ProductLed Podcast

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

Jeff Coyle is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of MarketMuse, an industry-leading content planning technology. Today, he will explain how community management principles can support product-led growth. Jeff also discusses how community drives “sales-led growth” and the importance of employee advocacy in the success of a community. MarketMuse, his platform, identifies content quality issues and creates a channel for content optimization. Show Notes [1:10] Traditional product management and traditionally trained product managers do not typically come from the land of social media. [5:31] How has the community influenced overall product-led growth? [8:22] The importance of having thick skin is that you can experience what it’s like to have a negative emotion emerge and create more transparent communication. [15:54] Employee advocacy and its social impact [23:18] Key takeaways from this episode that listeners should consider. About Jeff Coyle Coyle is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of MarketMuse. This company assists content marketers in establishing topical authority, improving content quality, and transforming semantic research into actionable insights. Prior to joining MarketMuse, he previously operated his own marketing consultancy and managed the Traffic, Search, and Engagement team for TechTarget, a leader in B2B technology publishing and lead generation. Links Product Led Slack Community Profile Market Muse Email address: jeff@marketmuse.com Jeff on LinkedIn Jeff on Twitter

April Dunford is the author of “Obviously Awesome”, and in this episode, she talks about positioning—what it is and why it’s important. She dives into some of the analogies she used in her book to explain how positioning works. She also brings up Clay Christensen's milkshake story to break down the 5 components of positioning. She then answers some of the viewers’ questions, offering practical advice for startups. Show Notes [03:22] Some misconceptions about positioning, why positioning is important in business, and how it differs from traditional branding [09:22] Why positioning is like the opening scene of a movie [16:25] Some signs of weak positioning: total confusion, wrong comparisons, prospective clients don’t think your value is valuable or they think your vision is just a fantasy [20:25] Define what makes your product special and then figure out what is the best context to frame those qualities in [25:35] The 5 components of positioning: competitive alternatives, unique capabilities, differentiated value, target market segments, and market category [27:58] On Clayton Christensen’s “Jobs to Be Done” theory [36:05] How to convince buy-in companies that positioning is important [43:18] How to define positioning if you do not have best customer fit yet [45:08] How positioning influences product development [50:05] How to position your product or company if you want to cater to different countries About April Dunford April Dunford studied engineering in university and then spent the first 25 years of her career as a marketing executive for startups. She has worked as a consultant for more than 100 companies, helping them fine-tune their sales and marketing teams. Aside from being an expert on product positioning, April is also a mentor, an adviser, and a keynote speaker. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her kids and a small dog. Links Salesforce Competing Against Luck by Clayton Christensen Profile April Dunford's website April Dunford's Twitter

Pedro Clivati, Head of Growth at GrowthHackers, shares insights on high-tempo testing, measuring success for growth teams, embracing failure, and starting small with experiments to drive growth. He emphasizes the importance of running tests, correcting misconceptions about growth hacking, and promoting wins across the company.

Alison Taylor and Trevor Johnston are the co-founders and co-CEOs of Jane, an online platform for health and wellness practitioners that makes it simple to book, chart, schedule, bill, and get paid. They join Ramli on the show to talk about product-market fit and how customer service is at the heart of a product-led business. They then go through the steps they have taken (and still take) to overcome growing pains. Show Notes [01:17] How the Jane app came to be and scaled with just one “customer support” team [05:34] The signup process is a way to get customers committed and to get them on the product journey [08:00] Why Alison and Trevor decided not to go with the freemium model  [09:48] About Jane’s high-touch onboarding experience [12:26] Prioritize loyal customers over sales [15:23] The evolution of Jane’s signup process [19:30] About Jane’s org structure and support system [23:48] The challenge of hiring and helping people develop their careers [28:05] How marketing and engineering fit in Jane’s org structure [30:05] Alison and Trevor’s advice for product-led startups About Alison Taylor and Trevor Johnston Alison Taylor has been in the healthcare space as a business manager since 2008, and she believes in the integration of work into life and life into work. She hired Trevor’s creative agency to brand her clinic, Canopy Integrated Health, which she opened in 2011. Trevor Johnston loves doing creative things with technology to create enjoyable experiences and to solve people’s problems. He co-founded Thought Shop Creative Inc. and was its lead digital guy until 2016. Jane is his first app and his first foray into coding. Profile Jane Alison Taylor’s LinkedIn Trevor Johnston’s LinkedIn

In this episode of the ProductLed Podcast, Wes Bush chats with Basecamp co-founder Jason Fried about its distinct and challenging perspective that has set Basecamp up for success. Jason explains why every business should have a unique point of view and shares how his team thinks through them, as well as his philosophy around the process of finding one. He also details the role that books play in his overall business strategy. Key Moments: [03:05] Origin of the underdog mindset and personal experiences.[07:11] Critique of the growth-at-all-costs mentality in startups.[13:18]: How to go about identifying your unique point of view[20:25] Role of books in sharing their company philosophy.[28:06] Balancing successful products and exploring new ideas. About Jason Fried Jason Fried is the co-founder and CEO of Basecamp, a project management and team collaboration software company. He is the co-author of several bestselling books, including Rework, and It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work. Jason Fried | LinkedIn About Wes Bush: Wes Bush is the founder and CEO of ProductLed and the world’s leading expert on product-led growth. He is the bestselling author of Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself and the upcoming Product-Led: Your Go-To Manual for Scaling a Product-Led Business, due in August 2024 (Read the first three chapters for free). Wes Bush | LinkedIn

Gina Allman, ProductLed's content specialist, discusses researching content, highlighting the 50 best PLG examples, focusing on user experience, key takeaways for transitioning businesses. She shares insights on creating original content for the blog, drawing from her diverse background in finance and marketing.