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SaaStr 724: CRO Confidential: Bringing Product-Led and Sales-Led Growth Together For Go-To-Market Success with Giancarlo Lionetti, CRO of Zapier. Hosted by Sam Blond, Partner at Founders Fund

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Feb 16, 2024

In this episode, Giancarlo Lionetti, CRO of Zapier, discusses Product-Led Growth (PLG) and Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies. They explore the role of the CRO and how to combine product-led and sales-led growth. They also discuss Zapier's successful hybrid go-to-market model. The podcast dives into the importance of having an easy-to-try product, being user-centric, and the role of product marketing and demand generation. Additionally, they explore the effectiveness of demand gen campaigns and the value of sales in complementing product-led growth.

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Introduction

00:00 • 4min

The Role of the Chief Revenue Officer (CRO) and Hybrid Go-to-Market Strategies

04:01 • 25min

Understanding Product-Led Growth (PLG)

28:40 • 8min

The Role of Product Marketing and Demand Generation in Go-To-Market Success

36:52 • 3min

Exploring the Effectiveness of Demand Gen Campaigns and the Importance of Being Different

39:50 • 2min

Using Sales to Complement Product-Led Growth

41:39 • 4min

SaaStr 724: CRO Confidential: Bringing Product-Led and Sales-Led Growth Together For Go-To-Market Success with Giancarlo Lionetti, CRO of Zapier. Hosted by Sam Blond, Partner at Founders Fund

In this latest episode of CRO Confidential, Sam Blond, Partner at Founders Fund and former CRO at Brex, sits down with the CRO of Zapier, Giancarlo Lionetti (GC), to chat about Product-Led Growth (PLG) and Go-To-Market (GTM). Everything from hiring on the GTM side to layering in a sales-led motion into PLG.

Before joining Zapier, Giancarlo was at Atlassian as a technical sales lead before moving to DropBox as a Senior Director of Growth and Monetization, and was CMO at Confluent – so he has a wealth of knowledge from Zapier’s Go-To-Market history as well as these successful SaaS companies to pull from.

From a Go-To-Market perspective, Zapier uses a hybrid model that involves a combination of freemium offerings, subscription plans, and partnerships. Let’s dive into what’s making that hybrid model successful.

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