In this episode of the Growth Machines Podcast, host Vincent Jong speaks with Jesse Ervin, CRO at Nylas, about the company's journey from a sales-led approach to a hybrid product-led sales model over the past two years. Jesse introduces Nylas and describes how the migration from traditional sales to a product-led growth strategy has impacted the company's sales, customer acquisition, and internal processes. They discuss challenges faced, surprising insights, customer behavior monitoring, and adjustments made during the transition. Jesse also highlights the importance of a flexible approach, constant improvement, and focusing on customer self-service. 00:00 Introducing Jesse and an overview of Nylas04:46 Challenges and Concerns with PLG Transition07:26 Strategies for Sales Team Adaptation11:30 Metrics and Outcomes of the PLG Implementation17:10 Signals and Customer Interaction19:32 Future Directions and Conclusion

Kristen Habacht, Chief Revenue Officer at Typeform, dives into the fusion of sales with product-led growth strategies. She shares Typeform's transition from a PLG pioneer to a successful blend with sales, emphasizing customer success and smart segmentation. The discussion reveals how aligning sales and product teams can elevate customer experiences and boost revenue per rep. Kristen also highlights the importance of questioning conventional beliefs to spark transformative changes in business. It's an insightful look at navigating modern buyer engagement!

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast, host Vincent Jong speaks with Sindre Haaland, CEO of SalesScreen, about the company’s nearly two-year journey to launch a Product-Led Growth offering. Sindre discusses SalesScreen history, their sales gamification platform, and the challenges and strategies involved in shifting from a sales-led to a product-led approach. Key topics include the importance of internal alignment, the role of different team members in driving the project, and early learnings from their beta phase. He also shares insights on balancing value in their freemium model and the backend complexities that come with PLG implementation.00:00 Meet Sindra Halland: CEO of SalesScreen01:01 The Evolution of SalesScreen02:04 Transition to Product-Led Growth04:10 Challenges and Strategies in PLG Implementation07:32 Building the Essential Package12:42 Beta Testing and Learnings16:48 Final Thoughts and Future Outlook18:08 Closing Remarks and Contact Information

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast, host Vincent Jong talks with Laura Erdem from Dreamdata about their unique approach to combining product-led growth and traditional sales in their go-to-market strategy. Laura delves into her role and the evolution of Dreamdata's sales strategy, from a sales-led model to incorporating a free trial product-led component. They discuss the trials and triumphs of this transition, the importance of understanding customer needs, and how personalized trials have become a key part of their success. Laura also shares insights into how close collaboration between sales and product teams has become essential and unexpected learnings that have shaped their strategy.00:00 Laura's Background and Dreamdata's Journey01:55 Transition to Product-Led Growth03:09 Sales and Product Integration05:19 Customer Trials and Sales Strategy09:53 Unexpected Insights and Challenges16:29 Segmentation and Qualification20:21 Wrap Up and Get in Touch

In this episode of the Growth Machines Podcast, Vincent Jong hosts Andrew Davies, CMO of Paddle, to discuss how Paddle went from a product-led model back to a sales-led model to end up in its current hybrid state.Andrew provides insights into Paddle’s transition from a sales-driven model to an integrated product-led and sales strategy, the importance of understanding customer decision processes, and the challenges encountered in ensuring a frictionless user onboarding experience while mitigating risks. The conversation highlights the need for a hybrid approach in scaling businesses. Andrew also shares his experience with adapting commercial infrastructure to support this hybrid model and tackling both internal and customer-facing complexities.00:00 Andrew Davies' Background and Paddle's Mission01:36 Evolution of Paddle's Go-to-Market Strategy03:26 Challenges and Decisions in Product-Led Growth07:02 Hybrid Sales and Product-Led Approach10:00 Complexities and Learnings in Scaling16:18 Final Thoughts

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I speak with Susann Johansen, Head of Growth and User Experience at OneFlow, about how they introduced Product-Led Growth at Oneflow, a traditionally sales-led company. Susans shares the evolution of OneFlow's go-to-market strategy, the challenges of implementing a freemium model, and the nuances of segmenting and scoring product-qualified leads (PQLs). She also highlights the collaborative efforts between product, marketing, and sales teams to align on the right timing and approach for customer outreach. Our conversation covers the varying success of PLG across different regions and the interplay of PLG with traditional sales in complex B2B purchasing processes. 00:00 Susann's Background and OneFlow Overview 01:00 Transition from Sales-Led to Product-Led Growth 02:03 Challenges and Strategies in Implementing PLG 04:48 Segmentation and PQL Scoring 07:13 Sales and Product Collaboration 10:08 Country-Specific PLG Effectiveness 14:08 Unexpected Successes and Final Thoughts 16:04 Conclusion and Contact Information

