ProductLed Podcast

A few years ago, many noted a dramatic change in the world of buying and selling: companies that have adapted the “product first” strategy were outpacing those that rely primarily on high friction sales models. One of the companies that really went all in on product-led growth is Vendasta. In this episode, Jacqueline Cook, Vendasta’s chief strategy officer shares what made them decide to do it and how they were able to transition successfully. Show Notes [01:15] How she became the chief strategy officer at Vendasta [02:30] What a chief strategy officer does [03:29] What Vendasta does [05:24] Trends she saw in their business [07:36] What made her decide it’s time to take Vendasta to the next level [09:37] How they transitioned from a sales-led company to a more product-led business [11:37] How she got the buy-in from the team [14:54] How their organisation is structured [18:29] Some of the early experiments she ran [22:43] Things that need to be in place to maximise the learning curve [24:29] Things other companies should avoid [26:49] Some of her biggest worries about going product-led [29:03] Where people can find out more about Vendasta About Jacqueline Cook Jacqueline Cook is the chief strategy officer at Vendasta. Vendasta is a Canadian-based business that provides an end-to-end commerce platform to firms who sell digital services and products to small and medium businesses. The company is also known for their innovation, thought leadership, and rapid growth. Links HubSpotNetflix Profile VendastaJacqueline on LinkedIn

Understandably, different business models will require diverse strategies. In this episode, Jeff Hardison, head of product marketing at Clearbit discusses how he approaches product marketing in different kinds of companies and the things he takes into account when in each of those businesses. Show Notes [00:53] How he became the head of product marketing at Clearbit [03:24] What Clearbit is [04:52] His experience owning the self-service revenue number [07:15] How companies can decide between a self-service model or have sales lead the whole sales process [09:25] Three important things about product led growth [10:55] What he wants to caution people against in terms of product led growth [12:10] What to do when the self-serve revenue plateaus [13:54] The best time to introduce sales into the organisation [17:35] How to help people understand what they’re getting themselves into [20:17] How to make products easier to implement [25:37] How to determine when to reach out to specific people [27:59] One thing he wished he knew in terms of building the self-service model and learning how to turn users into paying customers [29:21] His advice to sales-driven companies that would like to try self-serve [33:04] How his testing process has evolved over the years [34:50] Why every company should try to start with product led growth About Jeff Hardison Jeff Hardison is the head of product marketing at Clearbit. Clearbit is a business-data and marketing software company relied upon by leading SaaS clients like Asana, Segment, and Stripe. Profitable since their fourth month, Clearbit is considered a great example of an exceptionally managed company. Links InVisionReflect Technologies, Inc. (Acquired by Puppet) HPShopifyGoogle Tag ManagerHubSpot Profile ClearbitJeff on LinkedIn

Contrary to popular belief, user onboarding is not designed to make people become better at using a product. Rather, its primary goal is to help them become better at what the product enables them to do. With that said, it’s no surprise today’s guest spends a significant amount of time and resources to ensure people have an aha moment the first 7 minutes of their onboarding experience. In this episode, Francois Bondiguel, head of growth at Deputy shares what they do the first 7 minutes of the onboarding experience, how they’re doing it, and why. Show Notes [01:11] How he became the head of growth at Deputy[03:29] What Deputy is in a nutshell[04:27] How he figured out the magic number (7 minutes)[07:57] How he found out about drop off rate and how he started improving the metric[09:35] How they collect information to tailor the user’s experience[11:22] How they got people involved and focused on improving the experience[15:21] What he’ll recommend to those who would like to improve their on boarding[17:02] Experiments they’ve done that didn’t work out well[19:35] The impact of introducing the human element in onboarding[22:59] When it makes sense to add a human element in the onboarding process[26:16] How they approach segmentation[28:45] How he built a lead scoring model[31:58] How he helped people to an aha moment the first 7 minutes[37:35] Where people can find him to know more about the work he’s doing About Francois Bondiguel Francois Bondiguel is the head of growth at Deputy, a product-led employee management tool that uses innovative cloud-based technology as well as machine learning and AI to help businesses transform operations and empower employees to work the way they want. Link: OpenView Profiles: DeputyFrancois on LinkedIn

