Enterprise tech companies usually grow by investing in a costly sales and marketing operation, suffering through long, expensive sales cycles. Eventually, if it works, their software is adopted “top down” throughout an enterprise. That approach is tried-and-true, but it’s not the one that Dropbox or Slack followed. Over the last decade, those companies and many others have pioneered a disruptive new business model that is taking over the $250 billion software-as-a-service market. It’s called Product-Led Growth (PLG).
How Software Companies Can Avoid the Trap of Product-Led Growth
By planning ahead, companies can build a team and product platform that’s enterprise-ready.
September 22, 2023
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Summary.
Companies like Slack and Dropbox have pioneered the use of Product-Led Growth (PLG). They start by building a product that’s indispensable for small teams, then count on low friction and customer advocates to expand throughout the organization. PLG works, at least at first. But it can create challenges for growing companies. The answer isn’t to reject PLG. It’s to embrace it — but to plan ahead. Eventually, even the best PLG company will need an enterprise sales strategy which takes years to develop. Don’t wait until product-led growth stalls to plan for a multi-pronged sales strategy.