Sid Khaitan's Linkedin Analytics

Warning: friday rant. I’ll preface this by saying, I typically don’t like getting involved and think people should post whatever they want here. Except for: “AI is going to take every designer’s job!” Usually comes from the person who’s never hired a designer. Prob the same person most at risk of being replaced themselves. How is that even helpful? Imagine waking up every day to a feed filled with clickbait screaming: “AI is coming for your livelihood!” It’s like having a car alarm go off at 6am every day. Loud, annoying, and not useful. It’s not even true. Look at any designer’s backlog. If and when AI can help, I think they might be more relieved than worried. But this type of fear mongering hurts. Especially if you’re a student, a junior designer, or someone who just lost their job Yes, things are changing. But panic posting doesn’t prepare people. It paralyzes them. Instead of obsessing over who’s getting replaced, let’s talk about how things are evolving. Or what we can DO to harness AI vs let it replace people AI is a co-opetitor. It’s a tool. And the best creatives will always find a way to use new tools to do timeless work. If your instinct is to ring alarm bells, ask yourself: Does this post nurture or zap energy? Because we don’t need more of the latter. OK rant over. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of bed today but this had to be said 😆 Happy Friday to everyone but those spreading the hysteria

Keeping employees isn’t the same as keeping them productive and happy. We’re shifting from a retention problem to a disengagement one. The old adage “What if we invest in developing our people and they leave…. What if we don't, and they stay?” Feels realllly relevant right now. Quiet quitting is real. Stagnation is real. Toxic culture is real. One unhappy employee creates a ripple effect. Others take notice. They start doing the bare minimum. Or worse: they extract as much as possible and act destructively. You’ve already seen how this impacts companies. The retail clerk ignores you at checkout, so you don’t end up spending $ there. The hotel receptionist doesn’t care if you have a good experience, so you leave a bad review. The nurse keeps you in the waiting room longer than necessary, so you never come back. As a customer, it’s not a one-time interaction. You always remember. And that’s just what’s visible. Construction projects near you run ridiculously late. Manufacturing delays or errors in the news. Most at least partially caused by companies that are DISengaging employees. For the time being, data says that the “balance of power” has shifted back to employers. But that’s not a good reason treat employees poorly. They might stay…but they won’t like it or do their best work. And they’ll remember once the scales tip back in their favor…whether that’s as employees or consumers. DM me to learn how you can engage your frontline workers with Beekeeper

For everyone out here bragging about being able to spot AI through em dashes… What if the AI overlords come for you first for going on this witch hunt? Are you putting “Em Dash Detection” as a core skill on your resume now? Is semicolon surveillance next?

Being an “idea person” is back in style if you learn how to use AI. I’m so in love with Lovable Vibe-coded multiple project ideas in the same calls last week. “What if we had a simple framework for collecting ROI data?” or “what if we could run a mini-audit for our buyers?” Sure, actually here’s a fully clickable prototype. Let’s think through this before we finalize the build…in the same call you asked for it lol It won’t take a week or a month anymore. Can iterate faster and get to an MVP worth testing. The fute is kinda scary, kinda bright. But my favorite part is that “idea people” are back in style. Still need to be creative, persuasive, and resourceful. But getting from 0 to 60% with very minimal effort is possible. PS: what do you think of this idea, and who wants to help me build it? I’ll bring the vibes

