ProductLed Podcast

Alexa Grabell is the co-founder and CEO of Pocus, the first product-led sales platform. Pocus enables sales teams at PLG companies to identify, prioritize, and understand their self-serve users to convert them to high-value customers ultimately. In today’s episode, she will share her knowledge about empowering sales teams with data. She then gives her two cents on what are the common mistakes, essential qualifications, and red flags to avoid when you are looking out for the best salesperson to fit in your product-led company. Show Notes [00:31] Common mistakes that people should avoid when adding on product-led sales  [02:48] Laying out important roles and characteristics before hiring a salesperson [06:39] What other things to look out for in the qualification process? [ 08:16] Red flags to look out for that might not fit in the product sales motion [13:12] Advice to companies that are switching from sales-led to product-led [16:39] Do a brainstorm session for all the things that you need in your business [19:45] Why is it important to shift your mindset? [20:50] Experimentation and keep learning from your users About Alexa Grabell Alexa started the company while getting her MBA at Stanford GSB based on her experience leading up sales strategy and operations at Dataminr. Her goal and passion is for product-led sales to turn their best users into high-value customers. And her company called Pocus, is the best platform to do that. Pocus brings together product usage, customer fit, and buying intent data into one view, with insights tailored to your business. Profile  Alexa on Twitter Alexa on LinkedIn Pocus

A lot happened in 2021—both good and bad—but today’s episode is all about wins! ProductLed founder and CEO Wes Bush and managing director Ramli John wrap up the year by looking back on some of its highlights. They go through two of the ProductLed Podcast’s most episodes and weigh in on what’s next for the podcast. They also touch on some things from the ProductLed blog, give examples of products that have done well, and share their predictions for product-led growth in 2022. And because this is the season of giving, stick around until the end for a chance to win a special gift! Show Notes [01:15] The Product-Led Growth community’s “wins” in 2021 [04:02] About the most popular ProductLed Podcast episodes and how the podcast is planning to move forward [09:30] ProductLed’s most popular blog posts for 2021 [14:25] Tools that give sales team product engagement data will gain more traction [15:20] The days of the "free monopoly" are upon us [18:00] The point of value is moving earlier in the customer journey compared to before [20:45] Being "product-led" will be seen as more than a "product thing" [24:18] Product-led tools are going to explode and product-led companies (or product-led/sales-led hybrids) are going to take the mainstream [27:20] Leave a review for the ProductLed Podcast for a chance to win a vintage Product-Led Growth hat—and if you don’t want to do that, join the ProductLed cohort! [29:25] Ramli’s next steps Links Product-Led Growth Certificate How to Grow a 7-Figure SAAS Business Using Product-Led Growth (Episode 83) How Codecademy Acquired 50M+ Users According To The CEO (Episode 78) What Is Product-Led Growth? Product-Led Growth Tech Stack

Shobhit Chugh is the founder and CEO of Intentional Product Manager, a platform that helps product managers and product leaders fast-track their careers to CPO status. In this episode, he weighs in on the challenges of being a product manager and building a coaching business. He then shares 3 ways to succeed in your career so that you can run the job instead of letting the job run you. He also offers some advice on becoming product-led. Show Notes [00:38] About Shobhit’s core mission [01:38] An overview of his journey to product management [02:48] The challenges of building your first product team [04:44] A common mistake that product managers make [08:22] Do your job right, be clear on what will demonstrate your contributions to your company, and have a purpose or a mission that’s bigger than yourself [12:12] Why Shobhit switched from being a product manager to coaching product managers [13:48] On building his company remotely and overcoming impostor syndrome [18:15] Figure out what your customers really need, focus on one thing at a time, and think about the emotional aspects of the product and product-led growth [21:22] Shobhit’s advice for people who want to get into product management About Shobhit Chugh Before becoming the Intentional Product Manager coach, Shobhit Chugh worked as a consultant at McKinsey. He also used to be a product manager for Google’s Crashlytics. Shobhit’s previous adventures include working at startups like Tamr, High Start Group (now WEVO), and Lattice Engines (acquired by D&B); co-founding Adaptly (acquired by Accenture), and getting an MBA and Masters in Engineering Management at Kellogg School of Management. Link McKinsey & Company Join Shobhit's Masterclass on 5 Steps Product Managers can take to have an Outstanding Career Profile Intentional Product Manager Shobhit Chugh on LinkedIn

