Oh honey, that question isn't stupid - it's the exact thing half of us are too scared to ask. I've seen people land PMM roles without ever touching a Marketing Specialist or PM title, but they usually had something else going for them - like a brutal amount of hands-on product experience from the agency side, or they were internal transfers who already knew the product inside out.
The hard truth? You can skip the ladder rungs, but you'll be climbing with one hand tied behind your back. Those "previous steps" teach you the actual faff of campaign execution, stakeholder wrangling, and getting your arse chewed out by sales. Without that, you're just someone with ideas and no battle scars.
Personally, I wouldn't recommend it unless you've got a very specific niche or a mentor willing to hold your hand through the first few fires. Otherwise, you're just setting yourself up for a world of pain nobody warned you about.
