cross-functional-launch-alignmentlisted

# Cross-Functional Launch Alignment ## Overview This skill covers how B2B marketing teams can align with product, sales, engineering, customer success, and other functions to plan and execute product launches and campaigns effectively. It addresses relationship-building, meeting cadences, stakeholder engagement, and launch structure. All practices are sourced exclusively from Exit Five podcast guests across 6 episodes. --- ## Strategic Framing: Launches as Organizational Forcing Functions **Treat product launches as artificial deadlines that rally the entire company — not just marketing events.** Schedule tier-one launches a couple of times per year, even when the features feel incremental from a product marketing perspective. The launch date itself is the mechanism: it forces product, engineering, design, sales, CS, and marketing to commit to shipping and stop iterating endlessly. Use launches strategically by bundling announcements — for example, pairing a fundraising announcement with a new feature launch on the same day — to maximize impact and create a shared organizational moment. (Source: Jeff Hardison, Episode #335) --- ## Building the Right Relationships Before You Need Them **Invest in the CPO/head of product relationship from day one, not when a launch is already in motion.** Know how they take their coffee. Invite them to marketing meetings — mark attendance as optional but make clear their presence matters. Include them in keynote development and press r