Your checklist to launch a product

Launching a product is an exciting, nerve-wracking, and sometimes chaotic experience. A well-executed product launch isn’t just about hitting “publish” and hoping for the best. It requires careful planning, market research, and coordination across teams.

To help you navigate this journey, we’ve put together a comprehensive checklist to launch your product successfully.

Phase 1: Market research & validation
Before investing time and resources, ensure your product solves a real problem and has a clear audience.

Define your target audience: Who is your product for? Create user personas that outline demographics, pain points, goals, and behaviors.

Validate the problem: Conduct customer interviews, run surveys, or analyze existing data to confirm demand for your solution.

Analyze competitors: Research direct and indirect competitors. What do they offer? What gaps can your product fill?

Test your idea: Consider running a small pilot program or MVP (Minimum Viable Product) before going all-in.

Phase 2: Product development and readiness
Once you’ve validated your idea, it's time to build a solid product.

Develop an MVP: Focus on must-have features that solve the core problem effectively. Avoid feature creep.

Ensure product stability: Conduct rigorous testing—QA, usability tests, beta testing—to catch bugs before launch.

Optimize User Experience (UX): A confusing product won’t retain users. Ensure smooth onboarding and easy navigation.

Security and compliance: If your product handles sensitive data, confirm it complies with necessary regulations (GDPR, HIPAA, etc.).

Phase 3: Marketing and positioning
A great product won’t sell itself. You need a strong marketing and positioning strategy.

Craft a clear value proposition: In one sentence, explain why your product matters. Use simple, compelling language.

Create pre-launch buzz: Build an email list, tease features on social media, and offer early access sign-ups.

Develop a launch narrative: Why did you create this product? What problem does it solve? Storytelling builds emotional connections.

Prepare marketing assets:
-Website/Landing Page
-Blog Announcements
-Social Media Posts & Ads
-Product Demo Videos
-Press Releases

Build a Go-to-Market strategy: Decide how you'll launch—via an exclusive beta, a full public release, or partnerships.

Phase 4: Sales and distribution
Your distribution strategy will determine how your product reaches users.

Select a distribution channel: Will you sell through a website, app store, third-party marketplaces, or direct sales?

Price your product strategically: Research competitors and decide on a pricing model—one-time fee, subscription, freemium?

Develop sales & onboarding material: Create guides, FAQs, and video tutorials to help users get started.

Train your sales and support teams: If applicable, ensure your team knows how to answer customer questions confidently.

Phase 5: Launch execution
It’s showtime! Ensure everything is set for a smooth rollout.

Soft launch or beta test: Release your product to a small group first to gather feedback and fix last-minute issues.

Coordinate cross-team efforts: Ensure marketing, sales, support, and development teams are aligned.

Monitor performance in real-time: Use analytics tools to track user engagement, sales, and technical issues.

Engage with early users: Respond to feedback, offer support, and build a community around your product.

Phase 6: Post-launch growth and optimization
After launch, the work isn’t over. Now, it’s time to sustain and scale your product.

Track key metrics:
-User Acquisition
-Retention Rates
-Conversion Rates
-Customer Feedback & NPS Score

Optimize based on feedback: Analyze user behavior, address pain points, and release

Refine marketing and sales strategies: Double down on what’s working and experiment with new approaches.

Scale customer support: As your user base grows, expand your support channels and automate where possible.

Your quick product launch checklist template

Pre-launch:
-Define target audience and validate the idea
-Develop an MVP and test thoroughly
-Finalize branding and messaging
-Build a pre-launch email list
-Create launch marketing assets
-Choose distribution and pricing strategy

Launch Day:
-Ensure website and product are fully functional
-Publish blog announcement and press release
-Promote across social media and email lists
-Engage with early users and address issues quickly
-Track analytics in real-time

Post-Launch:
-Monitor key performance metrics
-Gather user feedback for improvements
-Scale marketing and sales efforts
-Continue iterating based on user behavior

Final thoughts
A product launch isn’t just a one-day event—it’s a process. The most successful launches are methodical, strategic, and user-focused. By following this checklist, you’ll be in a strong position to introduce your product with confidence and set the foundation for long-term success.

Got a launch coming up? Use this checklist to keep everything on track—and remember, no launch is perfect. Stay adaptable, listen to your users, and keep improving!

_{The original content of the note was published on Productledalliance.com. To read the full note visit here}

B2B Leaders, Here’s How To Capitalize On Experience-Led Growth

Despite building yearly growth plans that they believe to be achievable, many B2B organizations fall short. Executives face the frustrating disconnect between ambition and execution, with teams entangled in competing priorities and internal resistance. This “growth gap” often results from:

Building on quicksand. Chasing quick wins without understanding the journey to exceptional buyer and customer experiences, organizations stumble, miss goals, and require resources that they didn’t foresee.