I walked into a situation where there was zero trust with sales. No one knew what PMM did. Reps skipped enablement sessions. 1:1s got “rescheduled” indefinitely. I wasn’t even two weeks into the new job. It was brutal. But honestly, I haven’t had that problem in a longgg time. Wish I had done these things sooner: 1. Showing them I know how to sell. Not just with a pitch but with presence. Little details/tricks most sellers are good at: repeating their name, listening intently, remembering small details. I seriously think this makes a huge impact. Bonus: record a demo to prove you know your stuff. 2. Running deal support and getting my hands dirty. The reality is reps (esp AMs/CSMs) know the lives of their customers better than you do. But working a few deals gives you a great reason to think about the same stuff they do. 3. Knowing some logos, customer stories, and numbers. At the very least, a handful of closed won/lost deals and active/churned customers. All it takes is a 1-hour scavenger hunt in Gong/Chorus from time to time. 4. Bringing them insights they don’t have. Reps live in their own world. When you can zoom out and connect dots from other customers, parts of the biz, or the market overall, it helps. Talk about trends, data points…but make them actionable commercial insights. Don’t sit in an ivory tower raining down useless metrics and “thought leadership”. 5. Solving annoying problems. Find a process that’s broken and fix it. Take on hard competitive/product enablement work. Then you can use AI and other resources to catch up with demand. Get respect by removing blockers. 6. Sharing what I’m working on. Reps want to be heard and consulted. When you make sure stuff reaches their desk before they see it online or in an enablement session, it’s much more likely to land. Sounds complex but it’s actually pretty simple. Listen, and speak market insights + product fluently. That’s the shared language. How do you earn trust with your sales team?

“You can’t do research when you’re running case study interviews!” After running 15+ across multiple personas and industries in the past 6 months, I beg to differ. Customer stories can double as qualitative research. In fact, they should. Champions don’t want glorified testimonials anymore. They need content that helps them sell internally. That means addressing objections, showing real application, and justifying buying decisions. Not “product X is great” but “here’s how we use it and why it works” They want to hear: - What are industry peers doing? - What trigger led to the purchase? - What else did they evaluate? There’s a lot of overlap between customer stories and customer research. Not saying to bias the answers - ask your JTBD questions first. But if you’re working with execs pressed for time, you can combine both. I’ve done it for 5 startups now and it’s made stories way more useful for sales, marketing, and product. If you care about better customer research, stronger messaging, and stories that actually convert, follow me here. I share what’s working and how to actually apply it. And if you need any help, my DMs are open for business. Part 1 of a new series (if it catches on): “The Customer Research Rethink”

We don’t always look for what we want when we’re buying. We look for what we DON’T WANT. I was in the market for a plain whiteboard. Nothing fancy. But as I browsed Amazon, I wasn’t just looking for what I wanted. I was actively filtering out what I didn’t want. Magnetic time clocks for classrooms? No thanks Flipchart holders? Pass $2,000 smart whiteboards? Absolutely not Each “feature” made me feel like the product wasn’t built for me. Like the maker and I weren’t on the same wavelength. So I removed them from the consideration set. My underlying thinking is that it’s not built for me. So I’d be paying for extra bells and whistles I don’t need. All I wanted was a decent whiteboard so I could think through ideas on my own. So if I see time clocks and flipchart holders, I’m thinking wasted resources and bad fit. Still, most SaaS pricing pages look like a laundry list of “here’s what the product can do” instead of “here’s what’s important to you”. For the right ICP, that packaging should fit like a glove. It should feel like a Goldilocks scenario. The buyer should feel like the product was made just for them. And that’s why we need better research.

I’ve now met with 15 HR leaders in the past few months. As a product marketer, I can’t help but see the similarities: - We both have to constantly explain what we do (and how it’s evolved) to other people - We’re both doubted but clearly needed more than never - We’re both responsible for metrics we can’t control alone - We both take on projects outside of our scope because we can and know it has to get done - We both survive by drinking water and eating food But seriously, is marketing and HR the same but different? There’s a lot of nuance but still: Employee experience ~ customer experience Employer brand ~ founder brand Employee retention ~ net dollar retention Talent acquisition ~ customer acquisition There’s prob a lot more we can learn from each other. I know I am. Which reminds me: if you’re working in HR and serving a frontline workforce, we should chat. Coffee’s on me!

