Defining business context for product managers

Margie Agin is a seasoned go-to-market advisor for B2B technology scale-ups. She brings deep expertise across digital marketing, IT, and cybersecurity. As Founder and Chief Strategist of Centerboard Marketing as well as a former leader at companies like Cisco and Blackboard, she has built a career translating complex technical products into effective market strategies. In this episode (which marks her second visit to Product Momentum), Margie’s message is clear: go-to-market (GTM) is not a one-time event or a siloed function – it is an ongoing, cross-functional system that must connect product teams and broader business goals.

GTM: A Shared, Continuous Responsibility

It’s time to redefine go-to-market as a shared, continuous responsibility across teams, Margie says. Product managers in particular often feel disconnected because their fellow stakeholders in the organization misunderstand go-to-market as either a launch event or solely a sales function. Margie reframes GTM as “a coordinated cross-functional engine that spans product, marketing, sales, customer success, and even finance.”  It’s a perspective that challenges product teams to actively engage in downstream outcomes and collaborate beyond traditional boundaries.

Business Context Drives Product Contribution

Fundamental to making this critical connection between product team and business outcomes is embracing the product’s fit within the broader business and portfolio strategy. Margie reiterates a message shared by recent guests that product managers need to look beyond their individual product scope and consider how their work contributes to company-wide goals like growth, positioning, and revenue. “Think about your product within the context of the business and how it fits into the whole portfolio,” Margie urges.

Know Your Targets: Clarity of Audience and Signals Improves Outcomes

Rather than trying to boil the ocean by targeting broad customer segments, teams should focus on specific attributes and behaviors that indicate a strong fit. Defining a precise ideal customer profile and identifying meaningful signals of readiness bring a level of clarity to your message that enables more effective messaging, prioritization, and sales efficiency. “It [your target] can’t just be like, everybody that has money,” Margie says. “It has to be somebody with a defined problem and defined attributes – beyond just industry or size of company.” For product leaders, this reinforces the need to deeply understand customer context and bring that insight into go-to-market planning.

In the Age of AI, a Strong Point of View Still Matters

Finally, even as AI accelerates execution, it does not – indeed, can not – replace the original thinking and nuanced messaging. Teams must still define what makes their product unique and why it matters. AI can enhance delivery, Margie adds, but it cannot generate true insight or perspective. “The difficult part is always what the difficult part has always been, which is figuring out what you have to contribute to the conversation that is unique.”

Margie Agin, in her own words:

[04:23] When I think of go-to-market, I think one of the most important aspects is that it is connected across different teams.

[08:22] Go-to-market is all about connecting the strategy to the execution to make sure everyone is on point with the strategy.

[08:53] Product teams need to think about how their product fits into the context of the organization’s whole portfolio.

[11:30] As a company matures, its go-to-market strategy lands in one of three buckets: problem-market fit, product-market fit, and platform-market fit.

[19:29] We can’t try to boil the ocean and sell to everybody, right? Target customers can’t be ‘everybody who has money.’ Customers have to have a defined problem and some defined attributes, beyond just industry or size of company.

[23:58] That type of deep, nuanced thinking…that human work…I don’t think at this point, is something that is solved by AI.

[26:40] AI can execute a lot of work on your behalf, but only you know what ultimately you want the result to be.

Andrew Knoblauch leads Sales, Partnerships, and Acquisitions at ITX. He believes the best technology partnerships start with genuine relationships, and that understanding a business deeply is what turns a software engagement into lasting value. Andrew connects organizations with technologists and product leaders while remaining invested in delivering strong business outcomes.

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