🚀 Product-Led Growth

Why it matters

Distribution matters more than product.

Problem

Sales-led models limit adoption.

Solution

Build a product that sells itself.

Let users try before they buy.

Players

Canva - Graphic design tool
Slack - Communication platform
Notion - All-in-one workspace
Userlist - Email marketing automation for SaaS
Tally - Form generator
Shoutout - Social proof aggregator
Less Annoying CRM - CRM for small businesses
Transistor.fm - Podcast hosting service
Testimonial.to - Video testimonial tool

Predictions

SaaS companies will focus on SMBs and serve enterprise customers through agencies. Shopify and Webflow highlight trusted partners who provide implementation services. Allowing them to focus on (scalable) software. Without touching (unscalable) services.
End users will gain more power in large organizations. Most developer tools are bottom-up SaaS. Slack broke into organizations without permission from C-Suites.
Product-led growth models will be applied outside of SaaS. Think Netflix, Spotify and Codeacademy. Lower lifetime values necessitate a product-led approach.

Opportunities

Use onboarding surveys to uncover intent. What "job" is your product being hired to do? Customize experiences based on user goals. If I want to use your graphic design tool to make posters. Drop me into an editor with a sample poster instead of a blank canvas.
Optimize time-to-value. Once you know a user's objective, measure whether they reach it and how long it takes. Here are 5 ways to improve user activation.
Help users realize value received. Brave shows you time saved. MailerLite shows you emails sent. Stripe shows money made. Sync received value with realized value.
Apply product-led lessons to non-SaaS businesses.
- Communities - Trends Pro has an onboarding survey
- Agencies - Neil Patel uses UberSuggest to attract clients
- Marketplaces - Airbnb attracts hosts with an income prediction tool

Key lessons

Product-led growth goes beyond freemium and free trials. Sales, support and development should focus on acquisition, conversion and revenue expansion.
Remove unnecessary steps from onboarding.
Help users self-educate. Invest in documentation.

Haters

"I'll lose enterprise accounts without salespeople."

Product-led growth and sales aren't mutually exclusive. See Zoom, Slack and AWS.

"My product is too complex for product-led growth."

If this is true. Ok. If not, you'll find out. You can disrupt yourself. Or get disrupted.

"Product-led growth isn't new."

No-Code isn't new. Charter Cities aren't new. Remote Work isn't new. Few things are. Customer acquisition costs are rising. Code is being commoditized. Companies are competing on distribution more than product. This is why companies are obsessed with product-led growth.

Related reports

No-Code - See more companies like Softr, Tally and Zapier.
Ecosystems - SaaS companies are becoming platforms.
Growth Tools - Attract ideal users with free tools.
Referral Programs - Leverage current users to reach new users.
Micro-SaaS - Low lifetime values necessitate product-led models.

Thanks to Tyler King (Less Annoying CRM), Stewart Townsend* (Channel asService), Jeremy Abraham (Spiffy), Ilya Sterin (Medidata Solutions), Deepanker Dua (Rerouting), Ben Alexander (PMG), Natwar Maheshwari (Engineering Brew), Uwe Dreissigacker (InvoiceBerry), Shashank (Omdena), Ray Deck (Sustained Ventures) and Yarty Kim (Bourne Fighter). We had a great time jamming on this report.