From The Next Decision Podcast: A Conversation with Rob Le Piane, Chief Product Officer at Altrata
“Product marketing is the missing lever.”
That’s the bold insight Rob Le Piane, Chief Product Officer at Altrata, dropped in our first episode of The Next Decision podcast, hosted by Decision Counsel’s own Jarie Bolander. This episode dives deep into the critical—yet often dysfunctional—relationship between product, marketing, and sales in B2B SaaS companies. And it hits where it hurts: alignment.
In this post, we’ll break down the key takeaways from the episode, including why misalignment is so common, how to fix it, and what product marketing’s true role should be in a high-growth organization.
The Alignment Gap Is Real
Rob kicks things off with a confession every B2B leader can relate to: even in mature organizations, product and marketing often operate in silos.
“It’s a huge challenge. Product teams speak one language, marketing another—and sales, well, they have their own dialect entirely.”
Rob doesn’t just highlight the problem—he’s lived it. With 20+ years in B2B SaaS across multiple industries, he’s seen what happens when product marketing is undervalued or misunderstood: confused customers, scattered messaging, and deals that stall in the final mile.
Product Marketing as the Strategic Linchpin
So, what’s missing? According to Rob, it’s the strategic center of gravity: product marketing.
“We think of product marketing as a bridge function, but it’s really the driver of market success. Without it, you’re left with great products nobody understands or messaging that’s disconnected from value.”
Instead of relegating product marketing to launch decks and competitive battle cards, Rob and Jarie argue it should be embedded early in product development. That way, marketing doesn’t just tell a story—it helps shape it from the start.
It’s Time to Align Around Outcomes
Jarie makes a sharp point about where alignment often breaks down: metrics.
“Product is focused on shipping. Marketing is focused on pipeline. Sales is focused on revenue. No one’s rowing in the same direction.”
Rob proposes an elegant solution: align around the customer journey—not departmental goals. That means creating shared OKRs across product, marketing, and sales. And it starts with building a joint understanding of the user, their pain points, and what actually drives adoption and renewal.
The key? Treat go-to-market (GTM) as a team sport, not a hand-off.
Message-Market Fit: The Overlooked Cousin of Product-Market Fit
Everyone obsesses over product-market fit. But as Rob notes, message-market fit is just as critical—and often ignored.
“You can have the best product in the world, but if your message doesn’t land, it doesn’t matter. That’s where product marketing shines.”
This isn’t just about taglines or elevator pitches. It’s about deeply understanding the nuances of your buyers, what outcomes they care about, and how your product uniquely delivers. Rob calls for richer collaboration between customer success, product, and marketing teams to ensure messaging isn’t just compelling—it’s true.
From Silos to Systems: A New GTM Blueprint
To operationalize alignment, Rob and Jarie suggest rethinking how GTM teams are structured.
Rather than organizing around functions (e.g., product vs. marketing vs. sales), Rob recommends organizing around motions—shared initiatives like launching into a new vertical or expanding a core feature. This cross-functional focus ensures everyone’s work ladders up to a unified objective.
Their conversation underscores a larger truth: B2B orgs need fewer meetings and more shared ownership.
The Takeaway: Align or Fail
If there’s one message to walk away with, it’s this: alignment is not optional.
When product, marketing, and sales aren’t aligned, growth stalls. Customers get confused. Teams get frustrated. Rob puts it plainly:
“The customer experience is the sum of every disconnect inside your org.”
But when alignment happens, real, structural alignment that goes beyond buzzwords, magic happens. Messages resonate. Products sell. Teams feel momentum.
Listen to the Episode
Want the full conversation with Rob LePiane? Listen to Episode 1 of The Next Decision: “Align or Fail: What Product Needs From Marketing to Win”
Available on Spotify, YouTube, and wherever you get your shows.
Final Thought
If you’re a product leader, marketer, or sales exec at a growth-stage B2B company—especially in private equity-backed environments—this episode is your wake-up call. The lever missing in your go-to-market engine might just be the one you’ve been overlooking all along: product marketing.
Now’s the time to pull it.
