Renat
BalandinSenior Product Marketing Manager

Positioning complex products for clearer markets, stronger launches, and growth.

Product marketing leader with 10+ years of commercial strategy and product marketing experience, scaling AI and SaaS products across VC-backed startups and $350M+ ARR environments. I specialize in GTM strategy and revenue-driving launches. I help brands find their story in the AI era.

Portrait of Renat Balandin

About

About Me

My career started in economics, policy, and strategy consulting at S&P Global, advising public and private sector leaders on high-stakes commercial and investment decisions. Since moving into product management and product marketing in 2019, I’ve spent 7+ years building and scaling products across CPG, B2B2C fintech, regulated drone SaaS, and enterprise AI platforms.

Product marketing sits where technical depth meets commercial strategy. I do my best work turning buyer and competitive insight into clear positioning, sharper pricing and packaging, sales enablement that holds up in live deals, and launches tied to measurable adoption and pipeline.

The path here

2015

Management Consulting

Consulting on big questions for public and private sector clients.

2019

Into Product Marketing

CPG and fintech, where the work clicked right away.

2023

Drone SaaS Startup

Airspace Link, where I built PMM from scratch in an emerging market.

2025

AI & SaaS at scale

Siteimprove, now Acquia, running GTM in $350M+ ARR environments.

Experience

What I've shipped, and where

I turn customer insight into positioning, pricing, and launches that sell.

Acquiadigital experience platform

Current role

Senior Product Marketing Manager

Lead product marketing across Web Governance, Digital Asset Management (DAM), and Source CMS within Acquia’s $350M+ ARR AI-powered digital experience platform, driving portfolio positioning, messaging, competitive strategy, and cross-product GTM.

Key expertise

Product Positioning & MessagingGo-to-Market StrategySales EnablementCompetitive Intelligence
3 productsWeb Governance, DAM & Source CMS across Acquia’s DXP
$350M+ARR enterprise digital experience portfolio

Siteimprove content intelligence platform

Feb 2025 – Oct 2026

Senior Product Marketing Manager

Led GTM across Siteimprove’s AI, search, analytics, and platform portfolio within a $150M ARR business, driving market narrative, category positioning, and commercial strategy across multi-product launches and AI visibility/AEO.

Key expertise

Product Positioning & MessagingGo-to-Market StrategyAEO / AI VisibilityPricing & Packaging
−50%sales cycle from the pricing & packaging pilot
467+adopting accounts in 30 days, Agentic Momentum

Airspace Link digital infrastructure for managing uncrewed aircraft systems

Mar 2023 – Oct 2024

Product Marketing Manager

Established and led product marketing at Airspace Link, a $37M Series B drone safety SaaS platform, building GTM strategy, positioning, and pricing from the ground up in a highly regulated, emerging market.

Key expertise

Go-to-Market StrategyUser Segmentation & PersonalizationProduct Adoption & OnboardingSales Enablement Tools
−32%time to first value
+17%NPS improvement across 70,000 monthly active users

Capco B2B2C fintech

Jan – Dec 2022

Product Manager (Contract)

Led end-to-end launches of B2B2C fintech products for financial institutions, overseeing planning through release and crafting go-to-market strategies that drove adoption, growth, and cost reduction.

Key expertise

B2B2C Fintech ProductsCustomer Journey MappingRoadmap DevelopmentGo-to-Market Strategy
120%of annual revenue target
+30%delivery velocity
Show earlier roles (2015–2022)

Molecule health-centric CPG

Jul 2019 – Jan 2022

Product Manager / Product Marketing Manager

Developed and executed go-to-market strategy for a CPG portfolio across direct web and Amazon channels, driving 26% average monthly web growth and 20% month-over-month growth on Amazon, with a 4.5+ star rating.

Key expertise

CPG Product ManagementE-commerce StrategyA/B Testing & OptimizationGo-to-Market Strategy
+26%avg. monthly web growth
+20%MoM growth on Amazon

S&P Global strategy consulting

Jan 2015 – May 2020

Associate Management Consulting Director

Managed end-to-end strategy engagements for energy, private equity, and financial services clients, using market research, competitive analysis, and customer insights to inform product decisions.

Key expertise

Product StrategyMarket & Competitive ResearchCustomer SegmentationDemand Analytics
$5Binvestment roadmap led
+10%revenue from the demand analytics tool

Want to see a few of the launches up close? See the Portfolio →

Approach

How I Think About Product Marketing

Four moves, in order, from understanding the market to proving the work changed something.

1

Understand the market

Know what buyers are trying to accomplish, what they use today, where the friction is, and how competitors frame the problem. That foundation drives positioning, segmentation, packaging, and the story we take to market.

2

Make it usable

Strategy only works if the company can use it. Product shapes what we build and prioritize. Sales gets talk tracks and a pitch that works live. CS makes sure what we promise matches the experience after the sale.

3

Connect to the bigger strategy

Link individual products to the broader commercial strategy. That means knowing when to lead with a use case, when to tell a platform story, how products fit together, and where adoption and expansion opportunities sit.

4

Measure what changed

Depending on the motion, that might be pipeline, deal velocity, product adoption, expansion, or field behavior. Did the work actually change anything?

A launch is not successful because the assets shipped. It is successful when the market understands the value, the field can sell it, and customers act on it.

Testimonials

What do they say?

Renat played a vital role in supporting our Go-to-Market strategy, conducting customer and competitive research to ensure our product was well-positioned in the market. His cross-functional collaboration skills were outstanding. He worked seamlessly with engineering, design, sales, and business development to drive alignment and advance key initiatives, and developed high-impact sales enablement materials that significantly boosted our business development efforts.

Photo of Colby Free
Colby FreeVP of Product · Airspace Link

Renat was really good at getting past the technical depth, working out why a customer should care and putting it in words that made sense to buyers and to our sales team. He led the strategic work behind our launches, pricing and packaging, and always tied his work back to commercial outcomes. He was a great person to work with.

Photo of Andrei Popa
Andrei PopaSenior Product Manager · Siteimprove

Renat's ability to bridge the gap between product marketing and sales was instrumental in helping our team communicate the value of our product. He developed impactful sales enablement tools that contributed to our ability to close deals and grow our pipeline. Renat's collaborative approach and commitment to supporting the sales team made him an invaluable partner in driving business success.

Photo of Katie Pawlowski
Katie PawlowskiBD Manager · Airspace Link

He is an excellent Product Marketing Manager with attention to detail that stands out. He helped to create our product documentation and processes and was instrumental in moving our products from idea to development to production release. Renat is a great communicator and has the insight and ideas to champion products, ideas, and full lifecycle projects. I highly recommend Renat.

Photo of Nik Zisk
Nik ZiskProduct Support Team Lead · Airspace Link

Let's connect

Interested in product marketing, GTM strategy, or AI-era visibility? Take a look at the work, read the blog, or reach out directly.