Once you complete Pragmatic Institute training, it’s time to implement what you learned. We spoke with four alumni about the value of Pragmatic Institute certification and share highlights from their implementations-in-progress.
If you have a story you’d like to share about how you’re implementing the Pragmatic Institute Framework at your company, email us at editor@pragmaticmarketing.com.
Jennifer Keenan
Product Management and Strategy, Healthcare Industry
PMC V
The healthcare industry is constantly changing and growing. Finding a way to set yourself up for success in this fluctuating field can seem next to impossible. Lucky for Jennifer Keenan, when she started her career in product management, she was referred to Pragmatic Institute training by colleagues who understood how the certification would make a difference. She knew “it was important to have a strong foundation in how to think about innovating from a product perspective, given the rapid changes in healthcare.”
Becoming Pragmatic Institute certified has made all the difference, as evidenced in her career progression. She’s now fluent in all things related to product management and credits the “universal language that Pragmatic Institute training and the framework offers” for her continued success. The ability to collaborate and adapt is high in healthcare, and Pragmatic Institute’s specific series of tools can easily translate into any environment for any team to do more. Jennifer takes great pride in her work and often utilizes aspects of her training (like developing product roadmaps and leveraging a scoring system or gap analysis to make informed decisions) to bring about greater results for her employer.
Jennifer is a recent graduate of the University of Oregon’s Executive MBA program and is well on her way to earning her final PMC certification in Price.
Sarah Miller
Product Marketing
PMC II
Sarah Miller’s deep understanding of the importance of product marketing has grown from her diverse professional experience, including representing coffee and chocolate buyers in Fair Trade; representing SMEs as part of UBIFrance, the French Trade Commission; researching and testing new products with IAC Media; and much more.
“Sales and marketing go hand-in-hand,” Sarah explains, adding that “you can really only reach out so many times without relevant content. Product marketing is what I like to refer to as a full-stack marketer because it isn’t divorced from sales and research, but ultimately understands these functions to be a standout marketer.” Her drive to provide even better results using real, solid information led her to search for reputable and comprehensive training programs where she could get certified in product marketing in Silicon Valley.
Sarah chose Pragmatic Institute because she “wanted an in-person training program that would offer me a certification I could add to my resume to demonstrate more than just taking a class.” And the class was better than she could have imagined, as she was able to “network in the class with peers or potential companies in technology that I may want to work for.” Sarah now has two Pragmatic Institute certifications under her belt.
Jay Weber
Technical Product and Project Manager, WesternOne
PMC IV
Construction and oil and gas might have a reputation for not being as technologically advanced as other industries, but that doesn’t mean they are stagnant. At least that’s how Jay Weber has approached things in his 15+ years of experience. His knack for finding new ways to approach product management and his sincere joy in talking with customers with no agenda beyond listening has set him apart from other product managers—in any industry.
To help him add even more tricks to his bag, Jay took Pragmatic Institute training. “Pragmatic Institute puts the focus in the right place,” he says. “Instead of dreaming up in-house ideas, it puts the focus on solving customer problems. Sure, sometimes you get lucky—but it’s a systematic approach that wins.” With Pragmatic Institute’s help, Jay was able to better use his time talking to his customers, compiling data from those conversations, and recommending a course of action his key stakeholders couldn’t argue with.
But every product manager runs up against challenges now and then, and pricing was Jay’s most recent one. “The level of segmentation of the market, the level of willingness to pay, and how to determine pricing without a clear benchmark are so important in newer industries where a framework is critical,” he explains. Jay turned back to Pragmatic Institute and obtained his PMC in Price to help his company move confidently forward.
Chris Orlob
Senior Director of Product Marketing, Gong.io
PMC III
When you’re marketing a product positioned as the second most important tool a sales professional can have after Salesforce, you need to have the right skills and passion to back it up. That’s what Chris Orlob has discovered over the course of his career in sales, as an entrepreneur, and most recently with Gong.io, the “software that helps sales teams generate more revenue by having better sales conversations.”
For Chris, his job has always been about “solving the customer problems, and then coming together as a team in-house to determine the right positioning and messaging.” Over the years, his roles frequently shifted into the product marketing territory, and he often didn’t realize just how much product marketing he was doing, like creating marketing collateral and researching buyer personas. This is where Pragmatic Institute came into play.
Chris started researching product marketing—listening to podcasts; reading TunedIn, written by Pragmatic Institute’s founder; and more—but felt like he was “piecing together articles, seeking knowledge without always knowing if it was the best source.” That’s when he decided to sign up for Pragmatic Institute training. He felt like he found a gem, a single resource center where all the information was at his fingertips to help take his skills and his company to the next level.
