(This is part of an open ended series of posts where I write down random things I feel are sharable from the years of mailing lists I’ve not caught up on…)

I was listening to Episode 741 | What Actually is Product Led Growth? (with Wes Bush) the other day and was all ‘wait a minute, that sounds familiar’ … and it is probably because I have 234 messages from February 2022 from the (ProductLed)[https://productled.com/] mailing list.

I really like the concept of PLG – even if the app I am building doesn’t lend itself to it… From their site, they define it as;

Unlike sales-led companies where the whole goal is to take a buyer from Point A to Point B in a sales cycle, product-led companies flip the traditional sales model on its head. Product-led companies make this possible by giving customers a way to experience the product for free, either through a freemium product or some kind of free trial. If the customer experiences a meaningful outcome while using the product, upgrading to a paid plan becomes a no-brainer.

I have no idea how I initially stumbled onto this list… but it aligns with a lot of my thoughts around product. So here is the first year of old messages.

  • 5 Ways to Drive Pipeline with Product-Led Content – I’ve gotta really ramp the marketing engine up in January.
  • SaaS Copywriting: 11 tips to improve product activation & conversion – see previous comment
  • “In a PLG model, the sales force acts more like coaches. Coaches guide users to consistently receive value from the product.”

  • Every team in your company needs to think differently in a product-led organization.
    Sales → Goes from hunting to farming.
    Marketing → Focuses on creating value, not demand.
    Support → Creates experience over answering tickets.
    Product→ Drives revenue over building features.

  • ‘… your product reveals what is working and what’s not.’
  • There are 6 PLG business models;
    1. Opt-In Free Trial
    2. Opt-Out Free Trial
    3. Usage-Based Free Trial
    4. Freemium
    5. New Product
    6. Sandbox
  • The BEDROCK Framework – to help you decide which of the business models likely works best for you
  • ‘If you want to be product-led, you need to: … Refuse to change your product vision for a big customer’ – so much this. Note that it doesn’t say that you do do custom stuff for them, but it gets flagged. Getting customers to pay for your application buildout is great
  • SaaS YouTube Video Marketing Strategy: Driving User Engagement and Conversion – January. I need something to record first.
  • The five main components are critical to master if you’re going to build a successful product-led business;
    1. What’s the central promise of your product?
    2. What are the main problems your users are going to encounter in trying to achieve the above promise?
    3. What’s that first meaningful outcome you’re going to help people accomplish?
    4. Blaze a path that gets people to that outcome in your product fast.
    5. Create a painless buying experience.

  • When unclear about a decision, ask yourself these three questions for clarity.

    What do I think is best to do? (head)
    What do I feel is best to do? (heart) What do I have the courage to do? (gut)

    You’ll use your head, heart, and gut-brain to make a well-rounded decision. Most bad decisions are a result of only relying on one brain to make a decision.

    When things feel right, it’s because all three brains are in alignment.

  • The best onboarding experience guides users through a series of “Aha” moments before, during, and after they sign up for a product.

  • ‘… companies don’t successfully engage users before trying to monetize them.’