Hiring a first product manager is rarely just a staffing decision. For most founders, it marks the moment when building a company starts to require a fundamentally different kind of thinking about priorities, trade-offs, and how the product grows. To understand how that transition plays out in practice, we spoke with John Merse, a VP…
AI is not simply reshaping software functionality. It is fundamentally altering how enterprise technology is evaluated, validated, approved, and ultimately purchased. For founders building B2B SaaS companies in 2026, this shift is structural rather than cosmetic. Enterprise sales has moved from persuasion-heavy to validation-heavy. It has shifted from storytelling to technical credibility. And increasingly, it…
When the CEO of Alexi set out to hire their first product manager, the objective was clear: ship the next version of the product on more advanced LLM models and support the company’s growth from Series A to B. What unfolded was broader and ultimately more impactful. Walid Koleila joined Alexi, an AI automation platform…
Our client, a Bay Area AI SaaS startup, had recently raised a Series A and was experiencing a surge in inbound interest. To keep up with demand and drive expansion, they needed an Enterprise Customer Success Manager. Our client was in search of CSMs with a specific profile: experience managing technical users and large Enterprise…
Hiring your first Product Manager is one of the most consequential decisions a founder will make. It is rarely just a headcount decision. It is a signal that the company is shifting from founder-led product decisions to a more structured, repeatable way of building. When done at the right moment and with the right profile,…
Benchmarking Product Marketing Manager salary and compensation is rarely straightforward. Compensation is frequently described as being “all over the place,” and for good reason. Even within the same industry, salary ranges can vary significantly between companies hiring for the same title and level of experience. That’s because Product Marketing Manager (PMM) compensation is shaped by…
After hundreds of conversations with hiring managers and recruiters, one thing has become crystal clear: getting hired as an AI product manager isn’t about certifications, bootcamps, or theoretical knowledge. It’s about something far simpler and far harder to fake, lived experience. The Fundamental Rule That Still Applies Despite all the hype around AI, the…
What do Chief Product Officers earn today? As we enter into 2026, we’re pausing to take a look at the current state of Chief Product Officer salary and compensation packages. These numbers are based on the real salaries of B2B SaaS Chief Product Officers we’ve recruited and represented. Planning to hire a CPO? Visit The…
We’ve been placing product leaders across Europe for years, and as we kick off 2026, we want to start the year by helping companies and candidates better navigate compensation expectations. We’ve analyzed our own first-party data from a recent search; 34 experienced Product Managers we’ve engaged with across Europe. These aren’t survey responses or self-reported…
The product management job market has experienced a dramatic rollercoaster over the past five years, and understanding where we are in that cycle is critical for professionals planning their next move in 2026. The Hiring Reality: From Boom to Stall to Cautious Recovery The numbers tell a sobering story. After startup headcount growth surged to…
Product, marketing, sales and leadership hiring never stop evolving, and 2025 proved it in spades. From Platform PMs going mainstream to CPO comp hitting new highs, this year’s most-read articles captured the questions founders and hiring leaders were actually asking. Here’s what you were reading: 1. The Rise of the Platform Product Manager…
Our PE-backed B2B SaaS client was gearing up for aggressive growth and needed a Senior Product Director to lead their flagship portfolio. They were in search of a senior leader with a proven track record scaling to $100M+, ideally within a PE-backed organization. Their ideal hire also needed experience owning the platform strategy for a…
You know the feeling. Your engineering team is building. Revenue is climbing. But somewhere between your last board meeting and this morning’s standup, product stopped being something you lead and started being something you manage. The Jira tickets are piling up. Priorities are unclear. Your team is asking questions you don’t have time to answer….
How AI, layoffs, and market pressures are reshaping marketing teams, and why your recruiting partner needs to understand this market shift and the rise of the integrated marketer. The marketing world is experiencing a seismic shift that’s flying under the radar of most hiring managers and recruiters. While everyone’s been focused on AI disruption…
Our sub-100-person, sustainability-focused B2B SaaS startup client was seeking their first Head of Customer Success. A senior leader ready to design and scale a high-performing client journey and function from the ground up. They need an accomplished B2B SaaS leader with a true scrappy builder persona to come in and own the full post-sale customer…