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast, Vincent Jong talks with Yazan Sehwail, co-founder of Userpilot, about integrating product-led strategies with human touch for optimal sales and expansion. Yazan shares Userpilot’s journey from focusing on one feature to managing complex product offerings, highlighting their approach to balancing free trials and demo CTAs based on the type of customer and their needs. He discusses the dynamics between product-led motions and sales teams, emphasizing the importance of tracking user engagement and experimental approaches to post-activation feature adoption. Yazan also speaks on the future of personalized user experiences powered by AI and hints at trends observed within Userpilot’s customer base.00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome00:53 The Evolution of Userpilot's GTM Strategy02:59 Balancing Self-Serve and Sales Models06:27 Managing Sales Team Dynamics10:14 Strategies for Expansion Revenue13:54 Trends in In-Product Experiences16:57 Future of Personalization with AI

On this episode of the Growth Machines podcast I speak with Mathias Thulin from GetAccept. He shares how they developed the Go-to-Market model for GetAccept going from sales-led to freemium and now a combination of sales-led and free trial.As of today combines a free trial, an interactive product tour, and a book-a-demo option in an intuitive way. Depending on the customer profile, one or more of these options will be emphasized during the customer journey.One of the things that was a big topic at GetAccept was ungating the content on the website. Mathias talks through this experience and how they learned that the more they gave away, the higher quality their pipeline became.Mathias highlights the importance of understanding the maturity of your category when considering Product-Led Growth. If people don’t understand your product, they might be hesitant to sign up for it. In a similar manner, we talk about the importance of the decision-making process: can your customer actually start using the product? In the case of GetAccept the adoption is almost always a top down decision, which is more challenging for product-led customer acquisition. Regardless, Mathias advocates a product-first mindset, even if PLG is not the primary growth motion. He emphasizes that thinking product-first results in a better onboarding and software product altogether, which also helps other Go-to-Market metrics like sales conversions and retention.

In the seventh episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I speak with Japna Sethi, Product and Growth leader at Calendly. Previously she has been a lead for Product and Growth at Dropbox and she built and led the Growth team at Productboard from the ground up. Each of these companies dealt with a large flow of incoming users and Japna shares how they built support and sales motions on top of this to identify and convert accounts with larger potential. In one company experiments to involve the support team at key moments led to the creation of an entirely separate team and organization that drove conversion for the business.She describes the challenges of applying the scientific method in a B2B context, which often leads to long timelines to see results for Product-Led Growth. Listen to the full episode to hear how she recommends to create a portfolio of experiments and what teams can do to make sure they don’t circle back to the same ideas without properly validating or invalidating them.[00:00] Introducing Japna Sethi [00:45] Success patterns in companies doing Product-Led Growth [04:14] Setting the right expectations in terms of timeline [07:08] Creating a Portfolio of Experiments [09:51] The API between Product-Led Growth and Sales [13:42] Common Pitfalls and Challenges [17:02] Involving Support and Customer Success [21:27] Dealing with Large User Volumes [25:28] 3 Things to Look at When Assessing a PLG strategy [29:44] Final thoughtsThis interview is part of my book about Product-Led Sales. Go to www.PLGandSales.com for more info.

In the sixth episode of the Growth Machines podcast, I speak with Todd Olson, the co-founder and CEO of Pendo, about leveraging in-app messaging for tailored user experiences and the impactful role of Product-Led Growth (PLG) in sales operations. We discuss robust PLG strategies employed by companies ranging from startups to large enterprises, including personalized onboarding flows, efficient go-to-market approaches, and AI-driven campaign suggestions for improved user engagement and retention. Todd also highlights the broad application of PLG beyond software companies, with examples from banking and other sectors for driving growth and personalization at scale.[00:00] Introducing Todd Olson: The Journey to Pendo[01:02] The Power of Pendo: Transforming User Experience and Business Growth[02:21] Exploring Product-Led Growth Strategies with In-App Messaging[04:25] Efficient Growth and Expansion[10:36] Advanced Implementations[14:36] The Future of Growth: AI-Driven Strategies and PersonalizationThis interview is part of my book about Product-Led Sales. For more info, go to  www.PLGandSales.com