You don’t hear much about the successful transitions from a sales-led focused business to a product-led business.
Many folks have tried only to run into insurmountable challenges along the way. Potential stumbling blocks include:
Lack of internal DNA and skills. The team that built your existing business might not be the team that can transform it.
Lack of internal buy-in. Expect to see tensions between the PLG team and the rest of the org over engineering resources, website real estate, which leads can go to sales, and much more.
Lack of immediate pay-off. It can take 12-18 months before the PLG motion generates meaningful revenue. If you’re looking for quick growth, look elsewhere.
But when it works, the transition to product-led can reignite growth and be well worth the wait.
One example I’ve been following is Hootsuite, the OG social media management platform. Founded in 2008, Hootsuite provides an all-in-one platform for social media managers to plan, collaborate, and analyze their social media strategy. The Vancouver-based software company is trusted by more than 20 million users in 175+ countries.
Head of Product Growth Partho Ghosh opened up about the five key learnings from Hootsuite’s transition from sales-led to product-led. Keep reading to find out why Partho was wrong about Hootsuite’s credit-card gated free trial, how Hootsuite pairs self-service and product-led sales, and what apps they use to keep getting better at PLG.
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