ProductLed Podcast

When you reach that prime of triumph, it’s so easy to count the wins, but what we don’t realize is that it takes years of reinvention to get there. Justin Dignelli and Peter Zawistowicz are the masterminds behind helping MongoDB drive from sales-led to product-led growth. To give you an overview, MongoDB is an open source database platform that is designed to unleash the power of software and data for developers and the applications they build. In this episode, we got a chance to chat with these two moguls as they look back on their years of helping MongoDB in fortifying its systems, building special product teams and achieving continued success. Show Notes [1:46] The genesis of Atlas: Why did MongoDB start incorporating Atlas? [2:49] What is the main focus of MongoDB? [6:11] What does their initial team look like? [13:03] The benefits of incentives and how it drives people’s behavior? [19:57] How did they come up with their initial wins? [27:20] What are some milestones that contributed to their success? [31:46] What are some of the biggest changes that their sales team has to make to reach their company goals? [33:46] Collaborations and being thoughtful when it comes to making broader changes [39:33] 5 useful steps in transitioning from Sales-Led to Product-Led About Justin Dignelli Justin is the former Senior Director at MongoDB. He helped in expanding and drove the company towards a cloud-first go-to-market. He also contributed to MongoDB’s transformation into a more product-led growth model plus enterprise sales. About Peter Zawistowicz The former Growth Marketing Manager at MongoDB. He pioneers in driving demand and growth at product-focused, enterprise software companies (with a specialty in SaaS/cloud). Moreover, Peter has experience with developer-focused programs, product-led development (PLG), digital acquisition, field marketing, and the like. Links: MongoDB Pace App Profiles: Peter’s LinkedIn Justin’s LinkedIn

Krish Subramanian, CEO, and Co-founder of the leading subscription and billing software called Chargebee, will be sitting in today’s show to answer that question. Chargebee is a global subscription management platform that automates revenue operations of over 4,500 high-growth subscription-based businesses from startups to enterprises across verticals, including SaaS, eCommerce, e-learning, IoT, Publications, and more. Krish and his extremely dynamic mind will be sharing first-hand experiences on how they evolve their go-to-marketing strategy over the years and learn how to straddle sales-led and product-led motions together to drive fast growth. He also talks about the trials and setbacks that they’ve encountered and how they move past those obstacles to generate wins. Shownotes [0:59] Krish talks about their journey of reflecting on their mistakes and wins at Chargebee [1:56] What got them into solving this problem of helping subscription companies understand their business much better? [7:11] The relevance of understanding your subset of customers [8:42] How do they identify their best customers? [10:36] Getting that value metric and Northstar metric is the biggest revelation for them [15:33] On building more features for your most successful customers [{21:21 Why does he think the pricing is so important to be Product-Led as a business? [25:03] Your end user’s success will eventually become your success [30:00] Advantages of having both self-service and pre-sales [31:15] How did Chargebee evolve the way they structure their teams? About Krish Subramanian: Krish Subramanian is the co-founder and CEO of Chargebee, a global leader in subscription billing and revenue management solution for scaling businesses. He is an engineer by profession and a problem solver at heart with over 20 years of experience in the software field. As an ex-consultant, Krish strongly believes that business value is defined by service and experience to the customers and the people. He is referred to as the “nice guy” within the company, the tech community, the media, and his mom. Profile Chargebee Krish on LinkedIn Krish on Twitter

Simon Belak is a visionary; he speaks with outstanding clarity and has a true leader's heart. Working with Metabase has sharpened his skill in product leadership, and today he’ll be sharing his line of work with us and walking us through how he can build high leverage teams for his former company, Metabase. Product leadership has become an increasingly important subject in our field. It focuses on specific challenges on those leading product teams and is accountable for product performance and customer satisfaction. Someone can do this by leading a team with a product-centric strategy. Product leaders progress through creating cross-functional influence, product work, and scale. Listen to this episode, and gain value on Simon’s insights about the topic. Show notes [3:29] The personal growth that he gets from such a different lifestyle is reflected in his leadership. [4:27] Simon’s definition of product leadership. [4:47] The fundamental difference between management and leadership. [7:10] Leadership should be fundamentally about enabling people. [8:35] To earn leadership, you have to show that you’re always trying to better your team. [9:57] Taking into account the long-term vision of Product-Led in their company. [11:17] The evolution of leadership at Metabase [15:23] Metabase created an environment where people can open up their thoughts and feelings without worrying about judgment. [18:39] How do you build a high leverage team? [21:36] How can a person adapt to Metawork? [23:54] The most value starts after you do Metawork in the long term. [26:26] The importance of acknowledging how fast the market is changing. [28:08] Actionable recommendations on developing and implementing new leadership strategies. [28:13] Interaction between company culture and leadership. [28:56] Implementing completely bottom-up and very concrete practices. [31:35] How does Simon get into this business meditative state? [34:50] Don’t think about solutions. Think about the problem harder. Create a hypothesis about the situation and provide solutions on how you can attest to the problem. [36:58] Start with introspection sessions. About Simon Belak During his time at Metabase, his time was split between data science, product leadership, and producing engineering work. Simon brings complex topics and simplifies them so people can understand them better. He is exceptionally customer-focused and helps you go beyond your boundaries by challenging your beliefs. Profile Simon’s Twitter Simon’s LinkedIn

Justin Bauer is known for his expertise in product analytics. He is always one step ahead in helping companies build better products by amplifying their growth. His primary role as an SVP in Amplitude involves creating teams that establish a deep customer understanding and generate inspired visions to produce unique product experiences that users can enjoy. He’s on the show today to share his insights in building excellent product analytics so you can increase engagement, growth, and revenue for your growing company. Show Notes [0:44] Justin’s journey in the institute [1:47] The most significant milestones, experiences, and learnings along his company journey [3:59] How do we drive growth? [9:00] Shifting balance: How did they shift from product-led to an enterprise? [18:53] Changing the brand of the company as part of going enterprise [20:33] How has pricing changed for their business? [21:56] Focusing on the product analytics market by making sure to build the best product [28:25] How do they continue to build an excellent analytics product? [28:56] Make sure to understand your consumers because people want to buy from a company that understands them. [30:44] How investing in high-quality content can produce better results? [32:23] Always start with a strategy in mind [37:04] Understanding the Vision Strategy Roadmap About Justin Bauer Justin Bauer is the senior vice president of product at Amplitude. In his role at Amplitude, he leads product management, design, education, growth, and analytics for Amplitude's Digital Optimization System. Before he joined Amplitude, he was the CEO and co-founder of Rivalry Games, which was acquired by You42 in 2015. Profile Justin on LinkedIn Justin on Twitter Amplitude

Jeff Coyle is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of MarketMuse, an industry-leading content planning technology. Today, he will explain how community management principles can support product-led growth. Jeff also discusses how community drives “sales-led growth” and the importance of employee advocacy in the success of a community. MarketMuse, his platform, identifies content quality issues and creates a channel for content optimization. Show Notes [1:10] Traditional product management and traditionally trained product managers do not typically come from the land of social media. [5:31] How has the community influenced overall product-led growth? [8:22] The importance of having thick skin is that you can experience what it’s like to have a negative emotion emerge and create more transparent communication. [15:54] Employee advocacy and its social impact [23:18] Key takeaways from this episode that listeners should consider. About Jeff Coyle Coyle is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of MarketMuse. This company assists content marketers in establishing topical authority, improving content quality, and transforming semantic research into actionable insights. Prior to joining MarketMuse, he previously operated his own marketing consultancy and managed the Traffic, Search, and Engagement team for TechTarget, a leader in B2B technology publishing and lead generation. Links Product Led Slack Community Profile Market Muse Email address: [email protected] Jeff on LinkedIn Jeff on Twitter

Chase Wilson is a PLG specialist who focuses on solving product led-growth issues. Chase has just launched his new company, Flywheel, a platform that helps hasten self-serve revenue by bridging in-product behaviour and marketing tactics. And today, he sits down with us and tackles areas such as improving your range of vision by making effective marketing strategies. He will also discuss the significance of user experience and pointers on structuring data. And how the company's perspective has become a game-changer in giving customer experience. Show Notes [1:10] Starting Flywheel to solve the product-led growth issue [2:24] His idea of Product Qualified Leads? [5:05] The concept of MQL and why is it problematic? [6:52] Product led growth is highly flexible, and every journey that the company goes down is pretty unique. [7:08] How does changing your perspective of PQL, MQL, and SQL affect the customer's experience? [8:41] You need to take the product usage data, the sales interaction data as well as the marketing interaction data and put it together as an overall timeline. [10:41] Why is it called team qualified leads? [13:30] Advice to listeners About Chase Wilson Chase Wilson is an alumnus of the University of Chicago and is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Flywheel. Chase is known for his determination, creativity, and resourcefulness when it comes to managing his team and marketing insights. Chase’s talent is his capacity to communicate his rare ideas in a way that inspires multitudes. Which makes him a force to be reckoned with in the industry. Links Flywheel Atlassian Profile Chase on LinkedIn Email Address: [email protected]

