The Challenges with Scaling PLG with Oliver Jay

In this curated episode of the Revenue Builders Podcast, we dive into the complexities of scaling Product Led Growth (PLG) models with guest Oliver Jay, former Product Led Sales leader at Dropbox and CRO at Asana. In this insightful conversation, they explore the nuances of PLG, its effectiveness in different market landscapes, and the strategies required to navigate its scalability challenges. From understanding the dominance dynamics in PLG markets to dissecting the intricacies of selling to end-users versus enterprise buyers, this episode offers invaluable insights for companies looking to leverage PLG for accelerated sales performance.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

[00:00:00] PLG dominance dynamics: In PLG markets, the winner typically garners 80% market share due to the model's viral nature.

[00:01:50] Challenges for non-leading PLG companies: Companies beyond the top two struggle to gain traction and should consider pivoting towards enterprise-focused strategies.

[00:02:49] PLG's compatibility with enterprise sales: While PLG excels with end-users, scaling to enterprise level introduces complexities due to the lack of traditional enterprise sales infrastructure.

[00:05:04] Hybrid approach for PLG scalability: Successful PLG companies often combine PLG with sales-led growth, using PLG to seed accounts and leveraging sales teams for enterprise deals.

[00:08:30] Layered nature of PLG scalability: Scaling PLG resembles building a multi-layered cake, with each layer representing different levels of customer engagement and sales complexity.

HIGHLIGHT QUOTES

[00:01:26] "If you're like number three, four, five, six... the wind is not going to be behind your sails. Might as well tweak your product to be a bit more enterprise from day one."

[00:04:45] "A lot of companies... seed the account with end users, then back it up with sales-led growth... to get an enterprise purchase order."

[00:08:30] "Building a PLG company over time... you have a strawberry shortbread bottom, you have a chocolate middle, you have a tiramisu top. It just keeps going."

Listen to the full episode with Oliver Jay through this link:

https://revenue-builders.simplecast.com/episodes/product-led-growth-in-b2b-sales-with-oliver-jay

Check out John McMahon’s book here:

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/1K7DDC4

Check out Force Management’s Ascender platform here:

https://my.ascender.co/Ascender/