The Two Functions You Definitely Don't Have
There are 8 functions in growth marketing. Most startups are missing the same two. And it's killing everything else they're trying to build.
Key Takeaways
- Two functions are almost always missing: Product Marketing and MarTech Ops — the invisible foundations every other growth effort rests on.
- PMM is your context engineer: without a single source of truth on positioning and ICP, AI tools produce garbage output.
- The stack is out of control: Gartner found marketers using just 33% of their martech stack's capabilities in 2023, down from 58% in 2020.
- Talent is a top barrier: in a McKinsey survey, 32% of marketing decision-makers named insufficient in-house talent as an obstacle, level with unclear strategy and just behind internal silos and budget.
- Build vs. outsource is a framework: build PMM where positioning is your edge; outsource MarTech unless it is truly proprietary.
Part 2 of 3: In Part 1, we explained why expecting one Head of Growth to master 8 functions is setting them up to fail. Now let's talk about which two are almost always missing.
The Invisible Foundations
When I audit growth teams, I almost always find the same two gaps: Product Marketing and Marketing Technology & Operations.
These aren't glamorous. They don't produce viral campaigns. They don't have impressive vanity metrics. But without them, everything else you're building is on sand.
1. Product Marketing: The Context Engineer
Product Marketing is the most misunderstood function in growth. Most startups think it's "product + marketing" - someone who can do both. It's not. It's an entirely distinct discipline.
The "4 People, 4 Answers" Test
A diagnostic worth running before you spend anything: ask your Head of Product, CEO, Head of Marketing, and a salesperson to describe your positioning. Do you get the same answer?
If not, you don't have Product Marketing. You have four people making it up as they go.
PMM Is the Context Engineer
This matters even more in the age of AI. Product Marketing is the context engineer for your entire marketing operation.
When you use AI tools to write content, run campaigns, or analyze competitors - what context are you giving them? Without Product Marketing, there's no single source of truth about positioning, ICP, competitive differentiation, or messaging hierarchy.
No context = garbage output. This is why companies buy AI tools and get disappointing results. The AI works; the inputs don't.
The under-resourcing is measurable. The Product Marketing Alliance's State of Product Marketing 2025 found 44.3% of product marketing teams are still just one or two people. Fluvio's 2026 survey of product marketers reports that only 7% say leadership views them as a strategic revenue driver, and 70% are not confident their work influences revenue outcomes. That is a function sitting on the critical path with neither the headcount nor the mandate to hold it. (Fluvio publishes no sample size, so read it as directional.)
Takeaway
Both missing functions fail the same way: they are invisible when working and only diagnosable through other teams' symptoms. Sales decks that disagree with each other are a positioning problem. Dashboards that disagree with each other are an operations problem. Neither will be reported to you as such.
2. MarTech Ops: The Hidden Complexity Crisis
Marketing technology has outrun the people meant to run it. Gartner's martech utilization surveys tracked the share of stack capabilities marketers actually use falling from 58% in 2020 to 42% in 2022 and 33% in 2023. The direction is the finding: companies keep buying, and the proportion of what they own that ever gets switched on keeps shrinking. The rest is zombie subscription, paid for and unused.
Talent is a large part of why. In a McKinsey survey of around 100 marketing decision-makers, 32% named insufficient in-house talent as a barrier, level with incoherent strategic vision and behind internal silos (36%) and budget (34%). Companies have the tools. They don't have anyone who can make them work together.
MarTech Ops handles:
- Tool Integration: Making sure data flows between systems
- Data Quality: Ensuring metrics are accurate and consistent
- Automation: Building workflows that actually work
- Attribution: Figuring out what's driving results
- Reporting: Creating dashboards people trust
The Data Problem
Without MarTech Ops, you don't actually know what's working. Your Google Analytics says one thing. Your CRM says another. Your attribution platform says a third. Nobody trusts any of them.
One case from our own audit work, and not an unusual one: a company had spent around $500K on paid acquisition before discovering its conversion tracking had been broken for six months. No MarTech Ops function, so nobody owned the job of noticing. That figure is an observation from a single engagement, not a benchmark.
Build vs. Outsource: A Framework
Not every function needs to be in-house. Two questions decide it: is this function where you win, and is the expertise required rare?
Applying the Framework
Product Marketing: If positioning is your competitive edge (most B2B SaaS), build in-house. If you're in a commoditized market, fractional PMM can establish foundations.
MarTech Ops: Unless you have truly proprietary data requirements, this is often better outsourced or handled through a fractional partner. The expertise required is high, but it's rarely a differentiator.
Why "Marketing OS" Won't Save You
Every AI tool is promising to be your "marketing operating system." Here's why that's not working - and what actually does. In Part 3, we'll explain the difference between marketing automation, AI tools, and agentic workflows.
FAQ
What does a Product Marketing Manager do?
Product Marketing owns positioning, messaging, competitive intelligence, and go-to-market strategy. They translate what the product does into why customers should care. Without PMM, every team creates their own version of the story.
Why is MarTech Ops important for growth?
MarTech Ops manages the integration, data flow, and automation across your marketing technology stack. Stacks have grown faster than the teams running them: Gartner found marketers using just 33% of their martech stack's capabilities in 2023, down from 58% in 2020. Without someone managing the stack, you get data silos, broken integrations, and unreliable reporting.
Should I build or outsource Product Marketing and MarTech?
It depends on whether these functions are core differentiators or commodity operations for your business. If positioning is your competitive edge, build PMM in-house. If you need MarTech execution without proprietary requirements, outsourcing or fractional resources often make more sense.
Sources
- Gartner martech utilization surveys, reported by Chief Marketer: marketers used 58% of martech stack capabilities in 2020, 42% in 2022 and 33% in 2023. Gartner's own press pages block automated access, so the trade-press report is linked here.
- McKinsey marketing survey of around 100 marketing decision-makers in consumer goods and retail across North America and Europe, reported by Marketing Dive (29 October 2024): internal silos 36%, budget 34%, insufficient in-house talent 32%, incoherent strategic vision 32%.
- Product Marketing Alliance, State of Product Marketing Report 2025: 44.3% of product marketing teams are one or two people.
- Fluvio Marketing, 2026 PMM Revenue Impact Survey: 7% of product marketers say leadership views them as a strategic revenue driver; 70% are not confident their work influences revenue. No sample size or methodology is published, so treat it as directional.
- The $500K broken-tracking example: an observation from one Novastacks audit engagement, not a benchmark or a survey figure.
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