Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

How Snyk built a product-led growth juggernaut | Ben Williams (VP of Product at Snyk)

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Nov 6, 2022

Ben Williams, VP of Product at Snyk, shares his insights from over 20 years in building high-performing growth teams. He discusses how Snyk effectively utilized product-led growth to captivate the developer audience and explores the challenges they faced with self-serve monetization. Ben highlights the importance of community engagement, strategic team alignment, and data-driven decision-making in fostering user adoption. He also provides valuable tips on free vs. paid models and creating cohesive growth strategies that drive substantial engagement.

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ANECDOTE

Snyk's Early Focus

Snyk's founders initially targeted Node.js developers building apps with open-source components.
They engaged with the Node.js community at conferences and meetups, posing the question, "Do you have known vulnerabilities in your apps?"

ANECDOTE

GitHub Pull Request Growth Hack

Snyk used a novel growth tactic: automatically fixing code vulnerabilities and creating pull requests on GitHub.
This showcased Snyk's value, driving user acquisition and engagement through visibility and education within development workflows.

ANECDOTE

Snyk's Monetization Challenges

Snyk's initial self-serve monetization attempts struggled to gain traction with larger companies.
This highlighted the importance of addressing enterprise governance needs and expanding beyond their initial niche focus.

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