ProductLed Podcast

David Rostan is Head of Revenue (Sales & Marketing) at Stonly in New York. Stonly is a company that created a unique widget to build interactive guides to lead clients’ customers to activation, issue resolution, and success on their terms. He has previously worked with fascinating product-led companies such as Calendly as VP for sales and marketing and Dashly as Head of organic and product marketing. These companies are known for effectively scaling that improved their onboarding experiences. In this episode, David will talk about the topic at hand -- how to use customer intent to build product onboarding that scales. Show Notes [01:19] How David got fascinated in customer intent and product onboarding and scales [03:45] The importance of tailoring onboarding for different user intent for him [05:51] His view on the differences of customer intent at different stages [07:59] What customer intent is for him [10:59] On ‘asking’ as the first step to meaningfully understand customer intent  [14:39] On testing and seeing what resonates as the second step [17:27] On identifying the pattern, replicate successes, and observe as the last steps [23:13] What he does best to scale the business right now [26:23] His favorite companies using user intent [29:12] What intent signals he looks for to ensure success for clients [31:36] The results of the experiments he had on user intent to scale onboarding [35:27] On how to further use customer intent to scale and deliver superb onboarding experiences  [37:53] Ways on building the empathy muscle for him [40:26] Where to find out more about David About David Rostan David Rostan is a marketing bigshot with a track record of starting up and expanding mobile products and applications on the web in Fortune 100 and start-up environments. He has outstanding experience in leading all aspects of marketing strategy, such as but not limited to customer acquisition, product innovation, customer research, branding, and data analytics, to accomplish business objectives. He has accomplished so much as an entrepreneur. He has launched 3 SaaS applications and grew them via online and offline sales and marketing channels. He specializes in the following fields: digital marketing and strategy, customer acquisition and channel prioritization, customer development and market research, technology innovation and product management, team building or hiring, strategic planning (OKRs), and leadership. Profile David Rostan on LinkedInDavid Rostan’s Email AddressStonly

Krish Subramanian, CEO, and Co-founder of the leading subscription and billing software called Chargebee, will be sitting in today’s show to answer that question. Chargebee is a global subscription management platform that automates revenue operations of over 4,500 high-growth subscription-based businesses from startups to enterprises across verticals, including SaaS, eCommerce, e-learning, IoT, Publications, and more. Krish and his extremely dynamic mind will be sharing first-hand experiences on how they evolve their go-to-marketing strategy over the years and learn how to straddle sales-led and product-led motions together to drive fast growth. He also talks about the trials and setbacks that they’ve encountered and how they move past those obstacles to generate wins. Shownotes [0:59] Krish talks about their journey of reflecting on their mistakes and wins at Chargebee [1:56] What got them into solving this problem of helping subscription companies understand their business much better? [7:11] The relevance of understanding your subset of customers  [8:42] How do they identify their best customers? [10:36] Getting that value metric and Northstar metric is the biggest revelation for them [15:33] On building more features for your most successful customers [{21:21 Why does he think the pricing is so important to be Product-Led as a business? [25:03] Your end user’s success will eventually become your success  [30:00] Advantages of having both self-service and pre-sales [31:15] How did Chargebee evolve the way they structure their teams? About Krish Subramanian: Krish Subramanian is the co-founder and CEO of Chargebee, a global leader in subscription billing and revenue management solution for scaling businesses. He is an engineer by profession and a problem solver at heart with over 20 years of experience in the software field. As an ex-consultant, Krish strongly believes that business value is defined by service and experience to the customers and the people. He is referred to as the “nice guy” within the company, the tech community, the media, and his mom.  Profile Chargebee Krish on LinkedIn Krish on Twitter

Mariam Hakobyan, the Co-Founder and CEO of Softr, is an engineer turned entrepreneur dedicated to simplifying software creation. She shares her journey of scaling Softr from zero to 45,000 users in less than a year. Mariam emphasizes the significance of community feedback in product development and how user empowerment fuels growth. She discusses balancing simplicity with advanced features to cater to varying user needs. With a focus on customer value and intuitive design, Mariam reveals her vision for creating a thriving ecosystem for software enthusiasts.

Tom Ronen, the head of customer success at monday.com, shares insights on the synergy between product and customer success teams. He emphasizes the need for shared KPIs to focus on user engagement and customer satisfaction. Tom discusses fostering a culture of transparency, where communication flows freely and customer feedback directly influences product development. He offers advice for leaders in product-led organizations to prioritize collaboration and gives tips for customer success teams to ensure their voices are heard, helping drive feature improvements.

Wes Bush, an expert who has guided over 408 SaaS companies on product-led strategies, shares invaluable insights on transforming business growth. He discusses the pivotal shift from sales-led to product-led approaches, emphasizing the need to avoid common pitfalls. Wes elaborates on the nine core components of the ProductLed System, designed to scale businesses efficiently. Additionally, he highlights how companies like Canva and Atlassian position themselves as top choices in competitive markets. Tune in for strategies that promise faster growth with less effort!

