Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales • Hacker News Board

Re: Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales

#21

Post by bitbasher » Wed, Aug 14, 2024, 11:32 AM UTC

I read your Reddit post and it was as light and fluffy as this post.

Marketing (and sales) are critical. That was obvious to me the first year I was employed when my company sold products and features that didn't even exist.

Sales: "Hey, can product X do feature Y?"

Me: "No, not at all".

Sales: "Well, it does now!"

What tips do you have for marketing? How can engineers break down limiting beliefs and approach marketing? What is marketing and when does it become sales? What have you done that is successful?

If "marketing" is what's happening on the LinkedIn home feed then I'd rather be unemployed and homeless.

Re: Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales

#22

Post by meiraleal » Wed, Aug 14, 2024, 11:43 AM UTC

Protip: it is much easier to market a good product.

Re: Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales

#23

Post by debacle » Wed, Aug 14, 2024, 3:19 PM UTC

bitbasher wrote: post #21

I read your Reddit post and it was as light and fluffy as this post. Marketing (and sales) are critical. That was obvious to me the first year I was employed when my company sold products and features that didn't even exist. Sales: "Hey, can product X do feature Y?" Me: "No, not at all". Sales: "Well, it does now!" What tips do you have for marketing? How can engineers break down limiting beliefs and approach marketi…

If spamming LinkedIn was "marketing," there'd be way more successful MBAs.

If you don't understand marketing as an engineer, start hanging around more non-engineer people. Not everyone spends 45 minutes reading reviews on a 6 packs of socks on Amazon. Understanding median consumer decision making is critical.

Re: Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales

#24

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Aug 14, 2024, 3:37 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales

#25

Post by danjl » Wed, Aug 14, 2024, 4:28 PM UTC

Before you didn't understand how to build a company. You learned poorly, the difficult way - yourself - rather than easily from others who have done it before. Read The Lean Startup, The Mom Test, Venture Deals, and Traction.

Re: Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales

#26

Post by zomg » Wed, Aug 14, 2024, 5:20 PM UTC

i don't agree with any of the above. in fact, it's cringy, tbh.

once you appreciate the dance that all functional teams perform in an organization, you'll experience true success.

Re: Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales

#27

Post by altdataseller » Wed, Aug 14, 2024, 8:44 PM UTC

satvikpendem wrote: post #13

Well, yes, this is what everyone who runs a startup or company will tell you. People will tolerate bad products as long as it solves their problem, the hard part is getting them to use it in the first place.

Its not a bad product if it solves their problem. Maybe it doesnt look elegant, or the code is convoluted or its not intuitive to use.

Buts its not a bad product

Re: Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales

#28

Post by alpha_king » Fri, Aug 16, 2024, 9:42 AM UTC

[dead]

Re: Marketing >>> Engineering and Sales

#29

Post by satvikpendem » Tue, Aug 20, 2024, 4:57 PM UTC

altdataseller wrote: post #27

satvikpendem wrote: post #13

Well, yes, this is what everyone who runs a startup or company will tell you. People will tolerate bad products as long as it solves their problem, the hard part is getting them to use it in the first place.

Its not a bad product if it solves their problem. Maybe it doesnt look elegant, or the code is convoluted or its not intuitive to use. Buts its not a bad product

I meant bad as in UI/UX bad, not actually bad as in ill-suited to the problem. Of course, you are correct.