From Zero Visibility to PE Stakeholder: Evangelizing PMM Value Internally

When I entered the IC role my visibility went from 100 to zero overnight. No one automatically respected my prior C-suite experience. I had a micromanager who clashed with me the entire time, causing so much stress I ground my teeth at night, invested heavily in therapy and coaching, and seriously considered quitting because of the toll on my mental and physical health. Meanwhile the company was a private-equity-backed firm of 500-plus people; I was the only UK employee and fully remote. I watched multiple rounds of layoffs (five before I eventually left). After the first round I saw a brilliant designer friend’s Slack photo turn black-and-white in real time and started shaking—I live alone, come from poverty (dad a baker, mom a cleaner), and had no safety net. Product marketing itself wasn’t understood or valued, which made it easy for others to sideline me. I realized the issue wasn’t my knowledge or skills (those had stayed the same or improved); it was pure perception and visibility. I refused to let “the man” decide my career or put me on the street.

I treated it as a growth moment and focused only on what I could control. Within weeks to a month I needed everyone to understand both what product marketing is and exactly what I was doing, why, and how it added value. Step one: stop focusing solely on quality and delivery of the tactical work; pair it with high-quality communication so I would never again be seen as an assistant or purely tactical PMM. I force-found opportunities to speak about my contributions (we don’t own pipeline metrics, so we depend on others to action our work). I also recommend every PMM take at least one improv-comedy class—ideally a full eight-week course—to master thinking on your feet, removing performance pressure, and becoming a better communicator, negotiator, and persuader. Next I defined my personal internal ICP: not the usual product or sales partners, but the person (or PE firm) who fundamentally decides my career, bonuses, promotions, and who gets cut. Once identified, I got on their radar. Step two: accept that great work does not speak for itself—people do. I mapped who outside my immediate circle could speak positively on my behalf and share the right metrics. A product-marketing charter alone is useless if it sits in the archives; I paired it with an ongoing roadshow. If someone who controls my career isn’t yet a champion, I actively manage up and turn them into one. Step three: build a repeatable system that runs visibility and perception on autopilot—not a one-off launch update, but continuous communication of improvements, evolution, and impact so I stay front-of-mind as the function itself becomes more strategic. Throughout I managed up for whoever my manager was (CMO, VP, etc.) and taught the same playbook to new PMMs as the function grew. Finally I leaned fully into being myself unapologetically—my unfair advantages and superpowers—rather than performing some generic “professional PMM” persona. That authenticity became the biggest accelerator.

Improv comedy courses (especially multi-week) to sharpen real-time communication and reduce stress. Personal internal ICP definition focused on true career decision-makers (often PE/VC or the person in the CEO’s ear). Stakeholder mapping that mirrors buyer-persona work: what each leader cares about, which metrics they own, and how my work influences them, which then dictates cadence and depth of updates. Product-marketing charter used only as the centerpiece of a live roadshow, never as a static document. An always-on visibility system that continually surfaces incremental impact rather than one-and-done GTM launches. LinkedIn posting of real learnings (originally for self-protection, later for teaching). The packaged version of everything became the five-day Profitable PMM Challenge and productmarketers.com so others could compress what previously took 9–12 months.

Within a month I was pulled into private-equity meetings, known by the PE firm and the entire C-suite of a 500-plus-person U.S. organization—while remaining the sole remote UK employee. I began teaching the exact playbook to newly hired PMMs as the PE backers invested more in the function; I also managed up so my own leaders stayed visible. After I started sharing openly on LinkedIn, other PMMs reached out. One early example, Rice in London, went from completely disrespected, undervalued, and underpaid to a major corporation role with strong compensation and genuine respect within a year (visible shift in three months). Her partner even thanked me in person. I have since coached hundreds of PMMs across seniority levels, industries, and geographies with the same system; 100 % of Profitable PMM Challenge participants report the week as transformative. I stopped gatekeeping: what took Rice nine to twelve months is now condensed into five days so any PMM can own their perception, secure their seat at the table, and accelerate their career on their own terms.