What is it like scaling a company from early stages to something much larger? 

With help from leading experts who have been there and done it, we outline all the important and necessary steps around the evolution of product marketing through seed, growth, and enterprise stage companies and examine how it typically differs. 

Now, we’re aware that it’s not a one-size-fits all situation. You might be in a seed stage company doing similar things to what’s typically considered for growth stage, and this is okay.

However, it’s important to check that you’re not putting the cart before the horse, running before you can walk… or going completely enterprise level before you’re even in growth. 

Why? 

Because you could be using resources inefficiently or focusing on strategies that aren't appropriate for your current stage of growth. This can lead to wasted time, money, and effort that could be better spent on more suitable initiatives.

So let’s break down the typical progression of product marketing across these stages, touching on: 

  • Company stages and their characteristics
  • How product marketing changes within each stage
  • Evolution of product marketing as the company grows
  • Target audience and customer segmentation evolution
  • Messaging and positioning development
  • Key tactics each stage should leverage

Company stages and their characteristics

Companies typically progress through three main stages: seed, growth, and enterprise. 

Seed stage and its characteristics

The seed stage lays the foundation for the entire business. It's where the core idea is validated and refined. 

Key characteristics include:

  • Initial product development
  • Finding market fit
  • Often pre-revenue
  • Small team, usually founders and early employees
  • Limited resources

Growth stage and its characteristics

The growth stage establishes the company's position in the market and proves its potential for long-term success. 

Key characteristics include:

  • Rapid expansion
  • Increasing market share
  • Significant funding rounds
  • Scaling operations and team
  • Revenue growth

Enterprise stage and its characteristics

The enterprise stage represents the achievement of a sustainable, successful business model and sets the stage for long-term value creation.

Key characteristics include:

  • Established market position
  • Steady revenue growth
  • Large, structured organization
  • Potentially leading to an IPO or major acquisition
  • Focus on maintaining market position and exploring new opportunities

Product marketing changes within each stage

Product marketing strategies shift dramatically across company stages. In the seed stage, the focus is on explaining the product and building relationships with early adopters. 

The growth stage emphasizes refining messaging, developing scalable processes, and balancing acquisition with retention. 

Enterprise-stage product marketing involves managing product portfolios, defending market share, and exploring new markets while maintaining brand image.

Francis Larkin VP of Product Marketing at InVision, outlined the changes within each stage in his presentation at the Product Marketing Summit. Become a Pro member to access his full presentation, along with 100s of others, OnDemand. 

In this presentation, he breaks down the stages into slightly different categories: Seed stage, early stage, mid stage, and late and public stage. 

He said, 

“I think it's really helpful to understand that a lot of the time we talk about how product marketing is different from one organization to the next and I think it's helpful to understand that that's because product marketing really varies based on:

“So the changing role of product marketing, let's look at how product marketing evolves as a company grows. And to do that, who better than our friend Steve Jobs to walk us through his thinking about product marketing. So this is a video of Steve right after he joined NeXT Computer after he was fired from Apple, before he was rehired at Apple.”

“I love this talk so much because it's the savant himself talking about spending time with customers. He talks about:

  1. Who is our target customer?
  2. Why did they choose us over the competition?
  3. What channels are we going to use to reach them?

“I see those three things as the strategic tenets of product marketing, and we'll talk about how those things change as the company matures.”

Seed-stage

“So, in the seed stage of product marketing, this is really all about being laser-focused on finding product-market fit. We have something that does something, does anyone want to buy this? Typically what I've seen work really well for a profile of a person in that role is a marketing generalist. A lot of times they're doing all sorts of things. So it's not necessary to have a PMM title at all.”

Early-stage

“At an early stage company, again, let's think about this 50-200 people. In my experience, the focus here for product marketing is testing distribution channels. So we've identified that we have a product, we've identified that people want to buy this, now:

  • How do we reach customers at scale?
  • How do we do that cost-effectively?
  • How many of these customers are there in the world?

“And so at the same stage, you're also generally looking at a marketing generalist plus or minus, but you're also looking for someone ideally with some channel experience, so they can pull those levers to help you really scale.”

Mid-stage

“Now at this point, you’ve found product-market fit, you've determined a channel to reach these customers and it's all about scaling your go-to-market approach… to eventually grow market share from something really small to something a little bit bigger than that.

