SaaStr

APRIL 5, 2024

For Apollo, Leandra’s sales model is built around a Product-Led Growth (PLG) motion. In a PLG model, if you aren’t getting what you came for, you take your money elsewhere. Apollo can offer lower prices because of their PLG machine, while others need an SDR, AE, etc, to grow their business. How do you do that?

Scale 207

Scale Sales Hiring Pricing SMB 207

SaaStr

JANUARY 17, 2023

Evolution of Growth Motions. There are two personas you’ll likely reach out to when you combine a PLG strategy with a sales-led growth motion. . Two benefits you can expect from focusing on both PLG and SLG are: Optimizing customer acquisition costs. Invest In PLG and SLG Simultaneously. How do you achieve both?

Startup 246

Startup Sales Sales Funnel Education 246

SaaStr

MARCH 20, 2024

When is PLG the right choice? So many founders think the answer to stalled growth is PLG, but that’s a terrible idea. You can’t take a stalled sales motion and solve it with PLG. When it comes to PLG, you have to be passionate about it. When it comes to PLG, you have to be passionate about it.

Sales Hiring 275

Sales Hiring Sales Recruiting Scale Headcount 275

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

GitLab may have a PLG motion and a lot of self-serve customers, but it still doesn’t sell and market itself. Sales & Marketing expenses are as high as pure B2B companies without a PLG motion. #4. Free users still critical to scaling and GTM motion. 1700 employees, so about $240,000 in revenue per employee.

Scale 235

Scale Scaling Cloud B2B 235

SaaStr

MARCH 16, 2022

The Power of PLG. Many view PLG as the sexier option, as it often results in rapid growth and increases initial offerings. Our go-to-market motion was obvious, we wanted to disrupt our competitors’ go-to-market motion, the only way to do that was with a ‘try for free’ motion. Evolving the sales motion.

New CTO 217

New CTO CTO Scale Innovation 217

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 7, 2024

For example, if someone in their TAM is hiring for a CX lead, this is a signal for Gorgias to help them figure out a CX motion since their product is a help desk for e-commerce. So we’ve talked about it a lot on saastr.com – but it’s become a huge debate in SaaS, should we switch to PLG?

Scale 244

Scale Sales Hiring Strategy Marketing 244

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

If you step back, the basic motions haven’t changed. Everyone talks about PLG, but old-timers agree that when people say PLG, it’s just instrumented premium. Everyone talks about PLG, but old-timers agree that when people say PLG, it’s just instrumented premium. None of that is new. It’s just getting better.

Sales Hiring 252

Sales Hiring SaaS Banking AI 252

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 24, 2022

I’ve recently had several different conversations with founders looking to hire “PLG experts”. One wanted to hire “Mr/Ms PLG” to make their product more viral. Another wanted a “VP of PLG” to complement their marketing efforts. PLG, or Product-Led Growth, can mean, so many things. Here’s my only suggestion.

Sales Hiring 245

Sales Hiring Scale SMB Acquisition 245

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 29, 2022

Product-led growth (PLG) is the consumerization of software—a strategy B2B software companies can learn from growth teams at successful consumer tech companies. . He advises bringing these features to a B2B growth team and then shares mistakes that B2B companies make while adding go-to-market (GTM) to PLG. Free user acquisition.

Technical Review 261

Technical Review Technical Advisors Scale Compensation 261

SaaStr

DECEMBER 8, 2022

While not a surprise, it was very helpful to hear Yamini share just how much their sales motion has changed since the Q1’22 — as it has for most of us. We’ve talked about how successful HubSpot has been in the channel and with agencies, and Yamini really went deep on just how critical a motion is for them.

Scale 257

Scale SMB Scaling Customer Success 257

SaaStr

AUGUST 9, 2023

Through PLG motions, through partner-led motions, and through a modest sales team as well. And Atlassian has been saying something for quite a while — that while things have gotten harder the past 18 months or so, buyers are still buying. Atlassian has seen some modest macro impacts, but they’ve just kept selling.

Sales Hiring 205

Sales Hiring Scale Cloud Scaling 205

SaaStr

JULY 21, 2022

From PLG and consumption-based pricing, to value-based selling and driving efficient growth, Erica will share veteran insights that will help you develop your own successful GTM strategy. Optimizing GTM for PLG with Stage 2 Capital. Get 20% off your tickets and register for your sessions today!

Venture Capital 272

Venture Capital Enterprise Cloud Pricing 272

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 12, 2023

But as they scaled, 50%+ of their revenue came from … the sales team. So if nothing else, at least be open to change here. We also did a great Workshop Wednesday with MongoDB’s VP of Sales Operations.

