PRODUCTEA with Leah, Growth & Senior Leadership

Andrew Davies, CMO at Paddle, on the latest learnings on monetization and pricing. A topic that is still underserved because almost no one has good, conclusive data about it. Paddle does, and Andrew is sharing a lot of actionable advice on:- Willingness to pay- Changing monetization often- How to not incentivize anyone the wrong wayOne of my favorite episodes to date!Timestamps:06:20 Insights from the latest pricing report, analyzing outliers that “make it”09:00 Having access to one of the biggest data stacks about monetization and how Paddle structured itself as a PLG business step-by-step12:45 How to figure out how much you should charge for your product?19:45 How to figure out “willingness to pay”. Cuddling with Chaos24:00 Between Acquisition, Retention, and Monetization…  Few companies are getting pricing right. Those that change it often have an 82% better ARPU30:40 How do you get sales on board to play along to be okay with changing monetization36:00 “We make sure there is no incentive for anyone in the company to get a customer on the phone over self-serving, including sales”40:55 Getting payment methods, currency, and regional acceptance right.44:30 We are moving away from the “VC funded or dead” dream.50:15 What does it feel like to be really “successful” and not to spiral “getting there”54:00 Having no clue what you are doing is an opportunity, not a weakness to cover58:45 Trends: Customers want everything faster and cheaper.Send us a textLeah on Linkedin / Twitter / Youtube

Brian Donohue, product executive at Intercom, discusses the challenges of building AI products and the unpredictability of outcomes. They explore the importance of customer service, tying business and technology together, and creating artificial micro-markets. They also delve into the uncertainty of AI displacing jobs and the future impact of AI advancements.

Mike Pilawski, former manager and mentor, discusses rapid scaling pains at Smallpdf. Topics include first principles thinking, Nokia's prescient predictions, localizing products, personal growth strategies, and managing self-expectations. They also touch on the importance of connecting wisdom, aligning value capture, and the disruption of AI technology in product localization. Additionally, they explore the challenges of dyslexia, redefining success, and the future trends of companies and work.

Carilu Dietrich, an accomplished advisor to big-scale hypergrowth companies, talks about thinking in hypergrowth environments, the importance of storytelling, changing sizes of businesses, advising at scale, and building relationships in companies. They also discuss insecurities as a senior leader and using them as fuel for growth.

Season 3 of the ProducTea: We spill the tea on how to Go to Market through Product-led Sales and Product-led Growth in B2B and the realities of senior leadership.I followed David’s succinct learnings as a Gartner Analyst around PLG for quite some time and you’ll get to know why. He has a way with words. Talking about PLG in a B2B context usually lacks nuance and tactical tips.Not with David, we touched on so many different topics from interactive demos to the most common misconceptions when thinking about PLG and ultimately how to marry it to your sales department.How you can think about ungating your product without giving everything away for free?Timestamps:05:05 Being demanding in business while having a calm outside07:05 When a company loses its sense of urgency11:45 Product-led Sales: Many companies realize “We need sales.” or “We need PLG”, and one group has it much harder than the other17:15 Product-led growth is not a one-size-fits-all thing.19:25 Why getting attention in a commoditized market with sales-led growth is starting with a disadvantage20:35 The most common misconceptions around PLG for Sales-led businesses24:20 Pricing and packaging have to change if you go to a land and expand motion like product-led growth27:35 Should I put my pricing up or not? Yes. And much more than that. Ungating for B2B32:40 Interactive demos done right: Embedding an abstraction of your product36:15 Why enterprise accounts don’t care about time but usage and why you cannot get this wrong in B2B39:05 “Why does my sales cycle take so long, how do I move them faster?”42:05 Tearing down Silos in data and customer understandingSend us a textLeah on Linkedin / Twitter / Youtube

Lloyed Lobo, from the slums to success, shares tactical methods on combining offline and online to drive communities and break into difficult markets. Talks about his inspiring origin story, prioritizing business versus family, and the power of authenticity and understanding customer problems. A masterclass on community-led acquisition and growth fire.

Benjamin Lamson, sales leader turned product-led growth lover, discusses topics such as dealing with insecurities in rising success, bringing Jobs-to-be-done into early-stage companies, mistakes in early-stage hires, breaking down silos in big companies, unrealistic valuations in the startup scene, applying Jobs-to-be-done on a shoestring budget, being specific about ideal customers, and the impact of AI on every product.

Season 3 of the ProducTea: We spill the tea on Product-led Sales and Product-led Growth in B2B and the realities of senior leadership.Alexa Grabell shares honest perspectives on why she recommends every senior leader to have a product coach and how she accidentally ended up being a founder of a VC-backed gig to drive efficiency in go-to-market.Timestamps:2:40 What do people get wrong about Alexa? Confusing being cheery with not being serious5:50 You lead a team, not a family11:20 The future of GTM is data-driven and hyper-personalized15:35 Getting thicker skin after getting rejected all the time17:30 Hiring people too fast for what you have18:50 Accidental ways of landing in a VC-backed company as a founder22:00 You have to believe in what you do more than anyone else26:30 Insecurities in business and executive coaching31:00 The unusual merits of “being experienced”35:30 The leverage of coaching and brutally honest feedback39:50 Intentional community building to drive your business and the future of Go to Market43:15 Hubspot and its powerful product and community buildingSend us a textLeah on Linkedin / Twitter / Youtube

Shanee Ben-Zur, Senior growth leader at top brands like DropBox, NVIDIA, Crunchbase, and Salesforce, discusses misconceptions in virtual meetings, challenges faced in the tech industry, taking unconventional career paths, the importance of role models in the workplace, the structure and organization of growth teams, and the importance of compliments and constructive feedback.

Season 2 of the ProducTea! I’m joined by a silicon valley legend: Dave Kellogg, EIR at Balderton Capital, independent consultant/advisor, and author of Kellblog.We delve into the pitfalls of building a product strategy on shaky foundations and highlight anyone’s job of designing effective experiments to facilitate learning.We speak about an inherent fear of executives missing out constantly and distinguishing between strategic and opportunistic revenue.Why a company is not a democracy where every customer gets an equal say, and how to be cautious about the bad behaviors that can come from improper incentives.We share insights on establishing control over finding successful customers in a sales-led growth company and the concept of product-led sales and territories.Lastly, he addresses the challenges of understanding the inner workings of a SaaS company which usually means taking a hard look in the mirror.Timestamps:02:15 Dave’s introduction07:18 Explaining Marketing / Sales to technical people11:45 Not accepting things you don’t understand, conventional wisdom that’s not true15:50 What do people get wrong about Dave?17:35 Building product strategy on things that have no business to be built around & decision bias22:40 Your job is to design a good experiment - did we learn or did we learn nothing?25:17 A system that incentivizes to move metrics that are hard to manipulate → What is success?34:10 C-level fear of missing out. Strategic revenue and opportunistic revenue38:00 Your company is not a democracy where every customer gets one vote40:40 Bad behavior driven by incentivizing people wrong.47:15 Trying to get control over finding customers that will be successful in a sales-led growth company, product-led sales & territory54:25 Why is it so difficult to understand what’s going on inside a SaaS company?Connect!Dave’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelloggdave/Dave’s blog: https://kellblog.com/Leah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahtharin/Send us a textLeah on Linkedin / Twitter / Youtube