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Ben Williams

2x VP of Product at Synk and CloudBees, expert in B2B product growth, PLG, and product simplification.

Top 5 podcasts with Ben Williams

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159 snips
Nov 6, 2022 • 1h 32min

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

Ben Williams is VP of Product at Snyk, an industry-leading security platform for developers, last valued at $8.5b. He’s also a product and growth advisor with over 20 years of experience building and scaling high-performing product and growth teams. Through product-led growth, product-led sales, and community, Snyk rapidly scaled and won over the lucrative developer audience. In today’s episode, Ben shares the successful growth levers that helped Snyk get started, all of the details of how Snyk has structured their growth, product, and marketing teams and set them up for success in terms of cross-collaboration—and also how their initial plan for self-serve monetization fell flat. We go into Ben’s many useful tips for product-led growth, including his thoughts on free vs. paid versions, trials, and how to build amazing growth teams.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-snyk-built-a-product-led-growth—Where to find Ben Williams:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/semanticben• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/semanticben/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Coda: https://coda.io/lenny• Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lenny• Vanta: https://vanta.com/lenny—Referenced:• Snyk: https://snyk.io/• Weekly Team Impact & Learnings Review Template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GibNaJ4aONgp5Kg824NCionr1citHIDk3FLvMdkpX_Q/edit?usp=share_link• Monthly Group Impact & Learnings Review Template: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nQ18OTuRtc8urBnUWEObD_BlfdGDKlDDMFg8-G2GK7E/edit?usp=share_link• Experiment Plan Template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/18LiGXKphGe1tUpZCQA20i4bJqf-S3kDbYnY4Pls_9kQ/edit?usp=share_link• Vision & Mission Framework: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1CiRwscu-50lBr2c7yRLY_zXVzv5DCnYqNnS5Au83WC8/edit?usp=share_link• Ed Sim’s newsletter: https://whatshot.substack.com/• Tamar Yehoshua on Twitter: https://twitter.com/tyehoshua• Julian Shapiro on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/growth-tactics-retention-strategies-and-becoming-a-better-writer-julian-shapiro-demand-curve-hyper-webflow-techcrunch/• Annie Duke’s website: https://www.annieduke.com/• Elena Verna on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/elena-verna-on-how-b2b-growth-is-changing-product-led-growth-product-led-sales-why-you-should-go-freemium-not-trial-what-features-to-make-free-and-much-more/• Growth loops: https://www.reforge.com/blog/growth-loops• Brian Balfour on using learnings: https://brianbalfour.com/growth-machine/maximize-learning• Adam Fishman on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/videos/how-to-build-a-high-performing-growth-team-adam-fishman-patreon-lyft-imperfect-foods/• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• FullStory: https://www.fullstory.com/• User Interviews: https://www.userinterviews.com/• User Testing: https://www.usertesting.com/• Sprig: https://sprig.com/surveys• Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/home/toolkit• How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of “Intangibles” in Business: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470110120/• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days: https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/150112174X• Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078QSCM3V/• This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyberweapons Arms Race: https://www.amazon.com/This-They-Tell-World-Ends/dp/1635576059• Acquired podcast: https://www.acquired.fm/• Turning Red on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/turning-red/4mFPCXJi7N2m• Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/curb-your-enthusiasm• Christine Itwaru’s blog: https://prodops.blog/—In this episode, we cover:(04:44) Ben’s background(07:27) What is Snyk, and what’s the current scale?(08:45) Why Ben joined Snyk(09:29) How Snyk got their first 100 users(15:14) How Snyk used developer conferences and in-person meet-ups to launch(19:23) How Snyk used GitHub as a growth lever(23:50) Snyk Advisor, and other growth loops Snyk successfully used(26:56) Snyk’s failed attempt at self-serve monetization(31:21) How to win the hearts and minds of developers(33:38) How adding sales and marketing teams helped Snyk gain momentum(35:11) The evolution of Snyk’s growth team(37:26) Snyk’s key areas of growth and how Ben solved tension between teams(39:32) What is Snyk’s decision science team?(40:59) Why Snyk has a growth marketer embedded on each team(43:39) The importance of having an amazing SEO person(46:21) Advice on building growth teams(51:32) Ben’s vision and mission framework(53:53) More on the growth process and experimentation(56:04) Using learnings as a path to impact(57:32) Growth strategy(1:02:26) Data in growth teams(1:06:33) How Snyk socializes learnings(1:10:05) How Snyk structures their product org(1:13:15) Free vs. paid features and how to approach trials(1:18:57) Activation milestones at Snyk(1:23:05) The most valuable tools for Snyk’s growth team(1:25:21) Lightning round—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
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9 snips
Feb 15, 2021 • 2h 2min

