Sassy chocolate: https://amzn.to/4k8YIjE

In this episode, we tackle a big question: Do you really need a marketing degree to become a Product Marketing Manager?

We break down:
✅ How to break into product marketing (with or without a marketing background)
✅ The must-have skills for PMMs—storytelling, curiosity, and cross-functional collaboration
✅ The importance of aligning product, sales, and marketing for success
✅ How to fast-track your career in SaaS marketing

And in our SaaSy Struggles segment, we get real about breastfeeding challenges, the pressure on new moms, and why "feed is best."

🎧 Tune in now for career insights, mom life, and some real talk! #SaaSyMoms #ProductMarketing #CareerGrowth

(00:00:01)  Sassy Chocolate - Anna's favorite chocolate

(00:00:34)  From Biochemistry to PMM: Wendy’s Career Pivot

(00:09:13) Doing the PMM Job Before You Get the Title

(00:13:42) Cracking the Code: How to Land a Product Marketing Job Without Direct Experience

(00:17:20) The Secret Sauce to PMM Success: Storytelling & Curiosity 

(00:26:46) Making a 30 day Impact as a Product Marketer

(00:33:06) Sassy Struggles: The Realities of Breastfeeding

(00:36:01) Breastfeeding, change, sleep in this order!

(00:37:42) Feed or Breast is Best?

#ProductManagement #WomenInTech #SaaSyMoms #CareerGrowth #WorkingMoms #PMTips #Motherhood

In this episode, Wendy and Anya deep dive into product positioning mistakes—specifically, the consequences of placing a product in the wrong category. You will learn about the challenges of market fit, customer expectations, and competition when a product is misclassified, as well as understand why adding new features won't fix fundamental product-market fit issues. 

SaaSy Moms is your insightful podcast about product strategy, marketing, and business growth!

(00:00:21) Tech glitches, but SaaSy moms are unstoppable

(00:01:16) The key to SaaS product success is Customer research

(00:01:50) Costly mistakes of marketing a product in the wrong category

(00:02:56) Real life case study: When a product was marketed to the wrong category in IT (MSP Industry)

(00:06:04) Product category defines customer expectations

(00:06:49) How we fixed the wrong product category problem—Step by Step

(00:08:13) Why adding features won’t contribute to product’s growth

(00:10:34) Adjusting positioning increased sales & reduced churn

(00:11:40) User insights that changed product’s trajectory

(00:12:48) The power of rebranding

(00:13:31) Defining right Product category is a key component of product success

(00:14:22) When changing your Product Category won’t solve your problems

(00:15:10) A case study when rebranding will not work

(00:16:42) Availability of resources determines your product strategy

(00:17:36) Navigating established markets

(00:21:16) Customer research

(00:23:32) Conducting customer interviews - step by step guide

(00:25:55) Product repositioning must be a cross-team effort

(00:28:27) SaaSy Struggles: Introducing a bottle

(00:30:02) Unfair demonization of bottle in society

(00:32:35) How introducing a bottle can help with mental health

(00:35:38) Happy mom = Happy baby

#ProductManagement #WomenInTech #SaaSyMoms #CareerGrowth #WorkingMoms #PMTips #Motherhood

In this episode of SaaSy Moms Wendy and Anya take a deep dive into the discipline of Product Marketing, answering key questions:  

• What Product Marketing actually is (hint: it's more than flashy ads!). 

• How PMMs bridge the gap between product, sales, and marketing

• The art of positioning, messaging, and storytelling for product launches

• How PMMs collaborate with demand gen, sales, content, and customer marketing

  
  

  (00:00:53) What is SaaS Marketing

  (00:01:43) Marketing disciplines uncovered: demand generation, customer, content, digital, event, and product marketing.

  (00:04:05) What do product marketers do?

  (00:05:09) Top product marketing job challenge: being a middleman

  (00:07:45) Product marketing in startups

  (00:09:24) What made Wendy fall in love with product marketing 

  (00:09:52) The power of Positioning and messaging 

  (00:11:12) How to do messaging to existing customers 

  (00:12:43) How PMMs and PMs work together

  (00:15:12) Collaboration guide of PMM with other marketing departments

  (00:16:43) How Product Marketers help with B2B SaaS sales

  (00:18:05) Why Product marketers are babysitters

  (00:18:38) Goal alignment as an instrument for navigating dependencies

  (00:21:04) Day-to-day of a product marketer - positioning, feature launches, sales enablement and campaign management.

  (00:25:46) SaaSy Struggles: When a Perfectly Healthy Pregnancy Took a Terrifying Turn

  (00:32:50) Why an Epidural Can Be a Lifesaver in Prolonged Labor 

  (00:33:31) Importance of being flexible with your birth plan

  (00:35:00) Drink electrolytes during labor! It can save your life.

  
  

  #ProductManagement #WomenInTech #SaaSyMoms #CareerGrowth #WorkingMoms #PMTips #Motherhood

What exactly does a Product Manager do in the world of SaaS? A lot of job descriptions require PMs to “manage roadmap”. But what does roadmap management truly entail? In this episode of SaaSy Moms, Anya and Wendy will deep dive into the broad aspect of PMs responsibilities, and explain how to make an impact on business through product.