Alexa Grabell is the co-founder and CEO of Pocus. Pocus is the Product-Led Sales platform that helps sales teams turn their existing users into high-value customers. Pocus combines customer fit and product usage data into a single source of truth so that sales teams can prioritize the best opportunities and take the right action at the right time… all without relying on their engineering team. With Pocus, sales teams can convert more free trial / self-serve users, reach out to the right buyer at the right time, find 'needle in the haystack' opportunities, and save time sifting through data. Show Notes [0:20] Alexa introduces Pocus, her benchmark report on sales, and how it captures the findings to gain data. [1:39] She explains what product-led sales is and how it leverages growth. She talks about the AI of user interaction rather than just traditional sales. [2:46] On how the Product-led world makes the most out of platforms that generate more work efficiency [4:21] The takeaway on product-led growth shows that over 97 of respondents have a sales team or plan to have a sales team. [5:37] She gives us a perspective on what goes on within the sales organization among companies. She also talks about what sales assist is. [7:27] On the principle of show value instead of just selling on the value [8:26] Alexa predicts 2022’s take on PLS’s innovation stage at its infancy to accelerate revenue. [10:37] She emphasizes the importance of focusing on PLG motion rather than traditional sales. About Alexa Grabell As the co-founder and CEO of Product-Led Sales’ first platform specialized for sales teams, Pocus created the 2021 Product-Led Sales Benchmark Report in partnership with First Round Capital → you can see more detail about it here Links Slack Airtable Asana Profile Pocus Pocus Community Alexa on LinkedIn Alexa on Twitter Pocus Weekly Newsletter

Jeremy's mission is to help startups with the relentless pursuit of exponential growth online. He has launched Conversion Rate Optimization programs for 155+ startups and translated that into a proven and repeatable process to drive growth in your business. This process has generated over $247 million in tracked revenue from winning onsite tests. As a professional speaker, he has presented over 175 times in 47 states and trained over 42,000 Execs, Marketers, and Growth Leaders. As an entrepreneur, he launched 4 different 7+ figure businesses from scratch. Show Notes [1:26] Jeremy introduces the 4-part extensive definition of a CRO that makes it a comprehensive growth process. He breaks the common knowledge about this system and reveals how it is just as important as any other sector of the business. [3:09] He cites some Product-Led success stories that prove anyone winning a test can change your numbers. [4:33] On CRO maturity assessments validating wins and transforming ROI’s which is made attainable by in-depth market and customer research. [5:53] He discusses the two (2) crucial aspects of optimization: research and testing. About 14 different specializations have come together to continually integrate these. [8:03] Jeremy also enumerates the misconceptions in test hypothesis formulation that hinder 360-degree understanding of customers [10:34] The efficiency and relativity of time, data, and probability of tests dictate the success of the process. Achieving this mitigates delays and setbacks along the way. [13:44] On the tech stack to be utilized according to the circumstances of the company. He considers the company’s assets and liabilities at hand. [15:52] Jeremy emphasizes the importance of compounding lead interest to produce better results. [18:19] In running a start-up, tracking unfeasible functions and decisions is crucial to know the optimum actions to be made for your business. [22:00] More leads do not equate to higher quality leads. In order to evaluate the success of tests, both must be present. [23:14] Jeremy explains the essence of team organization and scaling the business. [26:20] On the viability of displaying prices - he talks about whether informing the market of the rates is effective or not for most businesses. Links Conversion Guides CRO Course Profile Jeremy Epperson on LinkedIn

Erika Zeigyte is the founder of Prosana and a remote teams & operations expert. She is also a certified Asana partner. Asana is a project & workflow management tool that helps ensure lean work management across all team members. In this episode, Erika shares her expertise in building powerhouse operations inside digital agencies and eComs. She narrates her journey from being a neuroscientist to being a remote business owner and how that shift in her career led her to engage in apps that build work structures. She emphasizes the essence of making actionable plans and maintaining accountability in the workspace. Show Notes: [1:44] Erika's 3 milestones: leaving Lithuania to study; adapting back again after her 5-year stay abroad, and quitting a promising project management job to become a personal assistant. [3:54] A reminder to always work on building a structure & why it's important. [4:53] Accountability is a must to make sure people do what they should be doing. She proceeds on the process of goal-setting and dismantling it into smaller short-term and more attainable goals. [9:44] Improving the process first rather than considering replacing someone is what should be considered first. Erika stresses the importance of having regular performance evaluations and meetings with the team members. [13:14] A standard operating procedure can be refined through Asana to create actionable agendas and maintain accountability in executing these processes. [17:07] It takes only 3-6 months to fully get the hang of using Asana as the project management platform. With this, one can ask the right questions about getting the project done. [19:06] Erika started out with Asana as she needed a better way to manage her admin tasks & later on she found it could be used more extensively for her other tasks. Later on, she collaborated with Asana, and became a part of a strong and innovative Asana's community. [22:43] She talks about her services offered: a course on ultimate team growth, Asana templates, and consulting program. [24:38] Her Product-led advice is to always test, learn, adjust and repeat. There is no need to be afraid of failing because it only means you're gonna get better every day. About Erika Zeigyte Erika is a neuroscientist and remote business operations professional. She is the founder of Prosana. This company builds scalable teams and back-end operations. She provides services that include Business Operations Audits, Remote Recruitment, Asana & Processes Consulting as well as 360 Degrees Back-end Ops Consulting. She also shares advice on remote and international recruitment, streamlined process, communication, goal setting, and leadership. Links Asana Prosana The Ultimate Team Growth Kit Course page: 25% discount code: TEAMSGROW25 Free ebook Profile Erika Zeigyte on LinkedIn

Product-Led Podcast has reached its 100th episode! Out of 99 insightful pieces, we countdown to the top 10 most downloaded episodes. Featuring an all-star line-up of guests, we will hear snippets of these throwbacks, and recall the different journeys that upheld the essence of being product-led. Show Notes: [00:45] #10: Episode 87 - User research and the importance of how users use their products with Allison Dickin of Sprig [1:58] #9: Episode 80 - CEO and founder of InnerTrends, Claudiu Murariu, on the selection of user activation KPI's to meet onboarding goals [2:59] #8: Episode 85 - Jon Butterfield of Speedinvest on fine-tuning your go-to-market strategy [4:34] #7: Episode 81 - DoWhatWorks' Andres Glusman gives advice on building growth in skillset [6:36] #6: Episode 70 - The secret to acquiring over 50 million users by Zach Sims of Codeacademy [8:59] #5: Episode 82 - What video games can teach you about user onboarding with Emily Lonetto of Voiceflow [11:00] #4: Episode 83 - Alison Taylor and Trevor Johnston of Jane discuss growing 7-figure SaaS business using Product-Led growth [13:02] #3: Episode 29 - How to acquire your first 100 customers by your Product-Led company according to Gen Furukawa of Pre-hook [14:07] #2: Episode 79 - The art of product positioning with the author, April Dunford [20:54] #1: Episode 28 - The original Product-Led podcast hosts, Wesh Bush, and Ramli John, explain why one should become Product-Led Growth Certified Profile Links: Allison Dickin website Sprig Claudiu Murariu on LinkedIn InnerTrends Jon Butterfield on LinkedIn Speedinvest Andres Glusman on LinkedIn DoWhatWorks Zach Sims on LinkedIn Codeacademy Emily Lonetto website Voiceflow Alison Taylor on LinkedIn Trevor Johnston on LinkedIn Jane website Gen Furukawa on LinkedIn Prehook April Dunford website Wesh Bush on LinkedIn Ramli John on LinkedIn

Loren Elia is the Director of Product Marketing at Honeybook and an experienced marketer with over ten years of involvement in Product Marketing Management, E-commerce, and Digital Marketing. She is a creative problem solver, and her passion leads to product marketing management (PMM) in technology. Today we will be sitting down with her as she sends us seven helpful strategies that we can use to transition from sales-led to product-led marketing efficiently. She will also teach us to present facts and data while working with the right team. Join us as we give you a ton of golden nuggets to collect in this insightful episode. Show Notes [0:39] Transitioning from sales led and product led entails having to realign priorities on different teams and departments [1:33] Presenting facts , data and be mindful of the people that you are working with [2:47] Make sure you’re connecting with your teammates [4:35] PLG makes your company more attractive to investors [5:05] Difference between Product Marketing and Product Management [6:26] Strategies that helped her in transitioning and the 7 things that can help you make that transition [18:18] A quick summary of the 7 points [19:22] Make sure that your information is readily available for users to consume [20:46] Understanding your user’s journey About Loren Elia Loren's an experienced product marketer with 10 plus years in brand management, e-commerce, and digital marketing. She shows excellent leadership by helping prioritize her company’s business goal and leading an excellent marketing team. Her company Honey Book highlights task management that allows users to view and track various project stages and keeps other documents in one place. In break times, you can find her munching over chocolate-covered pretzels or mandarin oranges in her office. Links Honey Book Product Led Slack Community Profile Loren on LinkedIn Loren on Twitter

