operating partner in a PE shop: As Julie describes it, she offers “battle scars for hire” and brings a mix of empathy, speed, and practicality
- How the best marketing leaders speak marketing in a way that aligns with the investor’s lens
- How to talk about brand in a way that doesn’t make investors run screaming
- How the different phases of the hold period matter for marketing – and how conversations with investors should evolve as the end of the hold period approaches
- Coaching junior employees in an AI+ environment, and a shortcut for contextualizing things for the most junior employees so they don’t just ‘do’ with AI but ‘learn’ as well: Julie asks her interns: “Where did you feel you were parroting AI without understanding what it was saying?” and “What do you recommend that AI didn’t think of?”
- The marketing role that is hardest to disintermediate with AI
- The line of questioning CEOs may pose to CMO candidates about their AI fluency
- Advice to CEOs who have failed at hiring marketing leaders
Favorite quotes:
- “One of the things that I think is so important about brand is to remember not everything measurable is by definition impactful. There are many things that will be impactful that may not yet be quite measurable.”
- “When I think about the CMOs that seem the most successful in PE-backed organizations today, I think it’s all about discovery and infrastructure. If you’re just new and you’re showing up, don’t trust that the organization is completely aligned on the ICP. Clarify that ICP. Lean in. Make sure that that is a reset and refresh moment where needed. Look at the foundational definitions of an MQL, an SAL, an SQL. You’d be surprised how much tribal knowledge might be wrapped up in those definitions that may not be serving your customer well today. And again, coming back to really understanding the hold year that you’re in. If year one is that discovery and infrastructure phase, I think year three is, maybe, your acceleration phase. Year five is exit prep, right? And you need to understand each of those stages of hold relative to your stages of growth and understand how to show up for the CEO, and the PE firm, and your teams accordingly.”