#344 - Wes Bush, Founder of Productled.com - on product-led business transformation

This podcast interview focuses on the challenges and strategies of implementing product-led growth (PLG) effectively (and when to stay out of PLG). My guest is Wes Bush, product-led growth pioneer, founder of Productled.com, and bestselling author.

Wes is widely recognized as one of the pioneers of the product-led growth movement, challenging an entire industry to rethink their approach to SaaS growth.

In 2016, he introduced a freemium product at Vidyard that gained over 100,000 users in less than 12 months, sparking his passion for PLG.

He's a Bestselling Author: His book "Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself" has sold over 100,000 copies globally, primarily through word-of-mouth.

Meanwhile, he has partnered with 408+ SaaS companies to generate over $1bn in self-serve revenue.

Based on that experience, he recently released his new book, The Product-Led Playbook, to discover a simple system to scale your SaaS to 7, 8, or even 9 figures in self-serve revenue with a small team.

His vision: For every company to have a free product experience that enables them to serve before they sell.

This inspired me, and hence, I invited Wes to my podcast. We explore the critical differences between successful and unsuccessful PLG implementations. He highlights the importance of treating PLG as a comprehensive business strategy, not merely a product or marketing tactic. We discuss the importance of choosing the right go-to-market strategy based on product complexity and value addition. I.e., when to opt for Sales-led Growth, and when for Product-Led growth. Last but not least, he shares his framework for deciding what to offer at no cost.

Here's one of his quotes:

What separates the companies that really see success with product-led growth versus the ones that don't? ... They are thinking about product-led growth not just as a product thing; they are treating it as a company thing. They are actually building a product-led business.

During this interview, you will learn four things:

1. What key questions to ask to determine which approach fits your SaaS company better 2. What's required to be crystal clear about before implementing PLG? 3. Why he believes a hybrid PLG + Sales-led growth approach will become dominant (60%+) for B2B SaaS, with pure PLG and pure sales-led each around 20% 4. What we can learn from PLG when it comes to building better websites?

For more information about the guest from this week:

Wes Bush • Website: Productled.com