But comparison is the thief of joy. And it’s also a liar If you stare at LinkedIn long enough.. It feels like *everyone* has a million-dollar solo business Their own brand. Their own product. Their own calendar. It looks like freedom. But the conversations I have with real people tell me it’s also a grind. And for most, it didn’t start with “I just went out on my own.” It started with a long, messy middle. There’s this thought (at least in my head) that if you’re talented and ambitious, you need to go solo. Be a founder. A creator. A consultant. Escape the 9-to-5 and never look back. And for some that’s the dream. But that doesn’t mean it’s your dream. Or your timeline. I fall for it too. A little voice says “damn, I should be that far by now.” When I realllly think about it, I like where I’m at right now: The full-time job gives me a front row seat to how companies actually work. I see the pains of larger orgs. How decisions are made. How software is implemented. How execs think. Plus side gigs help me scratch the creative itch and stay on the cutting edge. It’s an unfair advantage. In the not-so-distant future, I’ll go all in on my own thing. I think a lot of us will and the market will get saturated. So being early definitely helps. But today I’m learning, building, and experimenting. With structure, with support, with less pressure to monetize every move. There’s no tried and true path. Just seasons. This one’s working for me. How about you- how do you make sure you’re living your dream and not someone else’s? (Ironic because I’m suggesting you can collect a salary and still be living your dream)

People can’t come inside if the front door doesn’t work. If you’ve ever watched MTV Cribs, you know what I’m talking about. We weren’t there for the floor plans. We watched for the grand entrance, the guided tour, the warm welcome from Mariah or Redman. That’s exactly what’s missing with most HR tech. We focus on features, backend systems, and big promises… But if users can't find the front door, they won’t use it. In the new episode of People, process, then HR tech, Dakota R. Younger, Founder of Boon, packs insight with nostalgia. “HR tech adoption should feel like an episode of MTV cribs” Good onboarding should feel frictionless, intuitive, and easy to navigate. No one wants to wander around clicking through five tools just to find the time-off policy. You might have an amazing sound system and movie theater (e.g. AI)–but if people can’t get in, they’ll never get to see the shiny toys. Still, adoption is often an afterthought. Vendors underinvest in customer success. HR teams launch without a rollout strategy. But adoption is the single most important metric we should care about, especially for frontline workers. If employees don't USE it, it's useless! This convo was a great peek behind the curtain into how HR tech founders build product. Follow Beekeeper and DM me for the full episode…I’ll post a link here later.

I was so pumped. We launched 3 customer stories, an interview series, and a few deep-dive buyer guides. Then someone asked: “how will sales actually use this?” Whomp whomp whomp 😬😅 There was no playbook. no enablement plan. And if we only used these for ads and the website, we’d be cutting distribution in half. It’s like throwing a party but forgetting to invite half the guest list That’s a lot of wasted resources. So we went back to the drawing board. What should a good marketing asset do for sales…CS..AM? Here are my 3 main criteria: 1. It should spark commercial insight Show buyers you understand their world. Challenge and reframe assumptions. Educate and entertain. 2. It should address objections BEFORE they come up Give reps and champs content they can share internally without feeling like they’re forwarding a sales deck. 3. It should reduce FUD (fear uncertainty doubt). Provide social proof and a clear implementation plan. Make the path to value clear so people are confident about what happens next. — Do this right and your best marketing assets become the best sales enablement tools. Now I’m working on a playbook for doing this right. Mostly because I’ve gotten it wrong so many times. How else do you make marketing more relevant to reps and buyers? Let’s see what you got.

People on LinkedIn be like: “We need to stop being reactive!” “We deserve a seat at the table!” “We should push for clear OKRs!” People IRL (including me): “You need that in two hours? I’ll drop everything I’m doing” “Here’s the deck for the meeting I’m not invited to” “Too busy putting out fires…let’s talk next quarter”

The customer stories of the future will read less like blogs and feel more like investigative journalism. Our BS radars are too good. We don’t want to be sold. But we love a good story. The best ones are raw, evocative, and persuasive. No “spin” needed. Just real moments captured mostly on video, with text as scaffolding. The goals are the same but different: Not just the problem, but the commercial insight that reframes it (more on that tomorrow) Not product hype, but a window into the customer’s internal decision-making processes. Not a feature dump, but the “workflows solved”, with features weaved in only when it matters Not “this is for everyone” but clarity on who it’s for and who it’s not for. Tradeoffs and shortcomings included. They won’t sit and rot on forgotten website pages. They’ll be distributed everywhere. Organic, paid, nurtures, outbound, etc. But also internal enablement sessions. Investor decks. Even the customer’s website and social. Because the best stories don’t just tell, they teach, build trust, and drive action. Who’s with me? Share the best ones you’ve seen in the comments.