Esben Friis-Jensen, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer at Userflow and Adviser at Cobalt, shares insights on transitioning from a sales-led to a product-led approach. He discusses the challenges they faced during this shift, including organizational resistance and the importance of gaining team buy-in. Esben highlights the benefits of innovative strategies in the pentesting industry and offers valuable advice on nurturing collaboration between sales and product teams. He emphasizes the need for a positive mindset and iterative learning in this transformative journey.

Kevin Tate, former Chief Revenue Officer at Clearbit, shares his extensive expertise in strategic marketing. He dives into how Clearbit transformed its sales pipeline by 5x through a data-driven, product-led approach. Key topics include the concept of Marketing Engaged Leads (MELs) and the importance of understanding customer intent via data insights. He also emphasizes the need for a flexible segmentation strategy to identify ideal customer profiles and enhance engagement while echoing the importance of making tools accessible for prospects.

Daryna Kulya, Co-founder of OpenPhone, is with us today. She enjoys serving consumers with the best customer experience by creating products that suit their needs. OpenPhone is an app built for teams and individuals so they can level up and use their phones for business anywhere. It’s everything that you and your team need in a phone system! Daryna gives us an overview of how they were able to come up with this unique vision and how they skyrocketed from 0 to 1000 customers. Are you on the lookout for a business phone? If so, then catch her on the show and stay tuned for more. Show Notes [4:47] They want to be a part of an environment that is a lot more inspiring and that allows them to make progress. [5:50] The reason why they joined Velocity [6:47] Why did they initially give their product for free? [9:42] People should be getting value out of the product, so see if that’s true [12:54] They always knew that OpenPhone would ultimately end up being a product that starts with one person in the company and then scales to the whole team [19:26] One of the most fundamental lessons learned was that a lot of times you overcomplicate things unnecessarily. [23:17] Daryna shares some of the biggest milestones that they have achieved throughout the years [27:08] How were they able to build a team and what did that journey look like? [34:27] Biggest leadership mistakes and lessons learned from the presence of scale [35:57 Daryna’s advice on delegation, building a business, and scaling it up About Daryna Kulya Daryna Kulya is the COO and co-founder of OpenPhone. She was previously a product manager at Vidyard, where she helped to establish and grow Vidyard GoVideo (ViewedIt). She also worked at Deloitte's Digital Innovation Lab, and helped them with their prototypes and innovations. Back in 2014, she established Product Hunt Toronto, one of the city's largest product events and the world's first Product Hunt community-run meeting. But what’s more interesting is Daryna is adventurous. She loves hiking trails in her free time.   Link OpenPhone Profile Daryna’s LinkedIn

Justin Bauer, SVP of Amplitude, discusses driving growth, shifting to enterprise, changing branding, pricing strategies, and building excellent product analytics. He emphasizes understanding consumers, investing in content, and starting with a strategy. The podcast covers Amplitude's journey from $1M to $200M ARR, focusing on organizational structure, metrics alignment, and strategic decisions for growth.

To understand usability and boost user engagement, one key concept you need to master is friction logs. In this episode, we cover ideas and recommendations for using them to unlock product-led growth with the help of Pulkit Agrawal, the co-founder of Chameleon.  Pulkit shares his knowledge about what a friction log is, how to make them valuable and the careful considerations you need to consider when making decisions about both good and bad friction.  Show Notes [01:47] Friction log is a stream of consciousness on a piece of paper. [04:07] User testing or a friction log. What's the distinction? [07:32] You don't need to explain every step, and not every step is equal! [08:18] What does Pulkit want everyone to consider when it comes to friction logs? [13:46] What better options do you have to consider when making decisions in both good and bad friction? [17:10] New patterns develop, and people's expectations change along with the market. [21:02] How can we improve the onboarding experience? [24:34] It is unnecessary to perfect the journey or the friction log. [26:58] Improve product experiences by combining qualitative and quantitative data! [32:39] Never deploy anything that might lead a customer or end user to see something they are not requesting or expecting. [37:17] Risk comes from not knowing what you're doing, so learn these factors Pulit is talking about.  About Pulkit Agrawal Previously, Pulkit helped unemployed youth launch businesses in rural India, studied engineering at the University of Cambridge, and worked in data modeling and analysis in London. About Chameleon The most well-known product adoption platform, Chameleon, was created to let modern software companies rebrand and alter their user experiences. Teams can easily create, deploy, test, and iterate on in-product experiences, such as banners, tooltips, modals, walkthroughs, checklists, and more, using its no-code Builder. Profile Pulkit Agrawal on LinkedIn Chameleon Blog