Samuel Cahoon

The person behind The Way In · a Super PMM project

Hi, I’m Samuel Cahoon.

I’m a product marketer, and I built The Way In for the version of me who was trying to get in.

My own path wasn't a straight line either. I did nine internships in undergrad, including door-to-door pest control sales and a stint at Goldman Sachs, then started my career at HubSpot in product marketing. I moved through sales and customer success there too, and I ran HubSpot's global customer case studies program. That's where I learned that the best marketing is usually a customer's real story, told well.

Then I went deeper into PMM at Pontera, a fintech that helps financial advisors do right by the people trusting them with their retirement. The whole time I was doing the same three things on repeat: learning, listening, and building.

In August 2026 I started my MBA at Berkeley Haas. I'll be going through the recruiting funnel myself and writing about it in public, including the parts that don't go well.

Outside of work I'm a poet, a photographer, and a writer. I'm queer, I'm sober, and I just moved from New York to the Bay Area for school.

The Way In exists because there's plenty of advice out there and almost no access. You don't need more definitions. You need work you can show, people who will actually talk to you, and roles that would genuinely consider you.

If you're trying to get in right now, come say hi.

On the record

From Mormon Idaho to NYC Fintech: Sam Cahoon on Coming Out, High Agency, and the Future of PMM

Synching Up by Out in Tech NY · hosted by Jake Tenenbaum · 47 min · June 17, 2026

Making the complicated technical product feel obvious to the right customer, that's product marketing.

Sam, on Synching Up

If you want my story in my own voice, this is it. The first half is personal, and the second half is the craft: what PMM is, what AI changes, and what high agency looked like for me at Pontera.

Office hours

20-min coffee chat.

Free, just the two of us. I'm a mentor, not a consultant.

Book a 20-minute chat →