ProductLed Podcast

Katie Mitchell is Head of Marketing at UserLeap, the platform designed for modern user research. Also hailed as the first continuous research platform, UserLeap uses artificial intelligence to help UX researchers and product managers obtain quantitative insights at scale so they can make informed product decisions in just hours. In this episode, Katie talked about her primary responsibilities, their marketing plans for 2021, and her advice to those who want to go product-led. Show Notes [00:44] Her main responsibilities right now [04:07] Difference in her roles and responsibilities [06:47] He definition of PQL [08:29] What has been working in terms of her transition into becoming product-led [13:16] What their plans are for 2021 in terms of marketing [15:26] The role of salespeople in their product-led journey [19:20] Her advice to those who want to go product-led [20:16] Where people can find out more about her and UserLeap About Katie Mitchell Katie Mitchell is a curious problem solver and a DC-based marketer. She is also the Head of Marketing at UserLeap. For over a decade, she has worked at various SaaS-based companies across B2B and B2C. She helps them elevate their brands and accelerate their growth. Before that, she has worked with large consumer brands like Campbell’s Soup Company, PBS, and BB&T Bank. Profile Katie on LinkedInKatie on TwitterUserLeap

Sam Crowell Richard is the director of the growth team at OpenView, an expansion stage venture firm that helps turn software companies into market leaders. At OpenView, she has helped accelerate top line growth by establishing processes and best practices that support product-led growth. In this episode, Sam talked about the challenges she faced, the kind of problems she loves to work on, and the most important skills she thinks are needed to succeed in growth.  Show Notes [02:35] What OpenView is and how her role fits in there [04:01] The skillset that has helped her get to this point [05:32] The foundation of her skillset [13:20] What happened when she led the marketing team [18:37] Challenges she faced when she took on project strategy [20:41] How she learned how to crossover into the product realm [26:28] What the vibe is at OpenView [31:40] Favorite type of problems she loves to work on [33:22] Trends she has noticed [35:37] The most important skills needed to be successful in growth [36:57] Common traps she’s seeing [38:00] Skills she’s working on right now [39:24] How she knows if she’s making progress About Sam Richard Sam Richard is the director of growth at OpenView. She works closely with portfolio leadership teams to determine and implement powerful and impactful growth strategies. Sam also takes care of onboarding and retention optimization, funnel optimization, and channel/partner strategy. Before joining OpenView, Sam worked as the director of growth and engagement at Dispatch.  Profile Sam on LinkedInOpenViewDispatch

Aggelos Mouzakitis is a product-led growth mentor at GrowthMentor. He is also the growth product manager at Growth Sandwich, a very prominent customer-led growth agency that helps B2B SaaS companies work through deep customer empathy and win/loss data. In this episode, Aggelos shared what the value gap is, how he fixes it, and what he recommends so companies don’t have to deal with value gap. Show Notes [01:05] Favorite road trip he’s been to [01:56] How he became the growth product manager at Growth Sandwich [03:29] What value gap is [06:37] How he fixes the value gap [15:44] What to do when a product is used for something completely different [19:30] How big the value gap problem is [21:32] What businesses that don’t have the value gap problem are doing right [22:48] What he’ll recommend to companies so they won’t have to deal with value gap [22:56] One or two pieces of advice he’d like to give to those who would like to go product-led [28:11] His call to action About Aggelos Mouzakitis Aggelos Mouzakitis’s background is 40% marketer and 60% product manager. He is obsessed with user research and jobs-to-be-done and is one of the very few people certified in the framework. He founded Growth Sandwich in 2017 and has worked with more than 100 SaaS companies. He has also trained thousands in person and through his online courses. Links SlackTrello Profile Aggelos Mouzakitis onLinkedInGrowth Sandwich

