Balancing art and science in Product Marketing

Jim Hirschauer, Head of Product Marketing, joined the Xurrent Austin office at an exciting time of transformation in 2024.

Transformation has always been an integral part of Jim's career. Holding a degree in Aerospace Engineering, Jim started his career at Lockheed Martin, working on aircraft programs for a few years. He loved "the mix of art and science - imagining the designs for parts of an aircraft mixed with the science of figuring out if it's going to hold up to stress testing." Not loving the turbulence of the aviation industry, Jim decided to turn to his long-time love of computers and IT.

As a kid as young as 10, Jim tinkered with an IBM machine gifted to him by his dad. He taught himself programming, (accidentally) ruining his operating systems and learning to rebuild them. This love of technology led Jim to become a Unix administrator, working in IT Operations and IT Architecture for a decade. During this time, Jim built strong relationships with his vendors, including a product manager who tapped him to step into the tech evangelism and product marketing space.

Now entering his third career pivot, Jim fell in love with the art and the science of product marketing. He loved the combination of "trying to describe difficult concepts in simple and relevant terms based on your audience, in addition to the art of storytelling."

For those not familiar with product marketing, it is the focus of creating messaging and telling compelling stories to the right people in their language. Understanding your different stakeholders and how to communicate with them in different ways. In the artist sense, Jim describes it as storytelling.

Leading a mix of marketing, product marketing, and sales enablement, Jim was thrilled to join Xurrent to build the company's messaging and storytelling going forward. "We are evolving and reshaping where the company is going (from IT Service Management (ITSM) and Enterprise Service Management (ESM)) to IT Ops Management. There is a constant shift in the story as we evolve and expand our product and company. It's a fun challenge."

In addition to the storytelling, Jim loves the people he works with at Xurrent, both culturally and intellectually. He loves to learn from others and shares what he has learned, and Xurrent has provided him with a fantastic community for learning.

Outside of work, Jim has a lot of hobbies. As empty nesters, Jim and his wife love to mountain bike and road bike both locally in Austin and on trips. He plays guitar, snowboards (hoping to get back on the slopes soon), and is a pilot. Jim also loves to bake and is noodling on his submission to the upcoming Great Xurrent Bake Off in the Austin office.

There may be a star baker distinction in his future.