Only 31% of employees feel engaged at work. The lowest it’s been in a decade. Why? Part of what’s missing is clear lines of communication. Think about it…people need to be able to talk to each other to: have a friend at work feel included in the culture learn new skills build a relationship with their manager But the real impact comes when we eliminate silos across teams, languages, or locations. When everyone operates “under one roof,” things start to change: We worry less about compliance. We start capturing data. We connect leadership to the frontline, building a culture of transparency and belonging. Strong communication is the bedrock to higher engagement, and also higher PRODUCTIVITY. When comms and processes are documented and digitized, HR teams scramble less. Managers feel less burdened by menial tasks. Employees find what they need without needing to ask. Slack did this for desk workers and it changed our lives. Why? Because it improves the speed of communication AND becomes the default mode of communication. From there, so many apps and other processes can be built on it. Beekeeper does the same for frontline workers. The ones who don’t sit behind a desk, use email, and only look at their phones. Once these teams get in the habit or going to one app for everything they need… HR teams can integrate onboarding, recognition, learning, payroll slips, useful AI, etc. into that same experience. This isn’t brand new. We know the problem. We have the tech. But we can’t improve employee engagement and productivity with 80% of the workforce left out of the conversation.

"I'd like some fresh, clear, well-seasoned perspective." That line from Ratatouille lives rent-free in my head. The critic doesn’t want more food, he asks for perspective on a plate. Buyers and sales teams want the same thing. They’re not looking for a longer feature list or a problem slide. They want clarity. A strong POV. A commercial insight that changes how they see the problem. The homie Zach Roberts 💀 casually dropped the a report from Challenger’s latest research: “45% of sales teams say their #1 need is help creating commercial insights that teach buyers something new.” Because let’s be real. If you sit on four demos and everyone’s showing the same slides, saying the same lines…you’re not learning anything new. Great commercial insight does something different: It deconstructs the buyer’s thinking… challenges an existing assumption… and opens the door to a new solution. It’s an idea that cuts through the noise and reframes the conversation. If you ask me, PMMs are built for this. We have the inputs: market shifts, customer learnings, competitive landscape. We can turn those into stories and tools that help sales teach something new. Which then helps buyers understand: – What’s changed in the world? – What are others doing that they’re not? – Why now? It’s not just about telling our story. It’s about helping the champ tell a new one.

This quarter my team: 1. Launched a video series with 6 episodes in the queue–spotlighting voices across the HR tech ecosystem. Practitioners, founders, implementation experts, IT leaders, CFOs. Now we’re focused on leveling it up even further for the DACH market. 2. Produced 3+ super high impact customer stories. These go beyond the typical case study…with numbers, interviews, clips, and slides. Designed to provoke thought. Compel action. Inspire new ways of using our product. 3. Started implementing a customer advocacy platform we’re pretty excited about. It’s basically a digital customer advisory board. More on that soon. 4. Created a champion deck for our buyers so they can confidently pitch (and defend) our solution internally. 5. Released at bunch of features that are generating a bunch of product-led expansion opps. Retros are important. They help us see what’s broken and where to improve, as they should. But they can also overshadow all the amazing progress that gets made. When I zoom out and look at what we shipped and learned… Damn, Q1 was one for the books. Q2, we ready for ya.