The importance of planning in business cannot be overstated. Having a plan can help create focus and unite employees towards a common goal. It also helps ensure time is managed efficiently, resources are allocated accordingly, and the business is prepared for any uncertainties. If there are two people who knows (and believes) in the importance of planning, it’s Wes and Ramli. In fact, they’ve dedicated today’s episode mainly to planning. In today’s show, Wes and Ramli shared what success looks like next year, their theme for 2021, and their takeaways in terms of planning. You’ll learn a lot of great insights on planning from today’s episode so don’t forget to tune in! Show Notes [02:00] What success looks like next year [03:07] Ramli’s 2020 review [05:50] One of their strengths as a business [06:20] Ramli’s surprise for the listeners [08:58] Their theme for next year [17:26] Ramli’s thoughts on planning [20:17] The importance of breaking goals into quarterly goals [23:00] Ramli’s takeaways in terms of planning [24:44] Understanding the brain dump part

Guilherme Lopes is the co-founder and customer success executive at RD Station, the largest SaaS company in Latin America. RD Station helps businesses increase their efficiency and sell more using their marketing and sales tools. With RD Station, you can capture contacts and connect pages, create personalized journeys, and identify the best opportunities. In this episode, Guilherme discussed what prompted them to go product led, what their journey has been like, and what he’ll do differently as it relates to the whole transition. Show Notes [03:03] His background and what he’s been up to [05:10] Their main impetus to go product led [08:20] Pros and cons of the sales led approach [13:35] What their journey to product led has been like [21:17] Ways he built influence to get more people to think about product led [24:34] Areas of resistance he encountered and how he addressed it [27:05] How they structure their pricing [30:32] How they get more teams to get into thinking product led [33:36] The main reason behind having a low touch and high touch sales teams [45:17] What he’ll do differently as it relates to the whole transition [46:52] Biggest difficulty in getting the light version to launch with confidence and how they addressed it About Guilherme Lopes Guilherme Lopes has been building apps since 2005. In 2011, they saw this gap in the South American market and decided to build RD Station. RD Station is now the largest SaaS company in Latin America. By combining their marketing and sales products with people who care about results, they have been supporting businesses from plan to execution.  Profile Guilherme Lopes on LinkedInRD Station WebsiteEmail Address: glopes@rdstation.com

Suneet Bhatt is the president and board chair at Boldr, a purpose-driven outsourcing company that provides clients and partners with high-quality and custom solutions. Boldr provides data management, customer experience, and sales enablement solutions. In this episode, Suneet shared how he approaches growth, how his growth journey started and what it was like, and his advice for those who would like to stand out. Show Notes [02:56] What he did prior to joining the start-up world [05:28] How he approaches growth [08:21] How his growth journey started and what it was like [15:49] How he was able to pick companies that allows making mistakes [21:40] Point where he starts to think about moving to other companies [31:25] His advice for those who would like to stand out About Suneet Bhatt Suneet Bhatt is the president and board chair of Boldr, a purpose-driven outsourcing company that provides customer experience, data management, and sales enablement solutions. He was also the chief growth officer at Help Scout where he raised $6.2 million. Suneet is also the co-founder of Dream Village, a for profit social enterprise that’s dedicated to elevating the work of extraordinary and amazing nonprofit organizations.  Profile Suneet Bhatt on LinkedInBoldrScholarship Boy by Richard Rodriguez (analysis) 

Carlos Villaumbrosia is the founder of Product School, a global leader in product management training. It has an impressive community of over one million product professionals. In this episode, Carlos shared the soft and hard skills great product managers should possess, when’s the right time to hire a product manager, and good UX design resources he’d like to recommend. Show Notes [00:38] How his product led journey started [04:12] What a project manager does [05:40] Difference between the role of product managers in a sales-led organization and a product-led one [06:38] How to influence people without being bossy [07:33] Soft skills great product managers should have [08:59] Hard skills great product managers should have [12:07] UX design resources he’d like to recommend [13:42] When’s a good time to hire a product manager [15:14] His advice to product managers so they don’t mess up [16:42] His thoughts on revenue goals [19:18] Advice he’d like to give  [20:32] Where people can find out more about him About Carlos Villaumbrosia Carlos Villaumbrosia is an entrepreneur with over a decade of experience building digital products and global companies. He founded Product School in 2014. Product School is the global leader in product management training. All of Product School’s instructors are real world product leaders from top Silicon Valley companies such as Google, Netflix, Airbnb, PayPal, Uber, and Amazon. Profile Carlos Gonzales de Villaumbrosia on LinkedInProduct SchoolProduct School ResourcesProduct School YouTube Channel

