Why Small Business CABs Pay Off: Mukul Sheopory on Product Marketing That Listens

In this episode, Irene Yam sits down with Mukul Sheopory, a product marketing expert with deep experience supporting small to mid-sized business (SMB) customers. Mukul shares how hosting two Customer Advisory Board (CAB) events changed the game for his team—from validating a new value proposition to discovering unexpected insights that shaped future marketing campaigns. Whether you're in product, marketing, or executive leadership, Mukul offers a compelling case for investing in CABs, especially for small business customers who bring hands-on feedback and real-world use cases that can't be captured in surveys alone.

Small Business Customer Advisory Boards and guest, Mukul Sheopory - Transcript

Irene Yam 0:00

Hi everyone back here again with Mukul this time. And we actually worked at a very large UCAS company, unified communications as a service company. And at the time Mukul, you were focusing on small business to mid size customers, right? That's right.

Mukul Sheopory 0:19

That's right. We had, we had the first one in San Francisco and the second one in Chicago. I work in product marketing, and, you know, product marketing is focused on getting customer insights. That we got from each of those cab events was just, you know, pound for pound, one of the best channels that we we were able to leverage. So,

Irene Yam 0:43

yeah, and why did you decide that you wanted to have a cab? Because usually product people get invited to speak, but you were like, Hey, you volunteered. You wanted to get closer to customers. I just maybe blurred it out, but tell me, like, why did you want to do

Mukul Sheopory 0:59

this? Yeah, absolutely, because we had a hypothesis around, you know, we had done research on on customers. We had done research on the NPS verbatim, and we had come up with a value proposition for SMBs that we wanted to see if it actually resonates with, with actual customers. So we want, and, you know, we felt that cab would be a good way to get concentrated feedback from a lot of customers, right and, and we were absolutely correct, because not only were we able to get the feedback on, you know, on the value proposition, we were able to identify something that we had completely missed, but it was overall, it allowed us to completely pivot onto a marketing, integrated marketing campaign that we had not even thought about. I think at the live event, the benefit is also, when you have breaks, you can interact with everybody right in the breaks. When you're you're getting a snack, or you're getting coffee, you can talk to people. And you were like, hey, what do you think about this? And then they open up so, you know, and you're like, Oh, wow. This is, this is super cool. Like, you know, they're, they have a different take, or there's a need that you did not identify with the rest of the customers who were, you know, more local, they actually gave a live demo. They showed how to use the mobile app in the room, and the different, you know, functionalities of that app, how they could demo it live. That completely got the entire forum excited. And they're like, Oh, my God, we didn't even know we had we could do this.

Irene Yam 2:43

Now these customers are paying customers. They really understand the value. They can actually, that's right, give you more feedback, more use I'm a I'm a dental office. This is how I would use it, right? We're a retail This is why we're using it. When I'm not at my desk, I can get my I can get a phone call, or I can answer a question,

Mukul Sheopory 3:01

right? And then, literally, like at the event, we had so many customers talk to us after the demo that we decided that over the next few weeks, we would set up time with each of them individually to walk them through the product and how they can use it. And those customers, they translated into, you know, we had customer stories coming out of those, testimonials coming out of those and it just like made their lives better and made our lives easier. You know,

Irene Yam 3:26

yeah, so do you think product marketing people should be more hands on? On cabs, I know you're, you're a little bit more open. Sorry, I didn't mean you're, you're open, gregarious, willing to talk to people. But maybe, can you give the give some advice to people who are a little bit little shy on the product side, and what kind of pep talk would you tell them, like, if

Mukul Sheopory 3:47

you're, if you're a product marketer, your your role is to make the product easier for your customers to understand, right? And for that to happen, you could, you could, you know, stay in a room and do the research online. And, you know, conduct like hire a company to do the research and take their interpretation at face value, yes. Or you can get you organize a cab and you actually talk to customers, and see customers talk to each other, and learn from that first hand. And suddenly, like, you know, light bulbs will open up. So it's, it's you can do. If you're a product marketer, you can definitely do your job without a cab, but if you have a cab, it takes you to a different level. How are you thinking of helping small business customers? Like, where does the small business segment fit into the overall like because you have so much exposure to organizations running cabs, what percentage of the organization that run cabs are organizations you know targeting small businesses, or are they mostly enterprise?

Irene Yam 4:55

Well, actually, I first started a cab in. In a startup, and had just 12 customers at that time, and 10 customers come to our first cab. So I think it's really it comes down to leadership. Leaders that I worked with. They had come from bigger companies. They had seen how cabs were done.

FAQs

Why should product marketers run Customer Advisory Boards for small business customers?

Product marketers benefit from direct, concentrated feedback from real customers—especially SMBs who actively use the product. Mukul shares how his CAB revealed unmet needs, inspired live demos from customers, and sparked a new integrated marketing campaign his team hadn’t considered.

What makes small business CABs different from enterprise CABs?

Small business customers bring highly practical, day-to-day use cases. They often show how your product fits into retail, dental, or service-based environments. Mukul highlights how SMB CAB members used the mobile app in ways that surprised even the vendor—and taught other board members in the room.

What if product marketers are shy or not used to talking to customers?

Mukul’s advice: Get out of your research bubble and talk directly to customers. CABs create a forum where customers talk to each other and share insights that are impossible to get through secondhand research. Product marketers gain confidence, clarity, and strategic edge.

What tangible outcomes can come from running a CAB for SMBs?

CABs lead to powerful follow-ups. In Mukul’s case, his team booked individual customer sessions post-event, leading to testimonials, customer stories, and product feedback that improved marketing and sales alignment.

Can early-stage companies benefit from running CABs?

Yes. Irene shares that her very first CAB was for a startup with only 12 customers—and 10 attended. CABs aren’t just for the enterprise. They’re a strategic tool for founders and early teams to validate direction, build loyalty, and form lasting relationships.