Growth Machines: Combining Product-Led Growth and Sales

In this episode of the Growth Machines Podcast, host Vincent Jong speaks with Jesse Ervin, CRO at Nylas, about the company's journey from a sales-led approach to a hybrid product-led sales model over the past two years. Jesse introduces Nylas and describes how the migration from traditional sales to a product-led growth strategy has impacted the company's sales, customer acquisition, and internal processes. They discuss challenges faced, surprising insights, customer behavior monito...

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast, host Vincent Jong speaks with Kristen Habacht, Chief Revenue Officer at Typeform, about integrating sales into a product-led growth framework as a company scales. Kristen discusses the evolution of Typeform from a PLG pioneer to incorporating sales without creating artificial barriers for customers. She highlights the importance of customer success, segmentation strategies, and the role of tech partnerships. The conversation also delve...

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast, host Vincent Jong speaks with Sindre Haaland, CEO of SalesScreen, about the company’s nearly two-year journey to launch a Product-Led Growth offering. Sindre discusses SalesScreen history, their sales gamification platform, and the challenges and strategies involved in shifting from a sales-led to a product-led approach. Key topics include the importance of internal alignment, the role of different team members in driving the project, ...

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast, host Vincent Jong talks with Laura Erdem from Dreamdata about their unique approach to combining product-led growth and traditional sales in their go-to-market strategy. Laura delves into her role and the evolution of Dreamdata's sales strategy, from a sales-led model to incorporating a free trial product-led component. They discuss the trials and triumphs of this transition, the importance of understanding customer needs, and how personali...

In this episode of the Growth Machines Podcast, Vincent Jong hosts Andrew Davies, CMO of Paddle, to discuss how Paddle went from a product-led model back to a sales-led model to end up in its current hybrid state.Andrew provides insights into Paddle’s transition from a sales-driven model to an integrated product-led and sales strategy, the importance of understanding customer decision processes, and the challenges encountered in ensuring a frictionless user onboarding experience while mitigat...

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I speak with Susann Johansen, Head of Growth and User Experience at OneFlow, about how they introduced Product-Led Growth at Oneflow, a traditionally sales-led company. Susans shares the evolution of OneFlow's go-to-market strategy, the challenges of implementing a freemium model, and the nuances of segmenting and scoring product-qualified leads (PQLs). She also highlights the collaborative efforts between product, marketing, and sales...

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast, Vincent Jong talks with Yazan Sehwail, co-founder of Userpilot, about integrating product-led strategies with human touch for optimal sales and expansion. Yazan shares Userpilot’s journey from focusing on one feature to managing complex product offerings, highlighting their approach to balancing free trials and demo CTAs based on the type of customer and their needs. He discusses the dynamics between product-led motions and sales teams...

On this episode of the Growth Machines podcast I speak with Mathias Thulin from GetAccept. He shares how they developed the Go-to-Market model for GetAccept going from sales-led to freemium and now a combination of sales-led and free trial.As of today combines a free trial, an interactive product tour, and a book-a-demo option in an intuitive way. Depending on the customer profile, one or more of these options will be emphasized during the customer journey.One of the things that was a big top...

In the seventh episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I speak with Japna Sethi, Product and Growth leader at Calendly. Previously she has been a lead for Product and Growth at Dropbox and she built and led the Growth team at Productboard from the ground up. Each of these companies dealt with a large flow of incoming users and Japna shares how they built support and sales motions on top of this to identify and convert accounts with larger potential. In one company experiments to involve ...

In the sixth episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I speak with Todd Olson, the co-founder and CEO of Pendo, about leveraging in-app messaging for tailored user experiences and the impactful role of Product-Led Growth (PLG) in sales operations. We discuss robust PLG strategies employed by companies ranging from startups to large enterprises, including personalized onboarding flows, efficient go-to-market approaches, and AI-driven campaign suggestions for improved user engagement and re...

In the fifth episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I sit down with Leah Tharin. Leah is a leading Product-Led Growth (PLG) advisor for scaling B2B companies and Interim CPGO of GotPhoto. She led products like Jua and Smallpdf and is portfolio growth advisor to VC funds like Notion Capital. She writes about her experiences and hosts a podcast on Leah’s ProducTea.In our talk, Leah emphasizes the merging of PLG and traditional sales approaches, advocating for data-driven sales strategies. She ...

In the fourth episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I sit down with Ben Williams, a product and growth executive with over 20 years of experience at companies like Snyk and Cloudbees, and the author of The Product-Led Geek. We talk about how to combine Product-Led Growth (PLG) with sales strategies to drive company growth. Ben shares insights from his experiences, including his time at Snyk, on how companies can blend PLG with traditional sales methods. He highlights common challenges ...

In the third episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I talk with Pekka Koskinen, Co-Founder of Leadfeeder (nowadays part of Dealfront). He explains how they developed a successful Product-Led Sales model long before PLG became a buzzword.Leadfeeder was founded in 2012 when Pekka and his co-founders hit a wall with traditional sales methods in their previous company. Right out of the gate, they embraced a Product-Led Growth model for Leadfeeder, drawing inspiration from successful American com...

In the second episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I talk with Kyle Poyar, Operating Partner at Openview and writer of the Growth Unhinged newsletter. We talk about what to do when you have a pricing model in place for a sales motion and are considering to introduce PLG.Pricing and packaging can be an enabler or blocker when thinking about product-led approaches. Kyle talks about the different challenges this can present. He includes suggestions how to gradually introduce the product-led e...

In this first episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I talk with Franciska Dethlefsen, the Head of Growth Marketing at Amplitude. We discuss the recent experiences they’ve had launching the Plus plan, a new self serve option for Amplitude. We focus on how companies can successfully transition to a product-led strategy if they are doing sales today. Franciska shares insights about the process of building internal support for this approach, ensuring the product is actually ready to sell when t...