From rewriting box copy for QuickBooks to rearchitecting the GTM motion at Recurly and Pipefy, Mark Pinard has made a career out of customer-centric marketing. In this Knocking to 10 episode, Mark shares how he went from support rep to CMO by following one principle: deep customer understanding.
Lessons on Product Marketing, Customer-Centric Messaging, and Sales Enablement from Intuit, Recurly, Pipefy, and Plane
Mark Pinard has seen it all. From running a $25M business line at Intuit in his 20s, to leading marketing at Zero, Pipefy, and now Plane, he’s helped scale some of the most respected SaaS companies by blending strategic rigor with real-world customer empathy.
In this episode of Knocking to 10, Mark shares what it takes to move from SMB to enterprise, how to structure effective marketing teams, and why marketers must obsess over customer pain—not just campaign metrics.
Key Takeaway: Generic marketing language kills trust, especially with technical or number-driven buyers. You must ground your messaging in real processes and metrics.
In his early days at Intuit, Mark learned a brutal lesson: accountants hated vague claims. Phrases like “saves time” triggered visceral backlash in customer interviews. Why? Because they lacked specificity. Instead, success came from tying value props to clear workflows—like reducing payroll processing steps or automating invoice approvals.
“If you can't tie your value to a real-world process, your message won't land. Especially if your buyer lives in spreadsheets.”
Key Takeaway: Want to write better copy? Influence product roadmap? Close the strategy gap? Start by deeply understanding your customer through real conversations.
Mark insists that all marketers—not just PMMs—spend their first 30–60 days shadowing sales calls, doing customer interviews, and even running “follow-me-home” exercises. He’s taken engineers and PMs into the field to watch customers run payroll in real time.
“Gong is good. But sitting next to a customer while they struggle with a tool? That’s where the gold is.”
Key Takeaway: Great marketing leaders often come from product marketing because they understand how to connect the dots across product, sales, customer success, and strategy.
Mark’s north star? Acting as the “hub” between departments. In his view, siloed GTM teams are the biggest threat to execution. Product marketers must proactively surface customer insights, influence roadmap, enable sales, and drive consistent positioning across every touchpoint.
“Everyone’s running their own playbook. PMMs have to be the connective tissue that ensures the whole company is telling the same story.”
Key Takeaway: Before going upmarket, confirm your product is already being adopted (and retained) by enterprise customers—without heroics from your team.
At both Recurly and Pipefy, Mark led the shift from SMB to enterprise. But he didn’t start by rewriting the website or hiring enterprise AEs. First, he analyzed which larger customers were succeeding organically—and why. Then he used those signals to inform positioning, sales enablement, and the product roadmap.
“You need enterprise logos that love your product before you invest in scaling that motion. Otherwise, you're just hoping.”
Key Takeaway: High-impact webinars start with the audience, not the topic. Pair a true pain point with a credible expert, and build distribution like it’s a product launch.
Mark has run hundreds of webinars across his career—from early-stage startups to scaled companies—and consistently turned them into top-performing acquisition channels. His secret?
“Most teams underinvest in prep and massively underutilize the content after it’s done. That’s where the real ROI lives.”
Key Takeaway: When going upmarket, your top-of-funnel lead volume will shrink. That’s a feature, not a bug. Focus on pipeline quality, win rates, and sales cycle velocity.
Mark warns that many companies panic when they see MQLs drop during the shift to enterprise. But with higher ACVs and longer cycles, the right question becomes: are we attracting and converting the right accounts?
“Don’t get stuck in MQL theater. Enterprise GTM is slower, messier, and way more lucrative—if you measure it right.”
Mark’s biggest advice for marketers at early-stage companies? Don’t wait for permission. Whether you’re a PMM, demand gen lead, or first hire—bring data, bring ideas, and challenge assumptions.
“If you see something, say something. The best marketers don’t wait for a VP to tell them what to do. They act like owners.”
Follow Mark Pinard on LinkedIn for more tactical go-to-market insights.
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