2-min Technical Product Marketing Insights: June 2025 Releases
Part 1 Release Date: June 12, 2025 (2 min read).
📈 4 MICRO [PRODUCT MARKETING] CASE STUDIES
[1] Verify if all 4 characteristics of the PULL framework are true to decide if buyers will immediately latch on to your product upon release.
Per the PULL framework, buyers will 'pull' the product out of your hands when there is a project (P) on their to-do list that is unavoidable (U) right now, and the options they look (L) into are lacking (L) for some critical reasons. Plaid's pivot from their initial focus on a consumer app to fintech occurred after they discovered Venmo's unavoidable need to avoid building bank integrations.
[2] For Hacker News Launches: Follow the 'agitating the pain' framework along with enough technical depth to gain traction with the developer audience.
Glassflow remained one of the top posts on Hacker News for a few days by designing their post to follow this framework: Problem -> Obvious Solution -> Why the obvious solution doesn't work -> Introduce the product -> Share how it works exactly -> Ask for feedback/trying/action.
[3] For consumer apps: Optimize your growth over time in a specific order - retention first, activation second, and lastly, acquisition.
Locker is a web extension wishlist tool that acts as Pinterest for your shopping experience and currently generates $1.2M in ARR with minimal funding. The company sees retention as a mandate forever, while acquisition may not matter highly over time if they have enough active users.
[4] For dev tools: Start with the developer's goals in their existing workflows and build tools to solve one workflow problem exceptionally well before broadening the scope.
HashiCorp's focus on developer goals like provisioning infrastructure and managing secrets led them to tools like Terraform and Vault, where existing solutions fell short.
📚 1 BOOK & TOP 3 INSIGHTS
“The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football” by Bill Belichick
[1] Advice for any time you take on a new role or join a new company - "Get an accurate read of the room: What's the environment you're entering? Who are you replacing? What mistakes did they make? Most critically: Who in the organization is untouchable? What influence do they have, why do they have it, and what did they do to earn it? And just as important: What do your colleagues want from you? Is that what you want?"
[2] Two big rules about mistakes - (i) Avoid the big ones. (ii) Avoid the ones that happen for the wrong reason, like ego, personal brand, etc.
[3] "If you have any kind of influence or leadership in your workplace, your blunt admission of error will make it so other people - at or below your level in the hierarchy - can admit as well."
🧠 5 CURATED MARKETING THINK PIECES
[1] The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction
[2] Why Winners Keep Winning (and Losers Keep Losing)
[3] The Personalization of Software. Lovable, Helium, and How to Make Software...Not Terrible?
[4] The age of average
[5] 2025 PMM Hiring Trends Report: Why Hiring PMM Leaders Is Broken
BONUS: A Surprising Route to the Best Life Possible
Part 2 Release Date: June 27, 2025 (2 min read).
📈 4 MICRO [PRODUCT MARKETING] CASE STUDIES
[1] For AI-Native Products: Find your 'leading indicators of retention (LIR)' to determine which customers using their experimental budget will likely renew.
Stage 2 Capital believes traction doesn't equal staying power for fast-growing AI startups. You want to track some version of real customer behavior to see if they'll renew. A few actions that roll up into this behavior can include actions per month, % usage vs. predicted usage, % benchmarks met, etc.
[2] Set aside 5-7% of your budget to experiment and capitalize on future opportunities without linking it to metrics (measurement).
Gong's former CMO suggests having a budget to explore the unknown without worrying about how it moves traditional project metrics. This budget should also direct efforts that don't need validation from committees to avoid "vanilla work" while trying something new.
[3] Create a leaderboard to highlight the community's top 5 user projects to build use case awareness and offer a launch pad for projects.
Lovable lets you build software products with a simple chat interface. Beyond their referral program, the community upvotes interesting user projects every week, which win product credits for the creator while setting the stage for a future launch pad and potential marketplace for Lovable.
[4] Follow this 4-phase strategy (wedge, flywheel, ecosystem, and engine) to build massively popular consumer tech companies.
Revolut (fintech company) launched with a 10X solution to eliminate FX rip-offs. Their core features, like bill splitting, had built-in virality while also working as acquisition channels. With gradual trust, they became a financial control center for a user's entire life by capturing the full 'share of wallet' - think banking, investing, credit, and wealth management.
📚 1 BOOK & TOP 3 INSIGHTS
[1] Prioritize a list of 40 possible employers instead of a scattershot approach. Choose these 40 from the following 4 groups: (i) dream employers, (ii) alumni (or affinity) employers, (iii) actively hiring employers, and (iv) trending employers.
[2] Use the TIARA framework to collect valuable information during your informational meetings. Sample Questions - Trends (T): "What trend most impacts your business right now?" Insights (I): "What surprises you most about your job?" Advice (A): "If you were me, what would you be doing right now to best prepare for a career in this field?" Resources (R): "What resources should I be sure to look into next?" Assignments (A): "What's been your favorite project so far?"
[3] Be prepared to answer these 4 types of questions during informational meetings - (i) Tell me about yourself (aka "Walk me through your resume"), (ii) Why do you want to work for our organization? (iii) Why do you want to work in this role? (iv) Why do you want to work in this sector/industry?
🧠 5 CURATED MARKETING THINK PIECES
[1] What Will Automated Firms Look Like?
[2] How to Keep Your Writing Weird in the Age of AI
[3] AI Might Take Your Job. Here Are 22 New Ones It Could Give You.
[4] A Framework to Move from Director to VP in Product Marketing
[5] AI’s Trillion-Dollar Opportunity: Sequoia AI Ascent 2025 Keynote
Sign up for 2-minute Technical Product Marketing Insights. Every 2 weeks, you get 📈 4 micro case studies 📚 1 book & top 3 insights 🧠 5 curated marketing think pieces.