Product-led growth B2B companies succeed if they master this first step | Elena Verna

Lenny's Podcast
20 Jan 202309:02

Summary

TLDRThe transcript discusses how companies should focus first on product-led growth and retention before acquisition. Retention has two key metrics - activation and engagement. Without these, there are limited opportunities for product-led acquisition. Determine if the product has a one-to-many collaborative element to enable product-led strategies. If not, rely more on marketing and sales. Most B2B lack one-to-many relationships. Execute both sales-led and product-led motions correctly together over time, instead of choosing one approach. Reinforce the product-led roots even when chasing enterprise sales to avoid slowing growth. Letting product usage and community growth lag risks enterprise pipeline drying up.

Takeaways

  • ๐Ÿ˜€ You must first focus on product-led retention before product-led acquisition
  • ๐Ÿ˜‡ Retention has two key metrics - activation and engagement
  • ๐Ÿง Without strong activation and engagement, acquisition efforts will fail
  • ๐Ÿ˜Ž Successful companies layer sales-led and product-led growth
  • ๐Ÿ˜ฎ Don't abandon one model when adding the other - amplify both
  • ๐Ÿค” Determine where to start with sales or product led based on market and use cases
  • ๐Ÿ˜  Avoid letting enterprise sales crush underlying product-led growth
  • ๐Ÿ˜ข 80% of companies abandon product growth when chasing enterprise sales
  • ๐Ÿ˜ก Pivoting from product to pure sales requires changing company structure
  • ๐Ÿฅบ Successful companies never forget the product-led roots that drove initial growth

Q & A

  • What are the two main KPIs for retention according to the speaker?

    -The two main KPIs for retention according to the speaker are activation and engagement.

  • What does the speaker mean by a 'habitual loop' in relation to product-led retention?

    -A 'habitual loop' refers to getting users to habitually use your product through engaging features and experiences that keep bringing them back.

  • What are the prerequisites for effective product-led acquisition?

    -The prerequisites are strong product-led retention with good activation and engagement metrics, so you have a solid user base to build acquisition strategies on top of.

  • What are the two types of monetization models mentioned?

    -The two types are product-led self-serve monetization and sales-led monetization chasing larger contract values.

  • What layering game is the speaker referring to?

    -The layering game refers to typically starting with either product-led or sales-led, and then later layering the other model on top rather than switching completely.

  • What crucial mistake do most companies make when scaling up sales?

    -They let go of their product-led growth initiatives and tactics that were the original root of their success.

  • Why does the speaker say the sales pipeline starts drying up when focusing too much on sales-led enterprise growth?

    -Because without continuing to grow the product-led user base that feeds inbound sales interest, there is no foundation for sales to continue exponential growth.

  • What pendulum swing is the speaker advising companies to be aware of?

    -The pendulum between investing in product-led growth vs. enterprise sales - needing to correct back to product if neglected too long.

  • What percentage of buyers will typically be in a company's user base according to the speaker?

    -The speaker says only 30 percent or less times will your buyer actually be in your user base.

  • What crucial mistake do most companies make when scaling up sales?

    -They let go of their product-led growth initiatives and tactics that were the original root of their success.

Outlines

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Mindmap

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Keywords

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Highlights

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Transcripts

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