Andy Boyd is the SVP of Product Management and Growth at Appfire. In this episode, Andy talks about his experiences building successful growth teams. Andy also shares great insights that will help you make the switch to the product-led paradigm.  Show Notes [01:00] Andy’s experiences with IBM and Appfire [04:00] The power of compounding growth [08:15] Building a transparent, open, data-driven culture [10:20] Comparing opportunities between companies [19:15] A sneak peek of Andy’s book on building Growth teams [21:12] Do things outside of your comfort zone About Andy Boyd Andy Boyd is the Senior Vice President of Product Management and Growth at Appfire, the leading provider of apps for the Atlassian ecosystem. Andy currently leads the product management and growth disciplines for Appfire’s full portfolio of software solutions with over 200,000 active installations worldwide. Prior to joining Appfire, Andy was part of the founding team that brought the IBM Watson (AI) platform to market, serving in various Product Management roles, including establishing the first Growth team for IBM Watson. Links Product-Led Slack Community “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries “Running Lean” by Ash Maurya Profile Appfire Andy’s LinkedIn Enterprise Growth Playbook

Nathan Wangliao is the Head of Business Operations at HeadsUp, a tool that helps product-led sales teams identify which customers to focus on, choose the best moments to reach out, and understand how each customer is using their product. In this episode, Nathan dives deep into the 5 key things product-led companies should consider before layering on sales. He also shares his recommendations for tools that can help product-led sales. Show Notes [03:08] The history of product-led [06:05] Nathan’s observations regarding typical PLG companies [07:05] Do you have product-market fit? Is there a drop in the customer journey that’s really hard to address without having some kind of sales or support function? [08:38] Has expansion reached the natural limits of your product? [09:25] Are you trying to sell to a target segment that might not be open to trying out new products even if the product is a great fit?  [10:16] How do sales improve the user economics or the final metrics of your company? [11:48] The differences between traditional enterprise sales versus PLG sales [16:10] About front-end and back-end tools for product-led sales About Nathan Wangliao Nathan Wangliao is a graduate of Cambridge University where he founded Hack Cambridge (the university’s annual hackathon which is now in its sixth year). He currently works with Momo Ong, one of the co-founders of HeadsUp who has been a guest on the Product-Led Podcast. In his past life, Nathan was a law student, a consultant, and an army mechanic. He likes to climb in his free time. Links Product-Led Growth Certificate™ Course Slack Box Figma Drift Amplitude Mixpanel Fivetran Snowflake Redshift Looker Profile HeadsUp Headsup LinkedIn Nathan’s Twitter Nathan’s LinkedIn

Claudia Zúñiga is the manager of customer experience at Jungle Scout, the leading all-in-one platform that helps entrepreneurs sell on Amazon. In this episode, she shares the lessons the company learned during its transition from sales-led to product-led. She also answers questions from the audience, weighing in on different scenarios like what to do if you have a low acquisition-to-activation rate and how to get new users without paid ads. Show Notes [02:20] A little bit about Claudia and Jungle Scout [07:55] Put your product at the center of the customer experience, help your users help themselves, and be data-driven [12:52] On building bridges, cultivating relationships, and the importance of research [16:52] What Jungle Scout’s onboarding experience was like then versus now [20:08] How to activate free trial users [22:30] Some of the tools that Jungle Scout uses [26:38] Try to understand the different customer types [31:20] How Claudia and her team got the organization and stakeholders onboard with the product-led approach [35:18] On Jungle Scout’s plans to release a new freemium product [37:05] What you can do if you have a low acquisition-to-activation rate [42:35] How to get new users without paid ads About Claudia Zúñiga Claudia Zúñiga is used to working under pressure in the high-paced SaaS industry. She likes finding the best resolution by applying creative problem-solving based on data-driven insights with a customer-centric mindset and approach. Claudia is always interested in learning new things so she is constantly looking for new webinars and online courses—especially those that cover product creation, graphic and web design, usability, data, and analytics. Links Pendo Segment Tableau Salesforce AppUse WalkMe ClientSuccess Gainsight Zendesk FullStory Product-Led Growth Slack Community Books Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself by Wes Bush Profile Jungle Scout Claudia’s email