My client fired me in the most Canadian way possible. I’ve been writing for Eric Doty and the Dock team for almost 2 years. We created deep dives on product marketing, buyer enablement, GTM strategy, pricing, etc. All drawing on expert insights from their Grow & Tell podcast, plus interviews I did with people in my network (like the amazing Abby Nitta!) He broke up with me to focus on product-led content. TBH, a smart move. I’m not cheap. And it’s where the company needed to invest for the next stage of growth. But as we parted ways, he posted about how I went about getting a recommendation. It went viral. I didn’t tell him this yet so he doesn’t get jealous, but since then multiple people have reached out to work with me. All I did was ask for a recommendation. But instead of asking him to reflect back on the wonderful times we had, I did it for him. Three bullets to recap the work we did together. He could literally plug it into ChatGPT and spit out the reference. Doing this let me shape how I wanted to be positioned (product marketing + content). Even more importantly, I wanted to make it easy for him. I didn’t want to be a burden…like a bad ex. When you ask for something: a referral, intro, reference…make it ridiculously easy for them to say yes. Remove any cognitive load. They’ll help you, and might even tell others too. (Disclaimer: much more likely if they’re Canadian)

“Who’s gonna own this?” The most dreaded question you can get as a PMM in a meeting. Because when the hot potato game starts, the buck typically stops with product marketing. Why? Because our job description is just wide enough to make us the default owner for most projects. So even if we’re not responsible, we’re accountable to everything. And we thrive in ambiguity, so when no one else raises their hand..we get excited and volunteer ourselves. But just because we CAN doesn’t mean we SHOULD. That’s I’ve been questioning more and owning less. Narrowing scope. Asking for clarity first. Pointing to something that already exists. Because if we say yes to everything, we end up playing whack-a-mole instead of focusing on what’s best for the business and customer. I still mess this up. I still take things on that I shouldn’t. But I’m getting better. Because more practice = less reactive projects = more time to focus on OKRs and impact. Who else struggles with this? How do you handle the silence after “who’s gonna own this”?

I love talking to people who think big and help me think big. Not in an abstract, useless way. Like big picture, with the stories and examples to back it. So chatting with Eric Holland 💀 filled my cup. The legends are true. Dude keeps it real, knows his stuff, and is fun to talk to. After peepin his content for awhile I finally decided to reach out. Learned a ton about the origin story of Dash Bros and We’re Not Marketers. How him and my former boss Jason Oakley (who hired me into my first formal role as a Sr PMM) built DemoDash. He shared a remix of Ikagai. It was a kung fu panda moment. Find: - What you love - What the market loves that you love ($$$) - What will last and isn’t just a trend The last one hit me. Because I love a lot of things and could prob get paid for a lot of them. But my energy and motivation can vary–except when it comes for customer research. It’s the unsexy part of PMM work. The black box behind positioning and messaging. Most teams do it once per project or quarter (if that). No system, no rigor, no fresh insight. But I love the dirty work. Building processes, running interviews, synthesizing and sharing insights across the org. Yes, this should typically happen in-house. But I’ve seen how hard it is to spend time doing this as a PMM when you’re drowning in deliverables. But no research = no insight = no fresh POV. That’s where I’ll come in. What do you think, am I on to something? Also, go follow Eric Holland 💀 and subscribe to We're Not Marketers 💀

Jonathan Pipek 🔱 isn’t a connector. He’s a SUPER connector. I’ve only met a handful of people who operate like this. People who seem to instinctively build bridges, open doors, and make the right introductions at just the right time. It’s an increasingly rare and valuable skill / character trait to have. So what makes someone a super connector? - Nearly every conversation includes “have you met….?” - They will always remember some thoughtful detail about you - They somehow make time for everyone I asked Jonathan where this comes from on a recent episode of Fails & Fixes. His answer was simple but powerful: Genuine curiosity and a willingness to go the extra 100 miles for others. It doesn’t always come naturally. But it’s worth learning and studying the greats. Others like: Karishma Bali Rajiv 'RajNATION' Nathan Daniel Cmejla Who’s a super connector in your life?