Suicidal Drug Addict To Elite Military Commando with Ben Williams

From an early age Ben was subjected to a violent parent relationship which saw his family break apart, with only his mother to defend both himself and his brother. Through severe bullying and family upheaval, he moved home six times and went to six different schools within ten years of his life. After an unfortunate incident as a nightclub bouncer involving the death of a patron, Ben fell into a world of drug abuse, gambling and addiction, balancing on the brink of life. Broke, with no home or anyone to turn to, he abused his addictions every day and battled suicidal thoughts. Ben saw an advert on YouTube for the Royal Marines and knew he had one chance left at life by joining. Joining the marines gave him a purpose, he trained religiously, day and night to get fit and read and revised military tactics to increase his knowledge. And he didn’t have a single hand in getting clean from the drugs – his mind, determination and sheer drive got him clean – he was thinking differently.During his ten years with the Royal Marines – one of the most elite regiments in the world, Ben travelled the world, seeing active operational duties in Afghanistan. The Corps was a rollercoaster journey involving the extreme highs, and lows of war. After being injured in an IED blast in Afghanistan, he returned to the UK with the horrors of war still imprinted on his mind. He had to stay at home with his thoughts – now in a completely new battle.He turned back into his old self before the marines, drinking, gambling and getting in trouble. The dark thoughts were intrusive. After one alcohol fuelled event, Ben was court-martialed and sent for trial; with his first son on the way he was staring at a four-year sentence for assault, but he fortunately escaped prison by a judge who took pity on him. Broken and at his wits end, a friend lent him ‘the chimp paradox’; and he found himself immersed in self help books and receiving treatment for PTSD.Like a breath of fresh air, his life changed almost instantly. Ben finally found the answers from experts to understand his behaviour. When his demons were brought under control, he was given the opportunity to join the Commando training centre in Lympstone. As a recruit instructor, he entered the world of coaching and helping others; which saw him flourish.As a result of his ability, he ended up working with the England football team, where the next part of the journey begins. After being medically discharged, he now owns a leadership and performance coaching company, Vanguard and Find Your Edge, that helps organisations achieve their goals by employing a new mindset; working with many elite professional sports stars, and elite businesses to achieve more.Ben's book - https://amzn.eu/d/dlSUTXkFollow me:https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Jun 5, 2024 • 1h 20min

Ep 252: Jason Mantzoukas

Jason Mantzoukas, from 'How Did This Get Made?' and 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine', shares hilarious food anecdotes, debates soda preferences, talks about cocktails, allergic reactions, and dining delights. The conversation includes group roles in heists, favorite movies, and craving sweets. They also discuss dream meals, chocolate bars, and promotion for upcoming episodes.
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Dec 18, 2024 • 1h 51min

How to Drive Growth in B2B Products with, Ben Williams 2x VP of Product @Synk, CloudBees

Ben Williams, a seasoned 2x VP of Product at Synk and CloudBees, shares his expertise in driving B2B product growth. He discusses the necessity of simplifying products to unlock growth and reveals how Product-Led Growth (PLG) is revolutionizing the landscape. Ben highlights the importance of prioritizing actions for user activation and retention while debunking myths about PLG reliance on freemium models. He also explores collaborative strategies across teams, effective pricing, and the shift from traditional funnels to adaptive growth models.
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Sep 19, 2023 • 47min

Optimizing Go-To-Market Strategies for Developers

Ben Williams, former executive turned PLG strategic advisor, shares insights on optimizing go-to-market strategies for developers. Topics include developer marketing strategies, building community, addressing privacy concerns, transitioning to enterprise sales, prioritizing experiments, leveraging engagement states, and qualitative research methods.