How to Build a Product Marketing Motion That Works (with Jeff Hardison)

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Mar 5, 2026

Jeff Hardison, VP of Product Marketing at Sanity and former Calendly lead, builds high-performing PMM teams. He talks about structuring groups for both PLG and enterprise, hiring specialists over generalists, running launches that rally the company, and measuring a function that touches every team. Short, tactical frameworks and two revealing interview questions make the conversation practical and punchy.

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ANECDOTE

Early PR Hustle Taught Versatile Marketing Skills

Jeff moved from PR to integrated marketing, then to startups where he became the first non-engineering hire and did sales, CS, PM and marketing.
That early 'figure it out' agency grind taught him storytelling, hustle, and how to learn products fast.

ADVICE

Create Solutions Marketers For Key Personas

Create a solutions marketing function that specializes in ICPs and supports sales with battle cards, PDFs, and cadence copy.
Let solutions marketers own persona knowledge and be the bridge between sales, demand gen, and PMMs.

INSIGHT

Full Stack PMMs Break At Scale

Trying to force full-stack PMMs to own both consumer experimentation and enterprise enablement breaks teams.
Specialization reduces burnout and prevents gaps that harm credibility with product and sales leaders.

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#335 | Jeff Hardison, now VP of Product Marketing at Sanity, joined Dave when he was running product marketing at Calendly to break down what the product marketing role should actually look like inside a B2B company. They get into how Jeff structured his team to serve both a PLG motion and an enterprise sales team at the same time, why he hires for specialization instead of making everyone a generalist, and how he thinks about measuring a function that touches almost every team in the company. Jeff also shares his take on positioning and messaging, how to run product launches that actually rally the company, and the two interview questions he uses to figure out if someone will be happy in a product marketing role.

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