Alexa Grabell is the co-founder and CEO of Pocus, the first product-led sales platform. Pocus enables sales teams at PLG companies to identify, prioritize, and understand their self-serve users to convert them to high-value customers ultimately. In today’s episode, she will share her knowledge about empowering sales teams with data. She then gives her two cents on what are the common mistakes, essential qualifications, and red flags to avoid when you are looking out for the best salesperson to fit in your product-led company. Show Notes [00:31] Common mistakes that people should avoid when adding on product-led sales [02:48] Laying out important roles and characteristics before hiring a salesperson [06:39] What other things to look out for in the qualification process? [ 08:16] Red flags to look out for that might not fit in the product sales motion [13:12] Advice to companies that are switching from sales-led to product-led [16:39] Do a brainstorm session for all the things that you need in your business [19:45] Why is it important to shift your mindset? [20:50] Experimentation and keep learning from your users About Alexa Grabell Alexa started the company while getting her MBA at Stanford GSB based on her experience leading up sales strategy and operations at Dataminr. Her goal and passion is for product-led sales to turn their best users into high-value customers. And her company called Pocus, is the best platform to do that. Pocus brings together product usage, customer fit, and buying intent data into one view, with insights tailored to your business. Profile Alexa on Twitter Alexa on LinkedIn Pocus

A lot happened in 2021—both good and bad—but today’s episode is all about wins! ProductLed founder and CEO Wes Bush and managing director Ramli John wrap up the year by looking back on some of its highlights. They go through two of the ProductLed Podcast’s most episodes and weigh in on what’s next for the podcast. They also touch on some things from the ProductLed blog, give examples of products that have done well, and share their predictions for product-led growth in 2022. And because this is the season of giving, stick around until the end for a chance to win a special gift! Show Notes [01:15] The Product-Led Growth community’s “wins” in 2021 [04:02] About the most popular ProductLed Podcast episodes and how the podcast is planning to move forward [09:30] ProductLed’s most popular blog posts for 2021 [14:25] Tools that give sales team product engagement data will gain more traction [15:20] The days of the "free monopoly" are upon us [18:00] The point of value is moving earlier in the customer journey compared to before [20:45] Being "product-led" will be seen as more than a "product thing" [24:18] Product-led tools are going to explode and product-led companies (or product-led/sales-led hybrids) are going to take the mainstream [27:20] Leave a review for the ProductLed Podcast for a chance to win a vintage Product-Led Growth hat—and if you don’t want to do that, join the ProductLed cohort! [29:25] Ramli’s next steps Links Product-Led Growth Certificate How to Grow a 7-Figure SAAS Business Using Product-Led Growth (Episode 83) How Codecademy Acquired 50M+ Users According To The CEO (Episode 78) What Is Product-Led Growth? Product-Led Growth Tech Stack

Shobhit Chugh is the founder and CEO of Intentional Product Manager, a platform that helps product managers and product leaders fast-track their careers to CPO status. In this episode, he weighs in on the challenges of being a product manager and building a coaching business. He then shares 3 ways to succeed in your career so that you can run the job instead of letting the job run you. He also offers some advice on becoming product-led. Show Notes [00:38] About Shobhit’s core mission [01:38] An overview of his journey to product management [02:48] The challenges of building your first product team [04:44] A common mistake that product managers make [08:22] Do your job right, be clear on what will demonstrate your contributions to your company, and have a purpose or a mission that’s bigger than yourself [12:12] Why Shobhit switched from being a product manager to coaching product managers [13:48] On building his company remotely and overcoming impostor syndrome [18:15] Figure out what your customers really need, focus on one thing at a time, and think about the emotional aspects of the product and product-led growth [21:22] Shobhit’s advice for people who want to get into product management About Shobhit Chugh Before becoming the Intentional Product Manager coach, Shobhit Chugh worked as a consultant at McKinsey. He also used to be a product manager for Google’s Crashlytics. Shobhit’s previous adventures include working at startups like Tamr, High Start Group (now WEVO), and Lattice Engines (acquired by D&B); co-founding Adaptly (acquired by Accenture), and getting an MBA and Masters in Engineering Management at Kellogg School of Management. Link McKinsey & Company Join Shobhit's Masterclass on 5 Steps Product Managers can take to have an Outstanding Career Profile Intentional Product Manager Shobhit Chugh on LinkedIn

Andy Boyd is the SVP of Product Management and Growth at Appfire. In this episode, Andy talks about his experiences building successful growth teams. Andy also shares great insights that will help you make the switch to the product-led paradigm. Show Notes [01:00] Andy’s experiences with IBM and Appfire [04:00] The power of compounding growth [08:15] Building a transparent, open, data-driven culture [10:20] Comparing opportunities between companies [19:15] A sneak peek of Andy’s book on building Growth teams [21:12] Do things outside of your comfort zone About Andy Boyd Andy Boyd is the Senior Vice President of Product Management and Growth at Appfire, the leading provider of apps for the Atlassian ecosystem. Andy currently leads the product management and growth disciplines for Appfire’s full portfolio of software solutions with over 200,000 active installations worldwide. Prior to joining Appfire, Andy was part of the founding team that brought the IBM Watson (AI) platform to market, serving in various Product Management roles, including establishing the first Growth team for IBM Watson. Links Product-Led Slack Community “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries “Running Lean” by Ash Maurya Profile Appfire Andy’s LinkedIn Enterprise Growth Playbook

Nathan Wangliao is the Head of Business Operations at HeadsUp, a tool that helps product-led sales teams identify which customers to focus on, choose the best moments to reach out, and understand how each customer is using their product. In this episode, Nathan dives deep into the 5 key things product-led companies should consider before layering on sales. He also shares his recommendations for tools that can help product-led sales. Show Notes [03:08] The history of product-led [06:05] Nathan’s observations regarding typical PLG companies [07:05] Do you have product-market fit? Is there a drop in the customer journey that’s really hard to address without having some kind of sales or support function? [08:38] Has expansion reached the natural limits of your product? [09:25] Are you trying to sell to a target segment that might not be open to trying out new products even if the product is a great fit? [10:16] How do sales improve the user economics or the final metrics of your company? [11:48] The differences between traditional enterprise sales versus PLG sales [16:10] About front-end and back-end tools for product-led sales About Nathan Wangliao Nathan Wangliao is a graduate of Cambridge University where he founded Hack Cambridge (the university’s annual hackathon which is now in its sixth year). He currently works with Momo Ong, one of the co-founders of HeadsUp who has been a guest on the Product-Led Podcast. In his past life, Nathan was a law student, a consultant, and an army mechanic. He likes to climb in his free time. Links Product-Led Growth Certificate™ Course Slack Box Figma Drift Amplitude Mixpanel Fivetran Snowflake Redshift Looker Profile HeadsUp Headsup LinkedIn Nathan’s Twitter Nathan’s LinkedIn

Claudia Zúñiga is the manager of customer experience at Jungle Scout, the leading all-in-one platform that helps entrepreneurs sell on Amazon. In this episode, she shares the lessons the company learned during its transition from sales-led to product-led. She also answers questions from the audience, weighing in on different scenarios like what to do if you have a low acquisition-to-activation rate and how to get new users without paid ads. Show Notes [02:20] A little bit about Claudia and Jungle Scout [07:55] Put your product at the center of the customer experience, help your users help themselves, and be data-driven [12:52] On building bridges, cultivating relationships, and the importance of research [16:52] What Jungle Scout’s onboarding experience was like then versus now [20:08] How to activate free trial users [22:30] Some of the tools that Jungle Scout uses [26:38] Try to understand the different customer types [31:20] How Claudia and her team got the organization and stakeholders onboard with the product-led approach [35:18] On Jungle Scout’s plans to release a new freemium product [37:05] What you can do if you have a low acquisition-to-activation rate [42:35] How to get new users without paid ads About Claudia Zúñiga Claudia Zúñiga is used to working under pressure in the high-paced SaaS industry. She likes finding the best resolution by applying creative problem-solving based on data-driven insights with a customer-centric mindset and approach. Claudia is always interested in learning new things so she is constantly looking for new webinars and online courses—especially those that cover product creation, graphic and web design, usability, data, and analytics. Links Pendo Segment Tableau Salesforce AppUse WalkMe ClientSuccess Gainsight Zendesk FullStory Product-Led Growth Slack Community Books Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself by Wes Bush Profile Jungle Scout Claudia’s email