Scale 247

Scale Revenue Sales Pricing 247

SaaStr

JULY 5, 2023

Yes, Mongo is PLG, at least in part. But it leans in big with a sales-driven motion of big customers as their accounts scale. #7. Despite having a partial PLG motion and very high NRR, Mongo has invested in growth. Anyone can start with Mongo, but the really big guys do … spend a lot! Go global if you can, folks!

Scale 196

Scale cloud efficiency Cloud Business Model 196

SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2022

Can you even have a mostly self-service motion in PLG with “Contact Me” in your pricing? I took a quick look at many of the recent IPOs and other Cloud leaders that were especially PLG-ish, from Calendly to Notion, from Zoom to Slack, and more. Doesn’t that just remove a huge amount of friction from buying?

Pricing 260

Pricing Enterprise Cloud B2B 260

Kellblog

AUGUST 18, 2023

I put blog ideas into a to-write folder which today contains more than 300 files full of brain dumps, outlines, and rants, all in various forms of disrepair. In that folder, there are 21 posts with PLG (product-led growth) in the draft copy and 5 with PLG in the title. It’s my process. Stop, will you?

Benchmarks 76

Benchmarks Systems Review Enterprise Software Review 76

SaaStr

JANUARY 3, 2023

Product-led growth (PLG) is taking center stage in response to these changing buying patterns and flipped the sales funnel we’ve come to know. When you add a sales-led motion to PLG, RevOps can be the perfect complement. . 73% of digital natives are responsible for B2B decision-making at their companies . Not anymore.

Enterprise 242

Enterprise Sales Sales Funnel Compensation 242

SaaStr

APRIL 13, 2023

Even with a PLG-motion and a large self-serve base, sales & marketing is still 62% of revenue. PLG and self-serve don’t automatically make you more efficient or profitable. A s that one great way to drive up deals size and go upmarket is to create “a more enterprise” edition. #9.

SMB 259

SMB Outsourced Development Enterprise Scale 259

SaaStr

OCTOBER 26, 2022

This will help you develop a more aligned product with the messaging, marketing, and sales to unlock product-led growth (PLG). Grammarly’s enterprise customers get value in less than three days without training, which is a testament to an effective PLG strategy. . Let your customers set the bar for excellence. .

Enterprise 191

Enterprise Scale Sales Communication 191

SaaStr

MAY 25, 2022

Fast forward to today, they are now crossing $500,000,000 in ARR growing modestly but consistently at 14% Year-over-Year: They’re also a case study of sloooowly going upmarket from the original PLG SurveyMonkey self-serve days to a sales-driven motion and product. 5 Interesting Learnings: #1.

Scale 259

Scale Payments Payment Solutions Payment Services 259

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

Done right, even with a sales-led motion, ZoomInfo is simply insanely profitable. Along with more PLG efficiency on low end. Still Insanely Profitable, With a Stunning Projecting $500m on Net Income on ~$1.3 Billion in ARR. Even in tougher times, with 40% adjusted operating margins. #3. 100k+ and Really $1m+ Customers Are the Big Push.

Scale 228

Scale Cloud Scaling Subscription 228

SaaStr

DECEMBER 15, 2022

” A great look at how to leverage a PLG motion at scale. #4. “Leveraging Product-led Growth to Drive Sales Pipeline with Asana’s GM and Head of Revenue Marketing” A great session on how Asana does PLG at scale. #7. Here’s how they really did it: #6.

Scale 196

Scale Scaling Engineering Acquisition 196

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2022

Our top videos alone cover a wide range of topics important to SaaS Founders and CEOs: scaling, fundraising, building and retaining a high-performing team, PLG, and more. How to Get the Most Out of Your Entire Revenue Motion with Salesloft CMO Lauren Vaccarello. #21. Today, we’re giving you #25-#13 of our top videos of 2022!

Scale 226

Scale SMB Sales Enablement Innovation 226

SaaStr

JANUARY 28, 2022

Building an outbound motion that captures demand efficiently. Does PLG really help scale by a large amount? Here, PLG would come in handy if you’re selling to a smart tech company, and they can easily connect the dots with a great demo or use case. This includes pipeline generation, champion building, and qualification.

Scale 191

Scale Sales Hiring Scaling Sales Recruiting 191

SaaStr

MAY 21, 2022

Its PLG-assisted sales motion has kept it capital efficient, and today it’s worth $2.7 But let’s step back a bit … the damage hasn’t been even, and capital-efficient SaaS stocks in many cases have held up pretty well. A few case studies: * Sprout Social IPO’d in December 2019 at an $800m market-cap. It’s tripled. It’s doubled.