“Typically when we're hiring people in these roles, it's important to find someone with some sort of expertise on the space or… core audience. Because you're growing really quickly, does it make sense to waste maybe six months trying to ramp someone up on that space?”

Late-stage and public

“And last but not least are the public stage and late-stage companies. Really what you're focused on here is you want to go deep in that market, you want to own the market that you're in, and then you want to find new markets to help your company keep growing.

“So typically, at this stage, you're probably hiring a lot of product marketers, but the really special folks have a deep understanding of market dynamics, they understand the vertical needs and they also understand these new audiences that you're going after. So that's really fun.”

Evolution of product marketing as the company grows

Changes in resources and deliverables

Product marketing at seed stage companies is often handled by founders or a small team. They have a limited budget and have to focus on cost-effective tactics.

Spencer Grover, Product Marketing Manager at Salesforce, gave a presentation at the Product Marketing Misunderstood event on product marketing at each company stage. He provided the deliverables of each stage. For the seed stage companies, he said, 

“As a PMM at this stage, you should aim to deliver:

  • A serviceable obtainable market (SOM): Who should you realistically pursue as customers?
  • An ideal customer profile (ICP): What types of businesses with what problems should you focus on?
  • A primary persona: Who is the one key decision-maker you need to win over? What pains do they have? Why are you uniquely positioned to address them?

“Work closely with your founder, sales, product, and customer success teams to gather insights that will shape these deliverables.”

In the growth and scaling stages, a dedicated product marketing team begins to form. This means an increased budget which allows for more diverse strategies. Spencer goes on to outline the deliverables for these stages. He said, 

“My top recommendation for evangelizing positioning is through content. This includes internal enablement content like battlecards, messaging documents, positioning presentations, first-call decks, product guides, objection handling, and more.

“To educate the market, you’ll need to make sure that all your messaging, whether it’s on your website or coming straight from your reps’ mouths, is consistent. That means ensuring that your case studies, call scripts, email templates, ads, blogs, white papers, and all that good stuff have the same thread of messaging running through them.

“And for scaling businesses, Your role is to see over the horizon to the next big opportunity. Analyze total addressable market (TAM), serviceable obtainable market (SOM), and serviceable available market (SAM) to figure out where to go when your current market is saturated.

“To prepare the organization for a new market, create a ‘future markets’ playbook compiling everything teams will need to market and sell effectively:

  • Core messaging and positioning
  • Email templates
  • Call scripts
  • Battlecards
  • And more

“Templates will be your friend here.”

At the enterprise stage, large, specialized teams are paramount, as well as significant budgets for comprehensive marketing campaigns.

For deliverables here, he said,

“Your core job is driving a unified vision and strategy across all teams. You connect product roadmaps with sales needs. You ensure marketing messages align with product capabilities. You take feedback from the field and funnel it back to product.

“Driving this alignment is your primary deliverable. You bridge the gaps between departments to enable collaboration on strategy. This requires excellent communication skills and business acumen to see the big picture.”

Resource allocation

As a company grows, product marketing evolves from a bootstrapped effort often led by founders to a sophisticated operation with dedicated teams and substantial budgets. 

As mentioned before, it isn’t a one-size-fits-all situation, but in the seed stage, marketing is typically lean and cost-effective. The growth stage sees the formation of specialized teams and increased resources. By the enterprise stage, large, specialized teams execute comprehensive marketing strategies with significant budgets.

Target audience and customer segmentation evolution

The target audience evolves from early adopters in the seed stage to a broader market in later stages. Initially, companies focus on innovators who are willing to try new products. 

As they grow, they expand to early majority customers and refine their ideal customer profiles. In the enterprise stage, companies target late majority customers and may explore entirely new markets or demographics.

Why is target audience and customer segmentation evolution important?

This progression in target audience is a natural and necessary part of a company's growth strategy. 

Early adopters are crucial in the seed stage because they're more tolerant of imperfections and eager to test novel solutions, providing valuable feedback for product refinement. As the product matures and gains credibility, it becomes more appealing to the early majority, who are more pragmatic but still open to innovation. This expansion is essential for scaling the business. 

In the enterprise stage, targeting late majority customers allows companies to maximize market penetration, while exploring new markets helps sustain growth when existing markets saturate. This strategic shift in audience targeting aligns with the evolving product offerings, increased market validation, and the company's growing capacity to serve diverse customer needs.