Fred Melanson is the co-founder and CEO of Bliinx, the revenue engine for product-led sales. In today’s episode, he weighs in on the role of sales in PLG companies, how Bliinx engages with its users, and the recent shift among salespersons. He also shares some actionable steps for companies that are looking to switch to a product-led sales motion. Show Notes [02:00] Some misconceptions about product-led growth and sales [04:12] How sales and product-led work together in organizations that combine both [09:10] When is the best time to reach out to users [12:10] The qualification metrics by Derek Skaletsky of Sherlock [14:18] Fred’s observations about salespersons in product-led companies [17:28] How to measure the success of a product-led sales strategy [21:20] On getting buy-in, having data to track, and acting on that data [25:25] Fred’s advice on keeping things simple and providing value for users About Fred Melanson Fred Melanson is a McGill University graduate who started Bllinx out of frustration for the current ways to scale business relationships. Bliinx was among the 29 companies that had made the cut for Batch 26 of 500 Startups’ seed program. Fred likes listening to podcasts while walking his dog in the morning. Links How I Built This with Guy Raz The SaaS Podcast Sales Transformation Podcast Millennial Sales Podcast Notion Mero UserPilot Hugo Lemlist Userflow Mixpanel Amplitude Heap Snowflake Flinks Asana Customer.io Segment Census High Touch Profile Bliinx Fred Melanson’s LinkedIn Value First: The Product-Led Sales Podcast

Partho Ghosh is the Senior Director of Product and Growth at Hootsuite, the leading social media and marketing dashboard. In this episode, he talks about Hootsuite as a platform and how the company has been structured. He then weighs in on the relation between product-led growth and acquisition, sharing some experiments that Hootsuite has done. He also offers advice on onboarding. Show Notes [02:48] How Hootsuite is looking to elevate in terms of product-led growth [04:55] An overview of Hootsuite’s onboarding approach [09:50] What the platform has to offer [14:35] How product-led growth works in the acquisition space [17:52] About the onboarding checklist and the onboarding funnel [23:32] How Hootsuite measures success [28:50] On the company’s product growth team and what needs to be changed [31:40] Product-led growth takes a village but it’s kickass About Partho Ghosh Partho Ghosh is a customer-obsessed, data-informed product executive and product-led growth expert who can create measurable product processes that lead to large-scale growth. He brings over a decade of experience in B2B SaaS, MarTech, and eCommerce—leading the charge for numerous product transformations at hyper-growth startups. On the side, Partho is a constant connector who has spoken at numerous conferences such as Pendomonium, the Traction Conference, Pavilion, and ProductCamp. He is also an avid scuba diver. Links Bananatag Marketo HubSpot Profile Hootsuite Partho Ghosh’s LinkedIn Partho Ghosh’s Twitter

Lloyed Lobo is the co-founder and president of Boast.AI, a fintech platform that helps companies identify, claim, and finance R&D tax credits and government incentives. In this episode, he shares how the Traction community came to be. He then weighs in on community-led growth and the value of making an impact. He also goes into what Boast.AI has to offer and the different phases of product-led, sharing advice for early founders. Show Notes [03:02] About Lloyed’s background and the philosophy behind Boast.AI and Traction [08:20] The company’s big vision [10:58] The 2 things that transcend companies [11:28] How to measure impact [14:12] Build a community and you won’t become a commodity [16:25] How Boast.AI evolved from a sales-led model [21:35] What Lloyed learned from the different phases that the company went through [27:22] Why you shouldn’t do things that scale [29:00] Lloyed’s advice on transitioning from sales-led to product-led About Lloyed Lobo After graduating with a degree in software engineering, Lloyed Lobo went into product and growth while working for a few venture-backed companies. He co-founded Boast.AI with his college friend, Alex Popa. He co-founded Traction as a non-profit initiative with his friend Ray Walia, CEO of Launch Academy to provide resources to help innovators become successful. Links eWebinar MixMax Contentfly Slack Dropbox HubSpot Profile Boast Traction Community Traction YouTube

Pedro Clivati is the Head of Growth at GrowthHackers, the largest online community of growth professionals on the web. In this episode, he shares what people can expect if they are looking to start a business around growth. He then talks about the importance of running tests, corrects certain misconceptions about growth hacking, and offers leadership advice. Show Notes [01:12] What Pedro learned as a co-founder [03:35] What high-tempo testing is and why it is important for growth [07:25] How growth teams should measure success [11:25] Get comfortable with being wrong [14:30] Start with a challenge that someone in your team has been thinking of—but didn’t have the resources to work on—and run small experiments in that direction [15:48] Promote your wins across the company About Pedro Clivati Pedro Clivati has a background in marketing and sales, but his foray into growth began when he co-founded Contentools and Growth Boulevard. He also used to be the VP of Global Sales at Contentools, but before that, he worked as a digital marketing consultant. Links Contentools Airbnb Dropbox Airbnb Growth Study Profile GrowthHackers Pedro’s LinkedIn Pedro’s Twitter

Jenn Steele is the VP of Marketing at Reprise, a product experience platform for product-led growth. In this episode, she talks about enterprise marketing, the cross-functionality of it, and what a product-led sales motion means. She offers advice to gather more product signals. Show Notes [03:05] Product-led growth versus the freemium model [05:42] How enterprise marketing can tie in with the go-to-market approach [08:00] Think about products and platforms that your company already has as ways to get marketing signals [09:08] How product marketing works in a product-led sales motion [11:30] Communicate with your product team [15:35] Start with baby steps like a product tour [16:55] Once you’ve harvested email addresses from your demo, have it go through the usual steps for your sales team [18:48] What Reprise does About Jenn Steele Jenn Steele’s career has had a lot of marketing leadership roles. She loves marketing to marketers and other executives, growing people and companies, and telling stories (both with and without data). She is also passionate about furthering women in business. Links Product-Led Growth Certificate™ Program HubSpot Salesforce Profile Reprise Jenn’s Twitter Jenn’s LinkedIn

Allison Dickin is the Head of User Research at Sprig (formerly UserLeap), an all-in-one product research platform that delivers the 3 key pillars of product research—video interviews, concept testing, and microsurveys. She joins the show to discuss how iterative learning drives website conversions and offers tips so that product-led teams can improve their user research process. Show Notes [02:08] Why user research is important [03:28] The 2 critical phases in the user cycle that are difficult to get customer insight from [05:13] Ask users questions that are relevant to what they’re doing in the moment, keep your questions short and simple, and only survey as many users as you need [07:48] How to get good response rates [09:32] Allison’s recommendations to improve onboarding experience [12:13] How to phrase your survey questions [14:30] On multiple choice questions and micro-surveys [17:32] How to spread survey/research insights within the organization [19:13] Allison’s advice for people/teams who are doing product and user research About Allison Dickin Allison Dickin is an experienced user researcher who blends rigor with pragmatism to guide customer-informed decision-making for digital products. She works with startups to lead qualitative and quantitative research studies. Her clients include Blue Apron, Skillshare, Catalina Crunch, and Microsoft. Links Product-Led Growth Certificate™ Program Sample Size Calculator Profile Allison’s LinkedIn Sprig (formerly UserLeap)

Wes Bush appears in today’s episode to talk about the upcoming Product-Led Growth Certificate™ program. He provides an in-depth overview of the 4-week long program that helps small businesses and large companies transition from sales-led to product-led. He shares the goals of the program, what people can expect each week, and other benefits of joining. Show Notes [01:10] Important dates to take note of [01:32] The main goal of the program [03:25] The sales-led way versus the product-led way [04:50] A sneak peek of weeks 1 to 3 [07:28] Why product-led monetization is included in the program [09:22] What makes the Product-Led Growth Certificate™ Course different from other courses [11:13] There will be real-world weekly projects About Wes Bush Wes Bush is the founder and CEO of ProductLed, the bestselling author of “Product-Led Growth: How To Build a Product That Sells Itself”, and one of the most sought-after product experts in the world. After working for some of the world’s fastest growing companies in the world, today he trains teams around the globe how to turn their product into a powerful growth engine. Link ProductLed

Jon Butterfield is the Head of Growth at Speedinvest, one of Europe’s largest seed-stage investors with over €400m in seed capital. In this episode, he weighs in on the common mistakes that investors and founders make when it comes to product-led growth. He then talks about product-market fit and offers advice on data. Show Notes [04:40] The danger of premature growth [07:00] Get your data right first before you launch your product [10:15] Talk to as many customers and potential customers as possible [11:20] What to do after finding product-market fit [15:45] How to breakdown your go-to-market strategy [18:30] More sales does not necessarily mean more success [21:20] Look into cultural differences before going into different markets [22:48] Some examples of product-market fit: Quibi, Myspace, Facebook, and Airbnb [26:55] Have a data tracking system in place or hire a business intelligence analyst About Jon Butterfield Jon Butterfield has started companies across Europe and the United States over the last 15+ years. He specializes in go-to-market strategies, product-market fit, developing growth models and aligning data and analytics to a business’ and customer goals. When not building businesses, strategies and models, Jon spends time on his second passion, building motorbikes. He also enjoys mountaineering and spending time in nature with his family. Links Product-Led Growth Certificate™ Course OneTap Facebook Airbnb Profile Speedinvest Jon Butterfield’s LinkedIn

