59: Dani Grant - In-person Community building in a PLG product at Jam.Dev
May 26, 2024
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Guest Dani Grant discusses the in-person community building approach at Jam.dev, emphasizing the importance of being close to users in a product-led growth startup. They prioritize community building, utilize an R&D framework for marketing, and gain insights from events to connect with their target audience.
Jam.dev focuses on community building to connect with users and share their journey as builders.
Utilizing an R&D framework, Jam.dev evaluates and measures the success of their marketing initiatives.
In PLG startups, in-person interactions are vital for building real connections with users and gaining valuable insights.
Deep dives
The Value Alignment in PLG Companies
In PLG companies, value to users is crucial, aligning perfectly with user needs. Achieving growth and retention hinges on delivering value. The incentive in PLG startups revolves around serving users, ensuring mutual growth and user retention.
Journey to Solving Bug Communication Frustration
Jamdef was born from a product manager's struggle at CloudFlare, facing communication barriers in debugging. The tool streamlines bug reporting by capturing all debug details in a shareable link, simplifying engineer tasks and enhancing productivity.
User Retention through PLG Strategies
PLG strategies focus on building trust and value for users. By sharing company insights and learning experiences, a deep connection is established with users. Prioritizing user needs and fostering transparent, human interactions enhance user engagement and trust.
Expansion into Larger Companies with Dev Tools
Jamdef's horizontal tool initially targeted startups but organically attracted teams from big enterprises. The self-serve model facilitated adoption in larger companies, leading to usage across Fortune 100 companies like Unilever, Staples, and Dell, based on individual team implementations.
Navigating the Product Journey in PLG Startups
The progression in PLG startups includes phases from identifying product-market fit to enhancing scalability and resilience. Commercializing the product and transitioning to product-led sales mark the next milestones for Jamdef, evolving with new challenges and growth opportunities.
Jam.dev created a tool called Jam that helps product managers and engineers communicate and debug bugs more effectively. The company has grown to over 100,000 users and has fixed more than 2 million bugs.
They have adopted a unique approach to marketing, prioritizing community building and sharing their journey as builders. The company uses an R&D framework to evaluate and measure the success of their marketing initiatives.
I’m talking with Dany Grant about why it’s not just optional to be close to users in a product-led growth startup and why in-person interactions might matter more than you think.
Takeaways
Jam.dev prioritizes community building and sharing their journey as builders to connect with their target audience.
They use an R&D framework to evaluate and measure the success of their marketing efforts.
Sound Bites
"When you're a PLG company, the thing that's existential is are you giving value to your users."
"We sometimes have this really weird thing with PLG companies that we just do not know who we're talking to because we do not foster this kind of real-life connection."
"Even if we do not generate leads and money from the actual events, you kind of still do because you get information about who it is that is buying your stuff."
Chapters
03:51 Innovative Bug Reporting and Communication
08:13 Marketing Strategies: In-Person Events and Social Media
23:58 Being Close to Users in a PLG Startup
26:30 Understanding User Connections in PLG
27:54 Gaining Insights from Events and User Interactions
31:12 Struggles with Identifying the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
33:30 Onboarding Larger Companies through Smaller Teams
38:13 The Journey of Building a Startup and Team Growth