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During the question and answer session my heart was in my throat since like any good marketer, my depth of knowledge was no more than one level away from being
by edw519 17y ago
During the question and answer session my heart was in my throat since like any good marketer, my depth of knowledge was no more than one level away from being a complete idiot.
This is exactly why I have always thought that it was better for a technologist to learn marketing than for a marketer to learn technology. For any technology product, sooner or later you'll have to get more than one level deep.
The technology industry standard of salesperson supported by sales engineer has worked fairly well, but for a start-up, you should be able to talk to anyone about anything regarding your business.
It's unlikely that anyone else would demonstrate the same passion for your product than you. Sure, you could enlist help that will keep you at your terminal more often, but you'll still have to be your own first evangelist. Too much gets lost in translation any other way.
- mhb 17y agoYes, but, in general, it's better for a technologist/engineer to learn to be an x than the other way around.
- Periodic 17y agoA good marketer is just as hard to find as a good engineer. And it's more than just knowing some subject matter. There's almost an instinct about it. Marketing isn't just like learning another programming language, it's like learning another discipline. It would be like being asked to learn psychology. Sure, your engineer could probably get a basic proficiency in a few months, but real skill comes from years of practice. The best team is probably one of each, as a good engineer and a good marketer will both have their own strengths and know when to defer to the other for their weaknesses.