(00:01:34) TheTrue goal of product management

(00:01:58) How to create a product that makes money

(00:02:23) WhatReally Needs to Happen Before You Build a Roadmap 

(00:02:45) What PMs should know about business 

(00:03:27) What every PM should know about the Market

(00:04:02) The Must-Know Insights on Customers & Users

(00:04:49) Detailed product knowledge is a must for PMs

(00:05:25) Crafting Product strategy and measurable initiatives

(00:06:37) Bingo! Now you are ready to build a roadmap

(00:06:57) Roadmap Execution 

(00:08:09) How to understand your market and business

(00:11:03) Consequences of neglecting business goals

(00:11:42) Managing Unlimited Customer needs without losing focus

(00:13:23) How Deep a PM’s Financial knowledge should go

(00:16:58) Competitive analysis

(00:17:32) Blockbuster vs. Netflix story

(00:18:58) Product Owner, Product Manager, and Business Analyst. Roles and Responsibilities

(00:22:20) What goes into launching a new feature. Let’s touch base on requirements

(00:25:41) How not to miss key user needs when designing a feature

(00:27:16) PMs’ role during the feature launch

(00:29:28) How to get into Product Management

(00:31:15) SaaSy Struggles: The Dangers of Giving Birth & Wendy’s Experience

(00:32:13) Wendy’s unmedicated birth to her first kid

(00:37:55) Giving birth to twins

(00:45:360 The newborn stage with twins

(00:48:20) Newborn Amnesia

#ProductManagement #WomenInTech #SaaSyMoms #CareerGrowth #WorkingMoms #PMTips #Motherhood

In this episode, we break down the fundamentals of SaaS—what it is, why it’s such a game-changer, what makes SaaS a unique business model, and what it takes to succeed in the industry. We also talk about how to balance pregnancy with full-time job.

Probiotics to help with gassiness:⁠https://amzn.to/4ahLOLG⁠

Checklist for Kids:⁠https://amzn.to/4jyoNrM

(00:00:40) What is SaaS?

(00:03:00) The Story Behind "SaaS-y Moms"—How We Named Our Podcast

(00:03:30) What makes Wendy Sassy

(00:06:06) What makes Anya Sassy

(00:07:57) Wendy’s sass as a mom of 3 kids

(00:08:44) Anya’s sass as a mom of a newborn

(00:09:57) What is B2B SaaS

(00:10:48) Different types of SaaS

(00:11:13) Why is SaaS a predictable business model?

(00:13:26) Monthly recurring revenue

(00:14:15) Understanding SaaS Metrics and customer retention

(00:15:51) Why do angry users during the Mike Tyson fight teach us that Netflix is a great business?

(00:17:56) Running a SaaS vs. Running a Traditional Business—What’s the Difference?

(00:18:23) The importance of product managers in SaaS

(00:20:40) SaaS Marketing vs. Traditional Marketing

(00:23:52) The Probiotic That Saves the Day (For Newborn gas, Not SaaS!)https://amzn.to/4ahLOLG

(00:26:00) The Ultimate 8-Year-Old Checklist (That Actually Works!)https://amzn.to/4jyoNrM

(00:27:45) SaaSy Struggles: The realities of working while pregnant

(00:29:44) How to stay productive at work while being pregnant?

(00:33:25) Managing work during pregnancy

(00:34:59) Workplace Empathy: How companies can support pregnant employees

In the 1st episode of SaaS-y Moms, Wendy and Anya introduce themselves, their journey as mothers and tech professionals, and the purpose behind starting the podcast. Anya shares her experience as a new mom with a four-week-old baby, while Wendy reflects on her own parenting journey, managing three kids, including twins, alongside a thriving career in the tech industry.

The episode explores the challenges of motherhood—lack of sleep, juggling responsibilities, and learning on the go—and highlights the unique struggles of being women in the male-dominated tech industry.

This episode sets the stage for future discussions on balancing work and motherhood, overcoming challenges as women in tech, and lessons learned from both professional and personal experiences.

Probiotics to help with gassiness:https://amzn.to/4ahLOLG

Checklist for Kids:https://amzn.to/4jyoNrM

(00:00:05) Introduction

(00:00:58) Finding time for career while managing kids

(00:05:34) Why did we start SaaS-y Moms podcast?

(00:06:47) Who is Wendy? Professionally and as a Mom.

(00:09:40) Again on SaaS-y Moms podcast purpose

(00:14:21) Anya and Wendy working together

(00:16:03) Who is Anya? Professionally and as a Mom

(00:19:18) A path towards working in product marketing

(00:20:25) Product management is much more than launching features

(00:22:48) Product marketing is much more than storytelling

(00:25:10) PM and PMM collaboration

(00:29:17) SaaSy Struggle with 8-year old kid

(00:30:14) Solution: What to do when 8-year old kid doesn't want to do day-to-day activities. Give them a checklist!

(00:33:05) SaaSy Struggle with a newborn

(00:33:58) Solution: Burping, Massage and Probiotics

(00:36:10) Subscribe and comment