Rachel Obstler is the ​​VP Product at Heap, a digital insights platform that empowers product teams to focus on what matters—building the best products. In this episode, Rachel talks about proactive analytics and why it’s key to delivering a great product experience. She also offers advice on product-led growth, highlighting the importance of effective teamwork and making sure that everyone agrees on the data. Show Notes [03:05] The advantages of proactive analytics [04:45] An example of what Heap is capable of [06:22] About Heap Illuminate [08:10] The challenges of building your own digital insights platform [10:32] Data is a way to align different teams in an organization [13:13] Have KPIs that you review on a regular basis [15:15] Baseline your metrics especially if you’re embarking on product-led growth for the first time About Rachel Obstler Rachel Obstler is a self-proclaimed data geek who specializes in go-to-market strategies and product management. She has over 20 years of experience leading product teams for different companies, including PagerDuty, DynaTrace, and Keynote Systems. Rachel learned to love recreational ice hockey while she was getting her bachelor’s degree at MIT. She still plays it to this day. Profile Heap Rachel’s LinkedIn Heap Illuminate

Alison Taylor and Trevor Johnston are the co-founders and co-CEOs of Jane, an online platform for health and wellness practitioners that makes it simple to book, chart, schedule, bill, and get paid. They join Ramli on the show to talk about product-market fit and how customer service is at the heart of a product-led business. They then go through the steps they have taken (and still take) to overcome growing pains. Show Notes [01:17] How the Jane app came to be and scaled with just one “customer support” team [05:34] The signup process is a way to get customers committed and to get them on the product journey [08:00] Why Alison and Trevor decided not to go with the freemium model [09:48] About Jane’s high-touch onboarding experience [12:26] Prioritize loyal customers over sales [15:23] The evolution of Jane’s signup process [19:30] About Jane’s org structure and support system [23:48] The challenge of hiring and helping people develop their careers [28:05] How marketing and engineering fit in Jane’s org structure [30:05] Alison and Trevor’s advice for product-led startups About Alison Taylor and Trevor Johnston Alison Taylor has been in the healthcare space as a business manager since 2008, and she believes in the integration of work into life and life into work. She hired Trevor’s creative agency to brand her clinic, Canopy Integrated Health, which she opened in 2011. Trevor Johnston loves doing creative things with technology to create enjoyable experiences and to solve people’s problems. He co-founded Thought Shop Creative Inc. and was its lead digital guy until 2016. Jane is his first app and his first foray into coding. Profile Jane Alison Taylor’s LinkedIn Trevor Johnston’s LinkedIn

Emily Lonetto is the Head of Growth at Voiceflow, a platform that allows anyone to build voice apps without coding. In this episode, she shares insight on user onboarding, offering practical tips to create a memorable onboarding experience, weighing in on some of the common mistakes companies make when it comes to user onboarding. She also talks about Voiceflow’s early days, along with ways to improve the customer’s journey. Show Notes [01:35] About Emily’s sticker store [02:48] Her experiences with user onboarding [06:15] Emily’s process for customer activation [08:54] What people can expect from Voiceflow [11:23] What Emily did and realized during Voiceflow’s early days [14:52] Match the level of the user with the level of expertise/technicality that a tool has [18:30] How product-led growth should scale with every user [21:28] Examples of apps that have different ways for users to “level up” [27:06] Design for function over looks and keep things simple [29:44] Emily’s tips to improve user onboarding About Emily Lonetto Emily is the Head of Growth at Voiceflow – a platform that helps designers, developers, and their teams design, prototype and launch voice & conversational experiences. Before Voiceflow, Emily was the second growth hire at Clio, introducing product growth experimentation to the org. Before joining Clio, Emily led product growth at PartnerStack (formerly GrowSumo) YC'15, and helped automate/scale Tilt (acquired by Airbnb) YC'12 massive ambassador and community program across the globe. In her spare time, Emily is a speaker, advisor and cofounder/co-organizer of GrowthTO and currently helps startups tackle early growth strategy with several incubators and advisory councils across North America and Tel Aviv. Links Squarespace Webflow Duolingo Jonathan Chang – Artist for AAPI Twitter for Jonathan Chang Profile Voiceflow Emily on Twitter Emily on LinkedIn Voiceflow Community on Facebook

Andres Glusman is the CEO of DoWhatWorks and used to lead growth at Meetup. In this episode, he joins Andrew on the show to talk about his journey into the growth space. He presents the power of experimentation and optimization, sharing lessons that he learned from his mentors and his own failures. He also offers tips for people who are in management or leadership positions and are looking to be successful. Show Notes [01:15] An overview of DoWhatWorks [02:05] How Andres came up with DoWhatWorks [05:50] How he built his growth skillset [14:00] Identify key risks, go after it as quickly as possible, and validate your assumptions [16:58] What Andres did for Meetup [20:10] An overview of Meetup’s growth journey [25:15] On winning, gaining momentum, and transitioning to a leadership role [33:00] What Andres has learned from some of his mistakes [37:20] His advice for people who are building their growth skillset About Andres Glusman Andres Glusman has a background in behavioral science and economics, and he is very interested in growth and experimentation. Before founding DoWhatWorks and becoming its CEO, he spent 14 years working for Meetup. Andres is also a board member at Devpost, a dad, and a casual surfer. Links Meetup YouTube MySpace Facebook Profile DoWhatWorks Andres’ Email Address

Claudiu Murariu is the co-founder and CEO of InnerTrends, and in this episode, he talks about activation and PLG metrics. He highlights the advantages of working backwards and highlights a big mistake that teams make when it comes to “getting people to the promised land.” He also offers advice and tips for entrepreneurs looking to improve their activation and onboarding process. Show Notes [01:10] Claudiu’s definition of user activation [03:05] Marketing a product is like making a promise [07:10] About InnerTrends’ tool-agnostic approach and tracking strategy [09:45] What to expect if you include a product guide in the onboarding process [13:50] The relationship between activation and onboarding [17:48] The purpose of the onboarding process is to let people experience things themselves [20:40] Longer onboarding times lead to better retention [22:28] How InnerTrends calculates the average time it takes for new users to go through the onboarding process [24:45] How to improve your activation or onboarding experience About Claudiu Murariu Claudiu Murariu is the co-founder and CEO of InnerTrends, a software service that makes data work for companies that are looking to transform growth into more revenue. Before InnerTrends, he spent 3 years as a freelancer, and he worked as a web analyst for PadiCode (which he also co-founded) and Avangate. Because he is passionate about data analytics and obsessed with data-driven businesses, Claudiu has been a keynote speaker for product events and conferences around the world. He is also the host of The Data-led Professional Podcast. Links Actionable Metrics Canvas Wizard Product-led Growth Community Profile Claudiu Murariu on Twitter InnerTrends

April Dunford is the author of “Obviously Awesome”, and in this episode, she talks about positioning—what it is and why it’s important. She dives into some of the analogies she used in her book to explain how positioning works. She also brings up Clay Christensen's milkshake story to break down the 5 components of positioning. She then answers some of the viewers’ questions, offering practical advice for startups. Show Notes [03:22] Some misconceptions about positioning, why positioning is important in business, and how it differs from traditional branding [09:22] Why positioning is like the opening scene of a movie [16:25] Some signs of weak positioning: total confusion, wrong comparisons, prospective clients don’t think your value is valuable or they think your vision is just a fantasy [20:25] Define what makes your product special and then figure out what is the best context to frame those qualities in [25:35] The 5 components of positioning: competitive alternatives, unique capabilities, differentiated value, target market segments, and market category [27:58] On Clayton Christensen’s “Jobs to Be Done” theory [36:05] How to convince buy-in companies that positioning is important [43:18] How to define positioning if you do not have best customer fit yet [45:08] How positioning influences product development [50:05] How to position your product or company if you want to cater to different countries About April Dunford April Dunford studied engineering in university and then spent the first 25 years of her career as a marketing executive for startups. She has worked as a consultant for more than 100 companies, helping them fine-tune their sales and marketing teams. Aside from being an expert on product positioning, April is also a mentor, an adviser, and a keynote speaker. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her kids and a small dog. Links Salesforce Competing Against Luck by Clayton Christensen Profile April Dunford's website April Dunford's Twitter

Zach Sims is the CEO of Codecademy, an online learning platform that teaches people how to code, along with additional skills they might need to upgrade their careers. In this episode, he walks us through the strategies he and his team used to grow Codecademy to what it is today. He also weighs in on monetization, community-driven growth, and internationalization. Show Notes [01:26] Codecademy’s mission and how it got started [04:49] How Codecademy has evolved since its first version was launched [10:38] On building a brand around the freemium model [18:08] When is the best time to monetize? [19:55] On brand, community, and content [23:53] The metrics that Codecademy uses to measure end-user success [25:50] On fostering community and why they invest in their learners [31:27] On the future of education About Zach Sims Prior to launching Codecademy in 2011, Zach Sims was a student at Columbia University. He has worked in product and business development/strategy capacities at startups. He also has experience in the venture capital industry with AOL Ventures. Codecademy has worked with organizations like The White House, the Government of Colombia, American Express, Rakuten, and more. TIME Magazine included Codecademy in its "50 Best Websites of 2012” list, and TechCrunch awarded it the "Best Education Startup" Crunchie Award in 2013. Profile Links Codecademy Zach Sims on Twitter