Frameworks for Selecting and Implementing Product Analytics with Sam Richard, Director of Growth at OpenView It is reassuring to know that product analytics have reached mass adoption with nearly 80 percent of companies already adopting in-product analytics as well as tracking. In this episode, Sam Richard, Director of Growth at OpenView shares the importance of product analytics and how companies should go about selecting and implementing product analytics. Show Notes [00:42] How she became the director of growth at OpenView [04:08] Her definition of product-led growth [06:39] Her thoughts on product-led growth being considered a fad [09:02] How to build a product-led business [11:25] Where one should start if they want to develop a culture of experimentation [13:03] How companies go about selecting and implementing product analytics [15:42] Key questions to ask before starting product analytics [18:25] Specific metrics she takes into account [21:35] The power of activation [23:42] Common mistakes she sees people make [27:14] Her advice for companies that are transitioning to become more product-led [29:06] Reasons to start a product-led business and reasons to consider a more sales-led business About Sam Richard Samantha Richard is Director of Growth at OpenView where she helps software companies become market leaders. Through OpenView’s expansion platform, they help ensure companies are able to hire the best talent, partner with industry leaders, and acquire (as well as retain) the right customers so they can dominate their markets. Links ServiceTitanOracleCostcoDropboxAmazon Profile OpenViewSam on LinkedIn

The proliferation of data-based practices has caused two major changes (at least): it’s raised expectations of data-literacy across all teams, and it’s started to change the ways data teams work. In this episode, Milene Darnis, Product Manager at Heap, shares why feeding product data into your strategy is critical, and how to do it successfully at each stage of your company as you grow. Show Notes [00:39] How she became a product manager at Heap[01:42] What Heap is[02:57] Why feeding product data into strategy is critical[03:43] Business data and product data[04:50] Data people should be tracking to make better decisions[07:55] Kind of prediction model she would suggest[09:04] Why product data is much more important for product-led companies than sales-led companies[12:36] How to know if you have gone too deep in quantitative data[14:17] Tool categories companies should be thinking about[21:01] Most common mistakes she sees people do again and again[22:28] Advice for companies who are just starting to gather product data[23:55] How people can use product data to make better decisions[25:30] Common mistakes people make when gathering data[27:50] How she gets her data and finds the best customers who use her product About Milene Darnis Milene Darnis is a Product Manager at Heap, where she works on Heap's core technology: autocapture. This forward-looking technology gives product managers around the world the ability to ask questions about their users retroactively, without having to bug developers to implement tracking. Links UberSalesforceShopifyRedshiftSnowflake Profile Milene’s TwitterMilene’s LinkedInHeap Website

KPIs and metrics are the signals; the inputs to making great decisions. It's not optional. In this episode, Allan Wille, Co-Founder and CEO of Klipfolio, shares the most important metrics every team working within a product-led organization needs to understand to thrive and grow in a super competitive market. Show Notes [02:59] Who Allan is[03:50] What Klipfolio is[05:06] Key metrics he takes into account[07:43] General and admin[15:47] How he defines success[20:59] How his team defines “onboarded”[21:44] A quick look at retention[23:33] Product[25:19] Trial engagement and conversion[25:39] On developing a metric called true trial[28:33] The cohort 90d logo retention[30:31] Marketing[32:22] Why he's not tracking the cost per trial user[33:09] MetricHQ About Allan Wille Allan Wille is a co-founder of Klipfolio, served as CEO until 2018, and is currently driving culture and collaboration as Chief Innovation Officer. Klipfolio is a SaaS dashboard company with over 11,000 customers—including Zendesk, Aviva, and IKEA. Allan previously co-founded Espial, an internet device software firm that is now publicly traded on the TSX. He lives in Ottawa with his wife and two daughters. Links HubSpotSalesforceFacebook AdsGoogle Analytics Profile Allan's TwitterAllan's LinkedInKlipfolio Website

Welcome to the introductory episode of Product-Led Podcast. In this episode, you'll find out more about the hosts of this show, Wes Bush and Ramli John, and why you should subscribe today!