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Allison
Van Houten
VP, Global Product Marketing
Coursera
Allison Van Houten is a full-stack marketing leader with 20+ years of experience across consumer (DTC), SaaS, and blockchain, currently at Coursera. She has led marketing and communications at Chia Network, Epic! For Kids, Getaround, and Omada Health, and earlier held marketing roles at Google, YouTube, and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Known for crafting resonant, unique brand stories that bring new products to market, Allison combines deep storytelling instincts with the ability to connect complex, ambiguous data into a powerful narrative — always tying it back to the end consumer.
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09 September 2026 11:15 - 12:00
Panel | Name it to claim it: How category shapers rewrite the rules of competition (Main Stage)
At its core, category shaping is writing the rules of the game in your favour. Whoever defines those rules isn’t just competing in the category; they’re deciding how everyone else has to compete. This panel brings together PMM leaders who are actively shaping categories in competitive markets to unpack what it really takes to move from competing inside an existing frame to defining the frame itself. Join us and discover how teams identify the right space to own, build alignment across product, marketing, and sales, and turn category definition into real GTM momentum rather than abstract positioning work. Key takeaways: - Understand how leading teams identify and claim category white space before it becomes crowded - Learn how to align cross-functional stakeholders around a clear and defensible category narrative - Explore how category shaping directly influences positioning, messaging, and competitive strategy - Take away practical approaches to turning category strategy into execution that drives measurable market impact