Momo Ong is the co-founder of HeadsUp—a plug-to-play, end-to-end solution for sales teams to understand and engage their customers. In this episode, Momo shares the insane amount of research they completed before HeadsUp was built, weighing in on the challenges that go-to-market teams face in product-led growth. He also talks about the importance of product usage data and identifies specific metrics that should be created for marketing and sales success. Show Notes [01:32] What prompted Momo and his colleague, Earl Lee, to create HeadsUp [03:42] On the increased need for collaboration within go-to-market teams [05:55] On the increased need for collaboration between go-to-market teams and product engineering functions [06:55] Why product usage data is important [12:28] How go-to-market professionals increase collaboration within their organization [15:15] On rolling out product usage data beyond product teams [17:25] Extract, transform, and load product usage data into a cloud data warehouse and then create actionable metrics [20:45] When product-led companies hire go-to-market individuals About Momo Ong Momo is a graduate of Princeton University who used to work on video ads at Facebook. He also held product leadership roles at Beam and FiscalNote (where he met his HeadsUp teammates Earl Lee, Justin Hegyi, and Dev Shah). He really enjoys playing games and thinking about leadership and management. Links FiscalNote Salesforce Marketo Product-led Growth Slack Profile HeadsUp

Sean Hurley is the founder and CEO of Pathright, a company that helps marketing teams and startups supercharge their growth. In another episode of the How I Got Here series, Sean talks about the challenges of taking “the next step,” what it’s like to work in marketing and growth, and the subtle differences between the two industries. He also offers advice on hiring and how to harness the power of social media platforms. Show Notes [00:42] About Sean and Pathright [04:50] How going up the career ladder inversely affected his happiness and motivation [07:58] On working with Properly VP of Marketing Jess van Rooyen [10:50] Why he wrote “Head of Growth Playbook” [12:30] The growth engine is built by humans—not channels or money [14:38] What Sean learned from Jobber growth product manager Connor Bradley [17:05] Four or five channels are enough to scale your startup [19:42] What kind of content Sean shares on LinkedIn [22:32] On the nuances of marketing and growth [29:32] What skills people in the growth space should have About Sean Hurley Sean Hurley has been in marketing and the growth space for nearly 15 years. He’s had a couple experiences on the B2B front but mainly focused on B2C products. He quit his full-time job last October 2020 and launched Pathright in February 2021. Sean is intrinsically driven by the need to understand people and to create enough value that will inspire them into action. He started Pathright to help convert people on different channels and to drive growth. Links Properly Jobber Profile Pathright Head of Growth Playbook Sean on LinkedIn

Hiten Shah is the founder of several popular software startups—Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and most recently, Nira. In this episode, Hiten talks about FYI and its transition to Nira, weighing in on the importance of access control in the hierarchy of collaboration needs. He also talks about pricing and the emotional aspect of pivoting. Be sure to tune in until the end where Hiten shares great advice for SaaS founders. Show Notes [01:05] On the creation of FYI and what inspired Hiten and his team to shift focus [06:35] The problem Nira addresses [12:22] The 3 types of pivots: problem pivot, customer pivot, and product pivot [14:08] The differences between a pivot and a “hop” [17:32] When is it time to pivot? [24:08] About Hiten’s team, their approach to product building, and how they reacted to the change in direction [28:18] On doing product-pricing research [31:00] How to counter the pains of attachment [35:05] Lean into your fears About Hiten Shah Hiten Shah is the co-founder and CEO of Nira, a real-time access control system that provides visibility and management over who has access to company documents in Google Workspace. He is a founder at heart, having started multiple well-known companies. He has also helped thousands of other people with their startups. Links Box Confluence Airtable Slack Profit Well Profile Hiten Shah on Twitter Nira

Louis Grenier is the founder and host of Everyone Hates Marketers, a popular contrarian marketing podcast that has reached over a million downloads without ads in less than 4 years. In this episode, Louis weighs in on the importance of radical differentiation in marketing while also explaining the steps you need to take to stand out from the competition, including things like finding a niche and being hyper-focused in your minimum viable market. Show Notes [01:01] About radical differentiation and marketing bullshit [06:14] Challenge your self-limiting beliefs, obsess over your minimum viable market, engineer the differentiation, and then make people pay attention to you in a non-sleazy way. [09:30] How to overcome your self-limiting beliefs [15:02] April Dunford’s method for niching down [19:02] The benefits of being hyper-focused on your minimum viable market [20:42] Louis’ tips for finding your minimum viable market [22:33] Look through different lenses to engineer your uniqueness [26:07] How Louis built his podcast [35:00] It’s hard to change people’s minds. Go after those who believe in what you believe. [39:55] How to communicate your uniqueness About Louis Grenier Louis Grenier is the founder and host of the Everyone Hates Marketers podcast. Speaking from 10 years of experience in the industry, he believes that radical differentiation is the antidote to marketing bullshit. He also has an 8-week high-intensity program to help people and organizations stand out without being sleazy. Resources ZAG by Marty Neumeier The Practice by Seth Godin Obviously Awesome by April Dunford Eating the Big Fish by Adam Morgan Profile Everyone Hates Marketers Louis Grenier on LinkedIn

Stephanie Cox is the president of Lumavate and host of the Real Marketers podcast. In this episode, she walks us through Lumavate’s journey from being a direct sales-driven company to a product-led one. Stephanie also talks about some of the tools and techniques that Lumavate has applied to find success. Show Notes [01:20] About Lumavate [03:42] The challenges of transitioning from sales-led to product-led [08:10] Why being product-led is like eCommerce [10:22] How Stephanie and her team track data [17:48] Consumer behavior is constantly changing [19:19] On marketing in relation to product-led growth [25:13] How Lumavate approaches customers [28:25] On marketing qualified leads and how people engage with software providers [37:15] How Lumavate has changed from a marketing point of view [43:07] Stephanie’s advice for companies going product-led About Stephanie Cox Stephanie Cox has over 15 years of marketing experience and was the VP of sales and marketing at Lumavate until she became its president last May. She also hosts the Real Marketers podcast to help out other marketers, leaders, and sales reps. Stephanie has done just about everything: launched companies, brands, new products, geographic expansion, and more. She has driven phenomenal growth, spoke at conferences around the world, led incredible teams, and she’s just getting started. Links Pendo Salesforce Sumo Logic Pardot Google Analytics Profile Lumavate Real Marketers Podcast

Arpit Choudhury is the founder of Data-led Academy, a go-to place for anybody to learn how to work with data. In this episode, he explains why data is at the heart of being product-led and offers advice on implementation and documentation. He also talks about the different types of technologies and tools that startups should know about and consider investing in. Show Notes [01:18] What being data-led means to Arpit [02:39] Why product-led companies should be data-led [07:13] On data collection, storage, analysis, and activation [13:25] Some of the most popular tools and their open-source alternatives [18:10] On model data [19:02] Have your data warehouse as your main source [20:50] Arpit’s recommended tools for product-led startups [26:38] Implement server-side analytics from the get-go [29:24] How to overcome “data spaghetti” [34:00] Create a tracking plan About Arpit Choudhury Arpit Choudhury is a non-engineer who loves data and application programming interface (API). He started Data-led Academy as a side project about a year ago because of the lack of educational resources for non-techy people, but now, it’s a full-time endeavor. Challenge is a word that can be connected to Arpit—he likes to think about the big challenges we face as a society, work on challenging problems, and challenge the status quo. He is also driven by building value and passionate about contributing to communities. Links Segment Connections RudderStack Fivetran Stitch Matillion mParticle Hull Amperity Snowflake Google BigQuery AWS Redshift Heap Indicative Rakam PopSQL Metabase Redash Superset Preset Amplitude Brave Profile Data-led Academy How to create a tracking plan Arpit Choudhury on Twitter Arpit Choudhury on LinkedIn