Messaging and positioning development

Companies messaging and positioning strategies undergo significant transformations as they continue to grow within the market. 

In the seed stage, startups typically emphasize the novelty of their offerings and their ability to solve specific problems. This approach is designed to capture attention and demonstrate the unique value of their product or service in a crowded marketplace.

As organizations enter the growth stage, they refine their messaging based on valuable customer feedback and a deeper understanding of the competitive landscape. This evolution continues into the enterprise stage, where established companies shift their focus to highlight brand strength, reliability, and the ability to provide comprehensive solutions. 

This mature positioning reflects the company's established market presence and aims to solidify its reputation as a trusted industry leader. Throughout this journey, the core value proposition adapts to align with the company's expanding capabilities and the changing needs of its target market.

Why is messaging and positioning development important?

Messaging and positioning development is crucial for several reasons. 

In the seed stage, emphasizing novelty and problem-solving helps startups differentiate themselves and attract early adopters who are essential for initial traction. 

As the company grows, refining the message based on customer feedback ensures that the value proposition resonates with a broader audience, while addressing competitive pressures. 

The shift to enterprise-level messaging focusing on reliability and comprehensive solutions is necessary to appeal to larger, more risk-averse clients who prioritize stability and proven track records. 

This evolution in messaging not only reflects the company's growth but also helps to maintain relevance in the market, attract appropriate customers at each stage, and support the overall business strategy as the company matures.

Key tactics each stage should leverage

Marketing channels and tactics expand in scope and sophistication over time. Spencer Grover, Product Marketing Manager at Salesforce, provided key tactics PMMs should leverage for each company stage. 

Here’s what he said. 

Seed stage

“Talk to customers: You have incredible access to customers when you're in a small company. Plus, they know you'll need their help and are often excited to provide feedback to fuel your personas, customer pain points, and product differentiators. Ask about their challenges, why they bought from you, and what they tried before. These conversations will uncover foundational insights.

“Tap subject matter experts: Founders or other team members likely have deep market expertise. Extract those insights to inform your ICP and SOM.

“Validate hypotheses rapidly: Form hypotheses then test and iterate quickly via trials. For example, if you believe your SOM is X type of customer in Y location, call those prospects and gauge their interest. Try different messaging and positioning, and pivot based on feedback – you can move fast at this stage of growth. This validation will build confidence in your product-market fit.

“The combination of customer conversations, internal expertise, and rapid validation help you crystallize who cares most about your product and why. With these lean tactics, you can fuel foundational deliverables in a really cost-effective way.”

Growth stage

“Keep talking to customers: Validate that your positioning and messaging documents accurately reflect their needs, pains, and reasons for buying. You might even want to get feedback from the customers you’re closest to – you could show them an early draft and ask, "Do you see yourself in this?" and "Does this resonate?"

“Document everything: With growth comes less time for one-on-one support. Your aim should be to design yourself out of the enablement process by arming your sellers and marketers with the assets they need to understand your messaging so deeply they can pitch it in their sleep. Make sure they can self-serve instead of relying on you.”

Scaling stage

“Analyze internal data like sales, usage, and adoption patterns: Look for any weird spikes or anomalies you could potentially take advantage of. For example, if you notice sales far exceeding expectations in a certain region or vertical, investigate pursuing that segment more aggressively.

“Conduct formal market research: At the scaling stage, you likely have the resources to do surveys, focus groups, customer interviews, and work with analysts. Ask open-ended questions to identify emerging needs. This primary research will shed light on where your product is resonating or could resonate in the future. 

“Market testing: Grab a group of BDRs and give them new messaging to try with target prospects. See if positioning around a new persona, industry, or use case gains traction before rolling it out to the broader organization.”

Enterprise stage

“To drive alignment, meetings are your best friend. Sit down regularly with each department to fully understand their priorities, challenges, and success metrics. Dig into how their goals and roadmaps fit together across the business like a puzzle. Then align your own priorities to support the broader strategy.

“This isn’t so much a tactic as a tip: Templates will help you maintain your sanity. You'll likely execute similar plans like product launches and sales enablement across different teams, so build reusable templates and playbooks rather than starting from scratch each time. This frees up more cycles for strategic work.

“Finally, make sure you always lead with the hard numbers and customer perspectives. This will resonate far more with executives than your opinion alone.”