Hiring for marketing is hard, especially when you’re a technical founder. If you’ve never worked closely with marketers, how can you confidently hire one?

In this episode of the In Demand Podcast, Asia and Kim break down why marketing hires are so tricky for SaaS founders.

They walk through the differences between strategic leaders vs executors, how to define the role you really need, and why under-hiring is one of the biggest mistakes founders make.

Got a question you'd like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here. 

Chapters

• (00:01:10 ) - Why is hiring for marketing so hard (especially when you're a technical founder)?
• (00:05:00 ) - Don’t base your hiring benchmark on celebrity marketers.
• (00:06:50 ) - Sometimes the people who are best at self-promotion aren't the best at marketing your business.
• (00:09:55 ) - Start by defining your fully loaded marketing budget and if it's possible for you to afford a quality full-time hire.
• (00:12:30 ) - Strategic vs. tactical hires: What kind of marketer do you need?
• (00:17:30 ) - Why experience with a similar company in a similar stage is critical.
• (00:20:33 ) - You can’t spot fit from a resume; you must dig in during interviews and think about how you will work with this person.
• (00:29:30 ) - VC vs. bootstrapped: know who your role will attract.
• (00:35:05 ) - Consider overseas talent as there are great marketers at much more competitive salaries
• (00:38:00 ) - Use the Rule of 40 to assess when you're ready to hire.
• (00:43:00 ) - Successful ROI on a marketing hire is not only about growth rate, it's also about creating a qualitative impact, like freeing up the founder to have a higher impact.