About the Event
Event Details
Building a product has never been easier. Getting it into a customer's hands is where things actually get hard, and that's the gap this evening is built around. Three speakers, three distinct pieces of go-to-market: stakeholder alignment, positioning, and channels.
- Ismene Tsaconakos opens with the case that go-to-market is cross-functional, even though product usually owns it. Drawing on her work as a product marketer (including time at TouchBistro) and the consulting practice she's since built around this exact pain point, she argues that most launches fall flat not from a lack of planning but from a lack of stakeholder engagement, sales, CS, support, and marketing all need to understand what's shipping and why before it ships. She frames the PM's job as a translation layer between product and the rest of the org, and connects this to a broader shift: as AI pushes teams toward outcome-based work, clearly defining and communicating what a release is meant to achieve matters more, not less.
- Madeleine Lee narrows in on positioning, using her own path as a case study. She joined an early-stage hardware startup (a connected, weather-intelligent smart sprinkler system) as its first marketing hire and grew into its product lead as the company found product-market fit, scaled, and was eventually acquired, all while still operating like a startup. Her thesis: positioning is never finished. It shifts at every stage, from figuring out who your early customers even are to differentiating against entrenched competitors once you're established. Every product decision, in her view, is really a positioning decision.
- Andrew Williams closes with channels. A startup founder who has spent a lot of time thinking about distribution, he takes the evening's throughline to its natural endpoint: building a product is easier than it's ever been, so the hard problem, and the one that actually determines whether anyone uses what you built, is getting it in front of the right customers.
Together, the three talks trace the full arc of a launch: get your organization aligned, know what you're actually selling and to whom, and get it in front of the people who'll buy it.
Event Tickets
This event is open to everyone! TPMA is now free to join, but and membership is required to attend.
Tickets cost $15 for regular TPMA Members and $11.50 for Community-Builder level members. Update your membership here.
Your ticket includes a drink and a selection of light snacks.
Event Agenda
5:30 – 6:00 PM — PM Networking (in-person only)
6:00 – 7:15 PM — Keynote and Q&A
7:15 – 8:00PM — PM Networking
Location
In-person @ BrainStation - 482 Front St W 2nd floor, Toronto, ON M5V 0W1 or via Zoom
Accessibility
For any accessibility concerns, please reach out to us at info@tpma.ca.