AWS 237

AWS SaaS Cloud Scale 237

SaaStr

DECEMBER 5, 2023

Challenge #1: Starting with Product-Led Growth and Deciding If It’s Worth It If you start with PLG and want to move your customer base and prospects to Enterprise deals, you might ask yourself: Should I go for it? How do we do that if we’re busy enough driving PLG and it’s going well?” For many, moving upmarket makes sense to scale.

Scale 205

Scale Enterprise readiness compliance Enterprise 205

Tom Tunguz

DECEMBER 28, 2021

The result of all a supremely rational artificial cerebrum: type in a few key sentences into a GPT-3 powered app, click a button, and a blog post pops out. Most companies pitch PLG forward motions when raising capital and some have internal initiatives to push in this direction. Or a personalized email to a sales prospect.

Scale 266

Scale Blockchain Banking Machine Learning 266

SaaStr

JUNE 8, 2022

But as one might expect, that’s finally going up as it builds out its enterprise sales team and motions further. #3. The greatest PLG engine of all time, at least up to $4B in ARR. Generating a jaw-dropping $2B of adjusted free cash flow per year. Even with slightly higher sales expenses, Zoom is a cash-generating machine.

SMB 295

SMB Enterprise Engineering Scale 295

SaaStr

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

I think it would be interesting and helpful to pull out the Top 20 PLG / Self-Serve learnings from the series. This is trending to 50/50 now that Asana has crossed $400m in ARR, but still a reminder a self-serve motion combined with sales jumping on the bigger deals can scale very, very far. 80% of Datadog’s revenue at $1.2B

Scale 355

Scale SMB SaaS Scaling 355

User Pilot

DECEMBER 10, 2023

TL;DR Product-led growth (PLG) uses product usage as the main driver of customer acquisition and account expansion. PLG is cost-efficient and promotes retention and long-term growth. Product-led sales (PLS) combines PLG and SLG tactics. Talking of retention , it’s one of the cornerstones of PLG. Let’s dive right in!

Scale 97

Scale Sales Software Review Retention 97

SaaStr

DECEMBER 27, 2023

That was the result of an operational motion of building a company that, in the beginning, was meant to address SMBs. This was an early days PLG motion before the term was in play. Docebo was started and funded in 2005 and became a SaaS player in 2012. An optimized trial for buying the app worked with very limited funds.

Sales Hiring 218

Sales Hiring Scale SMB Outsourced Development 218

SaaStr

DECEMBER 20, 2022

That’s why many companies are shifting from a sales-led to a product-led motion. . Merging Sales-led and Product-led Motion Is Hard. If you build a product that people love and you define problems that you’re solving for them, you can extract a ton of additional value than just having a sales-led motion,” says Borsetti. .

Revenue 130

Revenue Marketing Sales Mobile 130

SaaStr

AUGUST 10, 2022

I might have expected more $1m+ customers, but Atlassian is sticking to its PLG motion that have been wildly successful for decades. No customer is > 1% of revenue. So while Atlassian has plenty of enterprise customers, it hasn’t gone that enterprise. And a few more: #6. 800m run-rate for free cash flow. This is epic.

Scale 246

Scale Headcount Cloud Business Model 246

SaaStr

AUGUST 3, 2022

While its gross margins aren’t as high as a pure software company, its self-serve and PLG motions, and strong brand, enable it to spend relatively less on sales and marketing — just 25% of revenues, far less than the 40%-50% that other SaaS leaders spend. Only spending 25% of revenue on sales & marketing.

Payment Methods 243

Payment Methods Merchant Services SaaS Payments Payment Solutions 243

SaaStr

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

Let’s assume you have a $2,000/month product (which is a healthy if high ACV for an early-stage PLG GTM motion) and need to grow your ARR by $600,000 to hit your plan, which translates to needing 25 new paid accounts. That math can be daunting. That requires 3,125 top-of-the-funnel “visitors.”

Scale 322

Scale Cloud Forecasting Pricing 322

SaaStr

OCTOBER 5, 2022

Combining product-led growth (PLG) with enterprise sales is a multiplier effect. When engineered right, combining PLG motions with enterprise sales accelerates growth by engaging with different customers in precisely the way they want. Combine product-led and enterprise-led growth.

VP of Engineering 212

VP of Engineering Scale Scaling Sales Hiring 212

SaaStr

SEPTEMBER 8, 2022

I’d invested in a PLG-first company that was transitioning at millions in revenue to being more sales-led. And the go-to-market motions … well, they just stopped. So I remember the first time I saw a CEO fire their entire revenue team. And the VP of Sales and Marketing were … well … pretty good. But not great.

Revenue 227

Revenue Sales Hiring Sales Investment 227