Fred Melanson is the co-founder and CEO of Bliinx, the revenue engine for product-led sales. In today’s episode, he weighs in on the role of sales in PLG companies, how Bliinx engages with its users, and the recent shift among salespersons. He also shares some actionable steps for companies that are looking to switch to a product-led sales motion. Show Notes [02:00] Some misconceptions about product-led growth and sales [04:12] How sales and product-led work together in organizations that combine both [09:10] When is the best time to reach out to users [12:10] The qualification metrics by Derek Skaletsky of Sherlock [14:18] Fred’s observations about salespersons in product-led companies [17:28] How to measure the success of a product-led sales strategy [21:20] On getting buy-in, having data to track, and acting on that data [25:25] Fred’s advice on keeping things simple and providing value for users About Fred Melanson Fred Melanson is a McGill University graduate who started Bllinx out of frustration for the current ways to scale business relationships. Bliinx was among the 29 companies that had made the cut for Batch 26 of 500 Startups’ seed program. Fred likes listening to podcasts while walking his dog in the morning. Links How I Built This with Guy Raz  The SaaS Podcast  Sales Transformation Podcast  Millennial Sales Podcast Notion Mero UserPilot Hugo Lemlist Userflow Mixpanel Amplitude Heap Snowflake Flinks Asana Customer.io Segment Census High Touch Profile Bliinx Fred Melanson’s LinkedIn Value First: The Product-Led Sales Podcast

Partho Ghosh is the Senior Director of Product and Growth at Hootsuite, the leading social media and marketing dashboard. In this episode, he talks about Hootsuite as a platform and how the company has been structured. He then weighs in on the relation between product-led growth and acquisition, sharing some experiments that Hootsuite has done. He also offers advice on onboarding. Show Notes [02:48] How Hootsuite is looking to elevate in terms of product-led growth [04:55] An overview of Hootsuite’s onboarding approach [09:50] What the platform has to offer [14:35] How product-led growth works in the acquisition space [17:52] About the onboarding checklist and the onboarding funnel [23:32] How Hootsuite measures success [28:50] On the company’s product growth team and what needs to be changed [31:40] Product-led growth takes a village but it’s kickass About Partho Ghosh Partho Ghosh is a customer-obsessed, data-informed product executive and product-led growth expert who can create measurable product processes that lead to large-scale growth. He brings over a decade of experience in B2B SaaS, MarTech, and eCommerce—leading the charge for numerous product transformations at hyper-growth startups. On the side, Partho is a constant connector who has spoken at numerous conferences such as Pendomonium, the Traction Conference, Pavilion, and ProductCamp. He is also an avid scuba diver. Links  Bananatag Marketo  HubSpot Profile Hootsuite  Partho Ghosh’s LinkedIn  Partho Ghosh’s Twitter

Lloyed Lobo is the co-founder and president of Boast.AI, a fintech platform that helps companies identify, claim, and finance R&D tax credits and government incentives. In this episode, he shares how the Traction community came to be. He then weighs in on community-led growth and the value of making an impact. He also goes into what Boast.AI has to offer and the different phases of product-led, sharing advice for early founders. Show Notes [03:02] About Lloyed’s background and the philosophy behind Boast.AI and Traction [08:20] The company’s big vision [10:58] The 2 things that transcend companies [11:28] How to measure impact [14:12] Build a community and you won’t become a commodity [16:25] How Boast.AI evolved from a sales-led model [21:35] What Lloyed learned from the different phases that the company went through [27:22] Why you shouldn’t do things that scale [29:00] Lloyed’s advice on transitioning from sales-led to product-led About Lloyed Lobo After graduating with a degree in software engineering, Lloyed Lobo went into product and growth while working for a few venture-backed companies. He co-founded Boast.AI with his college friend, Alex Popa. He co-founded Traction as a non-profit initiative with his friend Ray Walia, CEO of Launch Academy to provide resources to help innovators become successful. Links  eWebinar MixMax Contentfly Slack Dropbox HubSpot Profile Boast Traction Community Traction YouTube

Pedro Clivati is the Head of Growth at GrowthHackers, the largest online community of growth professionals on the web. In this episode, he shares what people can expect if they are looking to start a business around growth. He then talks about the importance of running tests, corrects certain misconceptions about growth hacking, and offers leadership advice. Show Notes [01:12] What Pedro learned as a co-founder  [03:35] What high-tempo testing is and why it is important for growth [07:25] How growth teams should measure success  [11:25] Get comfortable with being wrong [14:30] Start with a challenge that someone in your team has been thinking of—but didn’t have the resources to work on—and run small experiments in that direction [15:48] Promote your wins across the company About Pedro Clivati Pedro Clivati has a background in marketing and sales, but his foray into growth began when he co-founded Contentools and Growth Boulevard. He also used to be the VP of Global Sales at Contentools, but before that, he worked as a digital marketing consultant. Links  Contentools Airbnb Dropbox Airbnb Growth Study Profile GrowthHackers Pedro’s LinkedIn Pedro’s Twitter