Some people ease into a new role. Mridula Ganesan — better known across the Phenom team as MG — walked in and got to work.

As Phenom's first-ever Associate Product Marketing Manager, MG didn't have a playbook to follow or a cohort to lean on. What she had was curiosity, a willingness to own things before she felt ready, and a team that trusted her with the real stuff from day one. The result? A journey that's already shaping what the APMM role looks like at Phenom — for every person who comes after her.

The Leap

Ask MG about her biggest culture shock moving from university to Phenom, and the answer is immediate: speed. "In university, you have time to think, structure, and perfect things," she says. "Here, it's more about moving quickly, putting something out, getting feedback, and iterating. That shift from 'perfect' to 'progress' was a big mindset change."

The other surprise? Just how cross-functional Product Marketing turned out to be. "I didn't realize you're constantly working with creative, sales, product, and leadership — all at once," MG reflects. "It felt a lot more like being in the middle of everything than I expected."

"It felt a lot more like being in the middle of everything than I expected."

- Mridula Ganesan, APMM

But it was the culture itself that left the deepest impression. During her first months shadowing the team, MG noticed something she hadn't seen modeled before: people could push back, disagree, and still make the room feel safe. And when something went wrong? No deflection, no defensiveness — just accountability and action. "I was really impressed by that," she says.

The First Win

MG's first major ownership moment didn't come quietly. It came in front of hundreds of Phenom customers, prospects, and partners at IAMPHENOM - the company's flagship annual event. MG was trusted to demo the Sourcing Agent live on stage and also owned the AI & Automation Lab setup — making sure everything was running before the doors opened.

"Being in rooms like that is one thing," she says, "but being trusted to show up and own it is everything."

That experience didn't just build confidence — it created a new scope. What started as a demo quickly turned into full ownership of sourcing as a use case within Product Marketing. MG went from talking about the product to shaping how Phenom positions sourcing across Intelligent Sourcing, X+ Source, and the Sourcing Agent — building the narrative, defining the use cases, and making sure it all landed with customers.

"That's when it stopped feeling like I was supporting someone else's work," she says. "I wasn't second-guessing myself anymore. I knew what we were trying to say, why it mattered, and how to communicate it."

The Growth

Like most early-career journeys, MG's path included a lesson learned the harder way. There were stretches where she over-indexed on getting things perfect — holding messaging or assets back in pursuit of polish — and it cost the team time.

"What I learned is that in Product Marketing, timing matters just as much as quality," she reflects. "It's better to get something out, test it, and improve than to hold it back trying to make it perfect."

That shift — from task-completion to outcome-thinking — defines where MG is now. "Earlier, I was focused on finishing a deck, writing content, getting things done. Now I think more about why I'm doing something and what impact it's driving. Is this helping sales? Is this improving positioning? Is this actually moving the needle?"

Advice for What's Next

MG is candid about the fact that being the first APMM came with a certain kind of solitude — no cohort, no peer to compare notes with. But rather than treating that as a gap, she leaned into it.

"It's pushed me to figure things out on my own and take more ownership of my learning from day one," she says. "It kind of feels like I'm setting the foundation for what this role can look like going forward."

When asked what trait she'd look for in the next person to join her in this role, her answer is one word: ownership. "Someone who doesn't wait to be told what to do, but naturally steps in, takes responsibility, and follows through."

MG's Advice for Early-Career PMMs

Don't wait until you feel ready. The best advice MG received: step in, try, and figure it out as you go. Readiness is a feeling that comes after, not before.
Progress beats perfect. A good thing out in the world today beats a flawless thing still sitting in your drafts next week.
Think in outcomes, not tasks. Ask yourself: is what I'm building actually moving the needle? For who? Why does it matter?
Take the real work seriously. At Phenom, you're not observing from the sidelines. You're in the room. Show up like it.

And on why Phenom is the right place to start a PMM career, MG doesn't hesitate: "Because you actually get to do the work. You get real ownership, real exposure, and real impact early on. You're working on live products, interacting with customers, and learning by doing — which is honestly the best way to grow."

Want to work alongside people like MG?

We're building teams that move fast, think big, and give people ownership from day one. Come see what's possible.

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