Growth Machines: Combining Product-Led Growth and Sales

On this episode of the Growth Machines podcast I sit down with Saravana Kumar, the founder of Kovai.co, to explore the journey of Document360, one of the products under the Kovai.co umbrella. We’ll discuss the strategies behind Document360's growth, the challenges of a crowded market, and the shift from PLG to assisted selling.Saravana shares his unique perspective on the importance of understanding customer needs and the role of self-serve signups in reducing churn and improving retention. Learn how they target the right customers and why they chose to remove pricing from their website to focus on value-basedselling. This episode is packed with actionable insights for anyone looking to navigate the complexities of scaling a SaaS business. [00:00] Introduction: Meet Saravana Kumar and learn aboutDocument360[05:15] The Journey: From a single product to amulti-product company[10:30] Sales Strategy: Why assisted selling works forDocument360[15:45] Market Challenges: Competing in a crowded space[20:00] Customer Qualification: Targeting the rightcustomers[25:30] Pricing Strategy: The decision to remove pricingfrom the website[30:00] Future Outlook: Growing upmarket and beyond

This episode I have the pleasure of talking with Ramli John,founder of Delight Path and author of "Product-led Onboarding." We discuss why companies today need to focus on a hybrid approach, combining product-led and human interaction for effective onboarding. It’s what led him to write his new book, "Eureka," and evolve his focus on scalable onboarding for high-growth B2B companies. He emphasizes onboarding starts before product sign-up, involving cross-functional collaboration between sales, marketing, and product teams. And it’s important to define clear next steps and checklists to guide users and reduce feelings of being lost. To explain the importance of this, Ramli links the concepts to real-life examples like one of CrossFit gym's onboarding process and others. Tune it to hear all about it.02:00 - Beyond Product-Led Onboarding08:00 - The Hybrid Approach14:00 - Misconceptions in Onboarding20:00 - Psychology in Onboarding26:00 - Non-Software Onboarding Example32:00 - Onboarding Mistakes to Avoid

In this episode of the Growth Machines podcast I speak with Constantinos (Costas) Yenis, VP of Sales and Customer Success at Holded. Costas shares his unique career trajectory from a full-stack web developer to a sales leader in a growing SaaS company. He discusses the importance of understanding customer pain points, the implementation of a product-led sales strategy, and the challenges of engaging non-hand raisers. Costas also highlights the significance of leveraging data for marketing strategies and improving lead qualification processes. Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Costas Yenis and Holded03:03 Costas's Unique Sales Journey05:51 Product-Led Growth and Sales Strategy12:01 Engaging Hand Raisers and ConversionStrategies17:52 Leveraging Data for Marketing andSales Optimization

Key Quote: "What’s good for the business is good for you. And if I’m wrong, I’ll do right by you."Summary:In this episode of Growth Machines, I sit down with Sara Archer from ChartMogul to unpack how she overhauled their lead qualification process to reduce sales workload without sacrificing revenue. With a hybrid go-to-market model and 800+ monthly trial signups, Sara faced the tough call of removing 80% of inbound leads from sales. She shares how she did it—what changed in the signup flow, how reps reacted, and what actually happened to conversion rates. Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Chart Mogul and Sales Challenges03:00 Revising Lead Assignment Strategy06:05 Implementation and Team Communication08:43 Evaluating Conversion Rates and Success Metrics11:48 Long-term Sales Strategy and Rep Tenure14:50 Monitoring Effectiveness and Continuous ImprovementLinks: 🔗 Connect with Sara on LinkedIn 🌐 Try ChartMogul

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 monito...

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, ...

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 personali...

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 mitigat...

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...