Sandhya Hegde is a Partner at Unusual Ventures, an early-stage VC firm that provides funding and comprehensive GTM services to early-stage founders. Sandhya leads enterprise investments at the fund, focused on new-age SaaS, data, and fintech. In this episode, Sandhya chats about the role enterprise fits into product-led growth. She touches on the biggest challenges for PLG companies, and shares her #1 piece of advice for founders. Show Notes [01:13] Sandhya’s background and how she got started at Unusual VC [05:09] Something to brag about from what she accomplished in Amplitude [07:42] What Product-Led Growth is for her and its misconceptions [10:05] On the misconception that PLG is all about the product [11:19] How she sees teams work in a Product-Led company vs. Sales-Led company [15:00] The biggest challenges she sees for Product-Led companies [21:15] Her thoughts on going ahead with PLG for pre-product market fit [26:06] Her advice for companies on transitioning to product-led from sales-led [32:15] Her thoughts on going product-led for complex products [39:54] On the key focus for getting started with product-Led growth [44:07] Her thoughts on PLG and enterprise [49:19] A strong piece of PLG advice she has for founders [52:40] Where to find more about Sandhya About Sandhya Hegde In addition to being a Partner at Unusual Ventures, Sandhya Hedge is currently an investor of four other companies: Webflow, Wonderschool, Flutterwave, and iMerit Technology. Prior to Unusual Ventures, Sandhya spent four years at Amplitude, where she gained significant experience in Product-Led Growth. She earned her BS and MS in Electronics and Computer Science degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay in 2007 and her Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University in 2013. Link Amplitude Profile Unusual Ventures Sandhya on LinkedIn

Tom Coburn is the co-founder and CEO of Jebbit, a Boston-based startup. The Jebbit platform enables marketers to quickly build beautiful interactive experiences and drives high engagement by providing consumers with immediate value in exchange for relevant information about their motivations, interests and preferences. During this live session Q&A, Tom will reveal how Jebbit found more success after its transition from a sales-led enterprise to a product-led organization. Show Notes [01:08] An overview of Jebbit and how it went from startup to working with big brands [08:08] How Tom’s PLG Task Force gradually created an onboarding flow that the company was comfortable with [12:20] On finding a specific use case [14:09] The initial steps Jebbit took to introduce the free version of its product [17:57] The challenges they had to overcome during beta testing [20:00] Analytics help them discover points where they need improvement [23:00] The start of Jebbit’s success and the developments that took place after that [28:46] How pricing has shifted since Jebbit became product-led [31:02] The differences between Jebbit’s free and premium versions [33:36] On having open dialogues with customers and how Jebbit’s sales team reaches out [38:34] Tom's advice for sales-led businesses that want to become product-led About Tom Coburn Tom Coburn is the co-founder and CEO of Jebbit. The digital marketing startup created the world’s first declared data platform. It was named one of the Top 25 Most Promising Companies in the World by CNBC, and its clients include Procter & Gamble, NFL, and Bliss Cosmetics. Tom is a student entrepreneur who honed his experiences while doing his undergraduate in Boston College. He is also “Settlers of Catan” enthusiast who made it to the 2015 Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list together with Jebbit co-founder Jonathan Lacoste. Links Mentioned On Starting and Scaling HubSpot HubSpot Shopify Profile Jebbit Tom Coburn on LinkedIn Tom Coburn's email

Andrea Saez is the Senior Product Marketing Manager at airfocus. airfocus is an easy-to-use prioritization and road mapping software solution that helps teams visualize priorities, build lean roadmaps, collaborate on strategy, and align vision with the whole organization. In this episode, she will talk about creating a product adoption strategy. She will also give tips and recommendations on doing product adoption and dealing with customers. Show Notes [00:58] How Andrea defines Product Strategy and how it fits in the product roadmap [01:38] How to start coming up with product adoption strategy in teams for her [02:41] Her suggestion on the product adoption goal to drive around and how to hit it [04:41] Her way of knowing if a product is already adopted [07:02] The strategies and tactics to achieve the desired goal or outcome [09:07] An experiment she had on product adoption [10:50] On driving product adoption geared towards a buying persona [12:45] How she measures product adoption on new features [15:57] How she deals with user issues [18:21] On measuring loyalty, giving delighters, and creating and developing relationships with users [26:18] Her advice for the product-led community and enthusiasts [30:13] Her view on the scope of product adoption [31:22] Her tips for creating a customer experience journey map across teams [33:01] How she handles communication with uninterested customers [36:24] On balancing self-education and personal experience for customers About Andrea Saez Andrea Saez is passionate about product management, growth strategies, and community engagement. She loves to learn, talk, and engage with customers and apply product-thinking to scaling companies. She shares her passion through writing and hosting talks and events. Andrea is the Co-Founder of The Product Dynamic. It is a company that helps teams navigate organizations, defeat cognitive biases and create healthy working dynamics across teams to build great products and drive positive change. She has honed her expertise through her experiences working in various companies such as Evoca, CakeMail, Amilia Technologies, Inc., Brandwatch and ProdPad. Links Mentioned Miro Hubspot Canva Profile airfocus Andrea Saez on LinkedIn

Chris Hicken is the Co-Founder and CEO at 'nuffsaid. ‘nuffsaid is a company that builds software that centralizes work apps and prioritizes the messages and tasks that help people focus on the job that matters and be proactive. He sees it as a modern solution to information and communication overload at work as the number of apps and productivity tools onboarded increases. With the help of dozens of Customer Success thought leaders, Chris has extensively researched the low-touch engagement model for product-led and sales-led companies. In this episode, Chris will share the interesting outcomes of that research. Show Notes [01:15] About Chris and what got him interested in the topic [04:08] About customer support and customer success and the human-led and digital-led models [06:03] The research he has done on the low touch model and its impact [07:37] On deciding on the best approach in implementing the low touch model [10:12] Why companies have to move towards the low or tech touch model for him [13:06] On not considering a free trial or proof of concept product-led growth [14:44] The three levels of maturity he has seen in companies in moving towards low touch [21:56] On getting on top of resolving product issues at the second maturity level [25:05] Where he thinks the proactive component fit in at level two [29:15] On getting into the third level [32:21] His thoughts about the effectivity of proactivity in level two and three [34:41] His approach in building his low touch CSM team for success [38:52] His view on the strategic role of support in low touch model in product-led companies [42:56] Final words from Chris [4437:307] Where to get in touch with Chris About Chris Hicken Chris Hicken describes himself as an artist. He has worked as a business leader at various companies for 17 years and is currently a board member at The/Studio and an advisor at Peer Collective, TestRigor AI, and Acceleprise. Previously, Chris was an advisor at GitPrime and Study.com, a partner at Inspiration Ventures, the former President and COO of UserTesting, and a General Manager and Head of Marketing at Headsets.com. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo in 2003 with a degree in BS Computer Science Links Mentioned User Testing Salesforce Salesforce Lightning RD Station Survey Monkey Amazon Low-Touch Engagement Model article Profile ‘nuffsaid ‘nuffsaid Blog LinkedIn Twitter The 'nuffsaid podcast

Celebrate the launch of "Product-Led Onboarding," the new book by Ramli John and Wes Bush. In this special bonus episode, learn: The story behind Product-Led OnboardingOne common myth about user onboardingBIG prizes you can win during the book launch Learn more about the book at onboardingbook.com You can purchase the book here https://www.amazon.com/dp/1777717701

Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr are the hosts of The Breakout Growth Podcast. In this podcast, they interview CEOs and product, growth, and marketing leaders from the fastest-growing companies in the world. They do this for the listeners to learn from them how to take growth to the next level. In this episode, they will talk about the difference between growth hacking and product-led growth. Show Notes [00:38] Similarities and differences of Growth hacking and Product-led growth [05:06] On the assumption that growth hacking focus on B2C and Product-Led on B2B spaces [08:39] Another example from Sean and Ethan on conversion and getting value [10:25] On the right approach to get buy-ins to transition from sales-led to product-led [12:22] The fundamentals that everybody agrees on regardless of the strategy chosen [14:35] On figuring out and understanding the people who are not getting the value quickly [17:57] On doing the upfront alignment and the game plan to push for the future [20:35] Some of the big success drivers for today’s fastest-growing B2B companies [23:11] The idea of nailing product-market fit and ways to do it [25:06] The growth mindset drives the test learning process [29:06] How they ensure alignment through measuring and the result that people need to have [31:01] On customer experiences and retention [33:33] Set focus on the conversion funnel, its improvements, and the payback window [36:05] On having a growth process even without free trial premium and how they go about it [37:37] Mistakes made by premium companies that made them go out of business [42:59] Where to catch Sean and Ethan About Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr Sean Ellis co-authors the book entitled Hacking Growth. He is an expert in building growth engines for several highly successful startups, unlocking growth for companies at any stage. He can quickly uncover the barriers to growth in most companies and offer solutions to address these issues. Ethan Garr specializes in using data and experimentation to drive breakout growth for mobile apps. He helps companies improve their growth trajectories through workshops, coaching, and as a trusted advisor. He was a speaker on mobile growth at Growthhackers’ Conference 2018 and the Mixergy podcast. He got featured in NBC Nightly News, ABC World News, TechCrunch, and the New York Times. Profiles The Breakout Growth Podcast Product-Led Growth Slack Community

