a single source, nothing corroborates it

Screen the marketing hire on what they shipped

Require experience selling into your specific market shape, since tactics do not transfer between consumer apps, long enterprise cycles and low-value self-serve, and check whether campaign experience means running them or managing an agency that did. Weight candidates who surprise you with an angle you had not considered, expect them to be accountable for pipeline rather than able to report on it, and never take a hire you feel lukewarm about.

The method

1. 01

   Require experience selling into your specific market shape, because tactics do not transfer between consumer apps, enterprise deals with six-month cycles, and SMB SaaS with low lifetime value and no room for high acquisition costs.

2. 02

   Require evidence the candidate already uses AI tools across research, strategy, competitive analysis and even building pages, not just for writing posts and emails.

3. 03

   Screen for bias toward action over planning, and check whether their campaign experience means running campaigns or managing an agency that ran them.

4. 04

   Screen for willingness to be held accountable for pipeline and revenue numbers, not for the ability to report them, and treat demand-generation backgrounds as the closest fit.

5. 05

   Do not hire a candidate you feel lukewarm about, and weight heavily the ones who surprised you with an angle you had not considered.

What it returned

• $20

  He treats copy-only use as being at least a year behind, and notes there is no excuse when the tools cost about $20 a month.

• 12

  One client's head of marketing spent the first three months producing a 12-month plan instead of running anything. Kogan asks candidates what they would aim to accomplish within 90 days and how, and asks about a campaign of theirs that failed.

• He expects a candidate to grasp the product and audience at a basic level right away, and thoroughly within three months.

• Interview questions he uses: which metrics are you responsible for today, and tell me about a project that made a large impact on growth.

Sources

• Learn, build, judge, ship: What to look for in your first (AI) marketerGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · Build: AI-Native Creation at Scale · 2025-05-31
• Choosing Your First Marketing HireGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · 3. Domain Knowledge · 2018-08-30
• Commit to a SystemGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · 2018-02-23