1Password's CMO reframes the role as being the 'Chief Markets Officer.' Their primary responsibility is to find or create a market where the company holds an insurmountable advantage, even if it requires steering the entire business toward a new category to become number one.

Even as the established leader in password management, 1Password is creating a new category ('Extended Access Management') to fuel its next phase of growth. This proactive strategy prevents stagnation and allows them to define the future rather than just defending their current position.

Rather than approaching executives first, prospect the individual contributors who will actually use your solution. By creating internal champions at the user level, you generate a 'gravitational pull' that brings you into executive conversations with pre-built support, making decision-makers more receptive to your message.

Top-down mandates for change, like adopting new tools, often fail. A more effective strategy is to identify and convert influential, respected figures within the organization—like a founder—into passionate advocates. Their authentic belief and evangelism will drive adoption far more effectively than any executive decree.

Directly approaching large organizations is often ineffective. Instead, emulate Slack's growth model by getting individual employees to use and love the product. This creates internal champions who advocate for wider organizational adoption, pulling the product in rather than pushing it from the outside.

For products targeting specialized professionals like pilots, credibility is paramount. The most effective way to ensure product-market fit and user adoption is to hire an actual end-user (like a pilot) onto the product team. They can co-create concepts, validate language, and champion the product to their peers.

To define a new, more emotional category, start by deeply understanding the core problem you solve. ClickUp did this by surveying its 800 customer-facing employees and interviewing its best customers about the specific problems solved for both practitioners and executives.

1Password's growth illustrates the 'land and expand' model. Start with a B2C product individuals love, which they bring into their workplace. This creates organic internal demand, allowing you to then approach the company with an enterprise solution offering management and compliance.

A counterintuitive marketing strategy is to focus on owning the customer's problem rather than your product's features. Clearly articulating the problem builds trust and credibility, leading prospects to assume your solution is the right one without a feature-deep dive.