Esben Friis-Jensen is the Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Userflow, the fastest way for user onboarding for modern SaaS businesses. He is also the Co-Founder and Adviser at Cobalt, a modern application security platform enabling businesses to run on-demand Penetration Testing and vulnerability assessments - Pentest as a Service. The goal of this episode is to accelerate learning while transitioning from sales-led to product-led. Esben will talk about the whole transition: What other leaders are doing in this transition and what mistakes they make to avoid doing it again. Show Notes [01:09] A brief background about Esben [03:38] His thoughts when they started the product-led movement [07:11] Reasons why they started out as more sales-led [11:15] The challenges they experienced along the way [15:40] How they fostered organizational change [18:55] The process they went through to get the rest of the team onboard [23:32] How they got buy-in from the teams in the process of transitioning [28:49] First quick wins they had in testing the unknowns [34:50] More advice on iteration from Esben [37:42] The next thing for him at Userflow [39:47] Where to find Esben About Esben Friis-Jensen Esben Friis-Jensen is originally from Denmark but has lived in the United States for the last eight years. Aside from Userflow and Cobalt, he has also worked as a consultant in the SAP division of Accenture, responsible for managing the test and deployment of global large-scale SAP implementations. Link Product-Led Slack Profiles Userflow Cobalt LinkedIn

Yuliya Malysh is the Head of Self-service and Growth at Miro. Miro is a fast, free, and simple-to-use online whiteboard built to help you collaborate with others any time, anywhere. She has been with the company since 2013, starting as the Self Service and Data Team Lead. In this episode, Yuliya will talk about how Miro applies product-led growth and how it accelerates its growth. Show Notes [01:21] The routine Yuliya developed during the lockdown [04:21] Why is product-led growth important, and how has it help grown Miro for her [06:26] How she makes her team learn from customers continuously [11:02] What the WTF exercise is [12:26] The importance of ‘Time To Value’ and what they do at Miro to reduce it [15:34] Examples of good friction she introduced to her team that bring positive impact on activation [18:16] How she encourages people to share the experience with others [21:09] How she crafts an experience for the multiple-use case for customer engagement [23:44] On limiting use cases in the beginning [26:53] Her recommendation on the right metrics to use in tracking product-led growth success [29:33] How to connect with Yuliya About Yuliya Malysh Yuliya Malysh is a visual thinker. She empowers teams to create excellent products and experiences anywhere and everywhere by making visual collaboration possible and easy, making it her career mission. Links Facebook Twitter Slack Profile Miro LinkedIn

Andrew Capland is the Head of Growth at Postscript, focused on driving product adoption and engagement. Postscript is an SMS marketing platform for Shopify stores that allows clients to send campaigns, create automation, and drive new revenue for their store to ensure ROI. Show Notes [00:53] Who Andrew is [02:58] How to start a growth team from scratch and balancing it with your main job [05:29] His thoughts around why companies should have a growth team [07:35] The process of being a lone wolf to scaling it up [10:37] What initiatives he executed in the initial phase before blowing growth up into a department [13:43] Situations wherein he bumped into other teams working on growth and how he handled it [17:12] How he identifies quick wins to get people’s buy-in [20:01] How he strikes a balance between improving the user onboarding and looking at the bigger picture [22:19] What he does quarterly to make sure his ideas are executed [24:10] About the Full Story Friday and the things he does to do a follow-ups [28:53] Some mistakes he did that he can tell others to avoid [31:54] On developing himself as a growth leader and his team to level up [34:49] Examples of growth playbooks he can share [38:08] What will he focus on if hired as the Growth head of a company that has not been launched yet [40:45] His view on doing Growth in a Product-Led vs. Sales-Led company [44:06] The great lessons he learned on starting and scaling a growth team [45:32] Something that he is working on that may be useful for growth people or those who are thinking about doing growth About Andrew Capland Andrew Capland is an expert of Product-Led and a Growth nerd. He lives, breathes, and loves all types of growth such as product-led, Growth marketing, Growth product management, etc. He is also a busy person as he welcomes his newborn baby into their family. He has worked all across the funnel from user acquisition, user onboarding, pricing optimization, and retention. He has previously worked in Wistia as Director of Growth and HubSpot as the Principal Outbound Marketing Consultant. Links Shopify Wistia Hubspot VWO Drift Gorgias Profiles Postscript Delivering Value You were just hired as the Head of Growth at a startup article

Norah Shi is the Growth Analytics Manager, and Eduardo Gomez Ruiz is the UX Research Lead at Miro. Miro is a digital whiteboard that makes collaboration virtually easier. In this episode, the discussion will focus on the guidelines on how analytics and UX Research can give astonishing insights on forming delightful products that customers will love. Show Notes [01:46] What they did before joining Miro [03:25] The size of Miro as a company and a team for them [04:57] What it is like working in UX Research at Miro for Eduardo [07:43] What the Growth team at Miro does and its size as a team for Norah [11:18] How Eduardo collaborates with other teams [10:36] Norah’s transition from dealing with data to dealing with people for research [16:19] The way of researching at Miro [19:20] Sharing her experience in leading her first N2N research and its benefits [23:21] His view on the ideal acceptance rate and number of invites to send out for recruitment [24:37] Their most unforgettable user interview [27:28] The rewards for the research and measuring customer love at Miro [30:44] How Norah feels about MPS and trying sentiment analysis [32:14] His thoughts on handpicking quotes for MPS [34:22] A walkthrough of the analysis process [37:53] Her brilliant idea of inviting five teams in debriefing sessions [40:45] The most crucial part of the tool tech to support capturing insights apart from Miro [42:08] More about Miro boards [43:58] Eduardo shares some good resources for the listeners [44:25] On working, coordinating globally remotely, and the Miro culture [47:54] What would Norah do differently, knowing what she knows now when she first did her research [48:38] What Eduardo thinks that Norah has done that adds value [49:57] Their recommendations on what the listeners can do to start with research ASAP About Norah and Eduardo Norah Shi is an expert on Growth at Miro. She has honed her skills from Uber as a Strategy and Planning Senior Associate under UberEats EMEA and PwC as an Analytics Consultant. Eduardo Gomez Ruiz is an expert in multi-market research studies and international business growth. Apart from Miro, he has worked with Uber, leading the Loyalty program creation for Uber Pro, Google, or Mitsubishi Electric. Links Zoom Paypal Profile Miro

Anna Talerico is the Operating Partner at Arthur Ventures in Nashville, Tennessee. Arthur Ventures is an early growth capital firm that leads investments in B2B software companies located outside Silicon Valley. She partners with portfolio companies to help them take advantage of strategic and tactical opportunities to accelerate growth and create enterprise value. Show Notes [01:04] What Anna loves to do [02:09] What Arthur Ventures is and its focus [03:12] Why should people be wary of the traditional SaaS inside sales model [04:59] The shift of inside sales role in a product-led organization [08:15] The value-adding moments of the customer journey [10:36] An example of success in doing high touch in small accounts [11:42] On motion efficiency [13:38] Where to start for a traditional product-led organization to build a world-class expansion team [16:51] When is the right time for a purely product-led company to add more sales assisted motion [19:16] Structuring sales compensation for a product-led organization [21:42] The ideal range of commissions for salespeople [23:58] The role of SDRs in a product-led organization [26:27] What product-led funnel and product-led growth are for Arthur Ventures [30:41] Her pieces of advice to product listeners About Anna Talerico Anna Talerico takes pride in helping to build and scale software companies and tackling the challenges faced by startups and high-growth SaaS companies. She focuses on the go-to-market, people, culture, and creating significant enterprise value. She is an expert on handling customers, increasing product adoption, building efficient sales teams, shaping desirable company culture, and most of all, running high-growth, capital-efficient organizations. Link IBM Profile Arthur VenturesAnna on TwitterAnna on LinkedIn

Yazan Sehwail is the Co-founder and CEO at Userpilot. It is a product growth platform that helps product teams deliver personalized in-app experiences to increase growth metrics at every stage of the user journey. In this episode, Yazan will talk about Userpilot features and ways of doing things relating to product growth. With that, he will also share his perspective about AB Testing and more about product activation. He will also share essential tips and advice for product people that will surely help. Show Notes [00:29] What Userpilot is [01:36] What is involved in conducting AB Testing and how to do it [02:46] How they got the buy-in from the whole team in the process at Userpilot [03:37] What is an effective Product Activation experiment for him [06:14] The impact of activation experiments for him [07:44] His view on the timing of conducting effective activation experiments [10:21] His suggestion on indicating aha moments in user activation [12:57] What he suggests for teams with multiple use cases [14:47] How to improve product activation for him [18:39] Pointing out results in using the process [20:36] Pieces of advice for product people [22:54] How to know more about Yazan and Userpilot About Yazan Sehwail Yazan Sehwail has a vast knowledge of the B2B SaaS space. He is an exceptional resource for strategy, sales operations, and developing scalable processes to improve companies concerning growth. He is previously the co-founder and brand manager at InnerChip. It is a software development firm specializing in enterprise web app development. Profile UserpilotUserpilot Blog