Maja Voje is the founder, growth advisor, best-selling instructor, and head of Growth University. Also dubbed as a growth marketing and digital transformation expert, Maja uses the “real world, real results” approach to empower teams and organizations. Maja has also managed digital projects for world-class companies like Rocket Internet and Google. In this episode, Maja shared the story behind her workshops, her prioritization framework, and how she makes sure team are executing their ideas.  Show Notes [03:01] The story behind her workshops [05:01] How she runs her workshops [12:31] The ideal people who should be a part of her workshops [14:58] Time she gives people to gather data before the actual workshop happens [18:30] What an agenda of the workshop looks like [24:24] Her system for voting so the results are not biased [25:02] Her prioritization framework to make sure experiments are ordered accordingly [29:02] A good number of ideas that comes out of her workshop [30:45] How teams can ensure they are executing their ideas [32:29] Advice she’ll give to the listeners [34:30] What she wants listeners to do About Maja Voje Maja Voje is a globally-recognized digital transformation and growth marketing expert who has managed Rocket Internet and Google’s digital initiatives. She is also a co-instructor in the world’s best-selling online growth hacking course, used by the likes of booking.com, IBM, and Tesla. Maja has also helped raise €20 million in growth capital and has worked with many international companies based in Belgium, Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United States. Profile Maja Voje on LinkedInMaja Voje WebsiteMaja Voje on TwitterGrowthHackers

Itxaso del Palacio is a partner at Notion Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in software companies with disruptive technologies in AI and ML, Business SaaS, cloud infrastructure, security, and productivity and communications, among others. Before Notion, she has been investing in software companies in Europe for over a decade. In this episode, Itxaso shared her definition of product-led growth, her thoughts on free trial, and the reason product-led is thriving despite the pandemic. Show Notes [00:48] What she does for work and for fun [02:58] One physical activity she’d do for the rest of her life [04:59] Her definition of product-led growth [06:18] Different keys of success to implementing a great product-led strategy [09:51] Her thoughts on free or free trial [16:57] What a good time to value is [19:39] Why product-led is thriving during the pandemic [23:32] Her advice to enterprises that want to launch a product-led product About Itxaso del Palacio For almost two decades now, Itxaso del Palacio has worked with startups in Silicon Valley, London, Spain, and Latin America. She is also a partner at Notion Capital, an early stage investor in European SaaS, enterprise tech, and cloud. Itxaso holds a prestigious Kauffman Fellowship and is well connected to the global network of fellow investors. Itxaso holds a PhD in entrepreneurship and is an engineer by background. Links SuperhumanZoom Profile Itxaso del Palacio on LinkedInNotion Capital on LinkedIn

Anuj Adhiya is an experienced growth manager, startup mentor, and author of the book “Growth Hacking for Dummies.” Also known as the “Growth Guy,” Anuj was also the former director of engagement and analytics at Growth Hackers and the category lead at The Predictive Index. Currently, he is a core member at Underscore VC and the vice president of growth at Sophya. In this episode, Anuj shared how he transitioned from support to marketing and growth, how his journey in Growth Hackers started, and the skills he thinks are critical to become a successful growth leader. Show Notes [05:32] What his first job was [06:59] How he transitioned from a support role into marketing and growth [08:52] Kind of things Sean Ellis was evangelizing when he discovered him on Twitter [12:10] How his journey in Growth Hackers started [20:09] How he eventually applied the things he learned [31:10] The most important skills he thinks are critical to be successful as a growth leader [37:02] His advice to those who would like to build their growth skillsets [42:37] Where people can find him [43:35] What’s next for him About Anuj Adhiya Anuj Adhiya is a seasoned growth manager, startup mentor, and author of the book “Growth Hacking for Dummies.” He is also the vice president of growth at Sophya. Also hailed at the “Growth Guy,” Anuj is also a seasoned growth marketer with a demonstrated history of implementing principles that result in authentic growth. He is also highly skilled when it comes to extracting insights and growth from quantitative and qualitative data, community engagement, and continuous improvement.  Links Growth HackersSean EllisHubSpotWordPressThe Predictive Index Profile Anuj Adhiya on LinkedInAnuj Adhiya on TwitterSophya