Having a great product or service in and of itself is not enough to succeed. The reality is you need to have both a great product, and also great marketing. Unfortunately many startup businesses focus solely on the product, and don’t think about marketing early enough. The fact is marketing for startups is critical to success.Conversely, no amount of marketing can make up for a bad product or service. Although, when done correctly, you can leverage marketing for both customer acquisition, as well as improving your product-market fit.More than 600,000 companies start in the US every year. However than three quarters of those fail because the founders don't know how to take those products to market.In this episode of The Females in Tech Show I interview Jill Soley, who has spent the last 16 years launching and growing innovative cloud-based software products through effective marketing. Jill is currently the Chief Product Officer at Obo, an agile product management software that addresses the high failure rates of new products.Jill is also the best selling author of Beyond Product, a book that helps entrepreneurs and enterprise executives avoid common pitfalls, and build their ideas into successful businesses.The #1 reason startups fail is the inability to find and connect with a market.  Beyond Product provides the missing link for entrepreneurs and startup founders to turn their ideas into successful businesses. It’s based on Jill and co-author Todd Wilms own startup marketing experience as well as interviews with 50 successful entrepreneurs, startup investors, and business leaders from companies like Slack, Box, Linkedin, Hubspot, Zendesk, Marketo, and many others.Bottom line, marketing for startups is essential to their success.Here’s an outline of what we cover.Jill’s career journey from media to best selling author and chief product officer (4:25)Some of the challenges Jill has faced in her career, and how she overcame them (8:08)The difference between mentors and sponsors, and what stage you need them (12:55)We talk about her book Beyond Product, who it’s for, and what is covers (21:03)We discuss some common mistakes entrepreneurs and business owners make in marketing and releasing products (33:50)Why marketing is so important in technology - this is a biggie! (27:00)The importance of creating an MVP, and how to get comfortable releasing a product that’s not “perfect” (36:25)Her advice when pitching to investors and venture capitalists (39:49)       She explains the concept of always be evolving (41:10)Episode Resources Jill Soley personal websiteWebsite for her startup marketing book, Beyond ProductBuy Beyond Product on AmazonJill Soley on LinkedInObo Product Management SoftwareSpotify “I’ve Got This” Collaborative PlaylistShonda Rhimes - Year of YesThank you for listeningIf you did enjoy the show, then I'd like to ask three things, so I can inspire and support more career motivated women ( and men).SUBSCRIBE: to the show to ensure you never miss an episode.REVIEW: on iTunes telling us what you love, and also where we can improve.SHARE: with friends and colleagues who might benefit from the content, as well as grow and support our community.