Jarod Greene’s career began in a classroom in New Haven, Connecticut, where he taught seventh grade.
Although far removed from Seattle’s software ecosystem, Greene’s time teaching math provided the groundwork for his current role as vice president of product marketing at Highspot.
“You really need to understand the level your audience is at, and for seventh grade, being a 21-year-old teaching a 12-year-old, we weren’t that far off. I had all the pop culture references. I knew what music they listened to,” Greene says. “Not everybody learns the same way. Not everybody thinks the same way.”
Twenty years later, Greene is now tasked with spreading the word about Highspot’s software for sales reps. It’s a major focus for the 10-year-old Highspot after raising $248 million in January and reaching a value of $3.5 billion.
The Business Journal spoke with Greene about his role, Highspot’s priorities and his love of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Jarod Greene
Vice president of product marketing since the start of 2021
- Age: 41
- Hometown: New Haven, Connecticut
- Residence: Issaquah
- Education: Undergrad at Trinity College, MBA at The University of Georgia
- Favorite activities outside of work: I just really enjoy spending time with my children and wife. Just unwinding from work. I’m learning a better work-life balance. It’s easy to kind of sit in front of a computer all day if you allow yourself. I’m trying to do a better job of being active, walking and exercising. I miss travel dearly.
What does your role at Highspot entail? I look at the product marketing discipline that I’ve been in for nine years as a connector function. I don’t work in product or marketing or sales or services, but I make sure that those teams are connected. I have to make sure at the end of the day everybody, whether you’re a Highspot employee or a prospect, understands what our product does, how it works and how it’s different.
Some of the most recent funding is earmarked for go-to-market functions. Why is that so important? There’s talent we need across the board in our marketing, sales and services organization. But true to our mission to make sure those marketing, services and sales organizations can be the best versions of themselves, we need the underpinning infrastructure to drive them as well. If you think about our opportunities in the not-too-distant future, there’s global expansion.
What are some of the most important priorities for Highspot given its late-stage growth? We talk about retention, acquisition and the ability to go out and hire really good people. When I think about competition and our ability to compete with the market, it’s not just for customers. It’s for great talent. So a lot of our priorities are focused now on how we grow.
How did your background lead you to where you are today? The first two years out of college — this is right after 9/11 — I taught seventh grade math. I stumbled upon a little company called Gartner in Connecticut because I needed more money. I had student loans to pay back. Gartner was my first real job out of college. I worked in their call center. One of the things I did when the phones stopped ringing was read the Gartner research. That kind of piqued the curiosity I had around tech. I said to myself, “If Gartner is this publicly traded company that keeps doing double-digit growth, what’s so special about what’s going on in tech?” I probably read every research note I could get my hands on until I got to a point over a five- or six-year period where I went from that call center into Gartner research and then became a research analyst.
How did you go from being an analyst to actually working in tech? Being a research analyst requires you to understand markets, trends, personas, landscapes and go-to-market strategies, but I’ve never done those things. I’ve just watched other vendors do them. When given an opportunity of, “Hey we believe you can help us drive a go-to-market strategy and message, position and drive thought leadership,” I jumped at that opportunity. I didn’t know what product marketing was eight years ago if I’m being super honest.
What drew you to Highspot? When presented with an opportunity to go from Gartner as the research and adviser company to a tech vendor, I jumped. I fell in love with the discipline.
What is one thing your employees don’t know about you? I’m a huge Marvel movie fan. I think some of them know it because I’ll use a lot of those similes and analogies in meetings, but I don’t think they know the depth of it. Big Marvel fan.
The mentor: Tim Porter, managing director at Madrona Venture Group
I’ve gotten to meet him a few different times through board interactions. He essentially hosted the Highspot Spark conference along with a few other folks. It was a group effort, but he was prominent in that. He gave us an update on some of the new things that were launched product-wise. ... I’ve been super-impressed with him. He seems to have a great combination of strategic product vision and product chops with the real empathy and understanding of customers.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