Chasing the wrong values. Disconnected teams chase individual metrics, delivering fragmented experiences instead of a unified, value-driven journey.

The illusion of collaboration. Rushing into planning without shared goals fosters a false sense of collaboration. Silos create plans in isolation, clashing in execution. This lack of strategic coherence fractures experiences.

Why Experience-Fueled Growth Matters

Providing exceptional experiences is a winning growth strategy. Experiences powered high-growth enterprise companies’ successes in 2022 and remained the primary strategy to grow during 2023, as global B2B marketing decision-makers reported in Forrester’s Marketing Survey, 2023. Experience-fueled growth thrives on complete alignment across the organization, with unified customer-obsessed values and operating principles serving as the blueprint for success. This means:

Marketing aligns initiatives with buyer and customer outcomes. Prioritize digital engagement with user-generated content, intuitive tools, and clear information throughout buyers’ and customers’ journeys to empower independent research and decision-making.

Product leads a culture of continuous innovation and agility to deliver market-competitive solutions and frictionless experiences. Early involvement with customers helps validate ideas and gather usability insights.

Sales enables buying decisions by leveraging portfolio knowledge and fostering customer-valued personal interactions. Customers can connect their research through conversations with executives, product experts, or industry analysts that sales facilitates.

How To Implement Experience-Fueled Growth

Experience-fueled growth thrives on strategic, incremental advancements. It’s an iterative journey that demands an unwavering commitment to deep customer understanding, cross-team alignment, and continuous optimization of interactions. Marketing leaders can drive this by:

Charting the customer’s course. Start by truly knowing your customers, their needs, expectations, and pain points. Uncover their values, motivations, and decision-making processes.

Aligning around a customer-obsessed vision. Break down silos and build a collaborative culture where every team member prioritizes the customer experience. Foster a shared vision that translates into action across departments.

Sparking positive customer experiences at every touchpoint. Invest in crafting positive experiences at every stage of the customer journey. From pre-purchase interactions to post-sale support, ensure that each touchpoint reflects your customer-first focus.

Navigating data-driven optimization for continuous growth. Harness the power of data and analytics to track progress, measure impact, and identify areas for refinement. Use customer insights to continuously iterate and optimize your experience strategy.

High-performing leaders prioritize experience-fueled growth, strategically aligning sales, product, marketing, and customer teams around a customer-centric vision. This supports a growth engine powered by technology optimization and deep customer understanding. This data-driven approach builds brand loyalty, boosts buyer and customer reputation, and unlocks consistent, profitable growth in 2024 and beyond.

_{The original content of the note was published on Forbes.com. To read the full note visit here}

The Myths and Realities of Being a Product Manager

Product management has become the dream job for many people working in tech.

To increase their chances, many applicants follow the advice circulating on social media from a cadre of “product management influencers.”

In my experience, the advice they offer is often incomplete and inaccurate, and tends to present an over-glamorized picture of the day-to-day reality of the product management role. For example, the influencers depict the PM as CEO of the product, seamlessly leading cross-functional teams, and spending most of their time developing product strategy and vision. This image doesn’t always align with reality — and it glosses over the harsh realities of a role that comes with intense pressure, dealing with uncertainty, managing complex stakeholder relationships without authority, and being deep into trenches with engineering and design teams on the smallest of details.

My Journey into Product Management

I was one of those non-product folks who fell for the influencer hype when transitioning into my current product management role at Amazon in 2021. My career had taken me from software engineering in India and brand management in Africa to analytics consulting at Amazon in the United States. I decided that shifting to a PM role was my chance to make a big impact.

In the end, it was my persistence in networking and highlighting my transferable skills that paid off.

Since moving into a product management role, I’ve found that’s only partially true. PMs have limited authority over any of the design, engineering, customer support, or other crucial teams responsible for successful development and launch of the product or the feature.

Cross-functional engagement — that is, working as the person who bridges multiple teams to make the product a success — is often touted as a PM’s “greatest asset.” Here’s how

Kasey Hobson, director of the product platform at Solifi, puts it: “There is a level of interdependency in successfully launching new products and functionality across teams within your organization. So, establishing strong relationships with these teams is essential for collaboration and ensuring that everyone is working towards the same goals.”

This is apt advice, but it’s often misconstrued as a PM must work hard on being liked and admired by all the stakeholders they work with. Armed with this advice, I initially focused on being well-liked by cross-functional partners, until my manager reminded me that product quality and customer needs should take precedence over intra-company relationships.

But I soon realized that force-fitting frameworks, rather than deeply understanding customer needs and business vision, led to flawed prioritization.

The Reality Check

While influencer advice isn’t all wrong, it often overlooks the realities and nuances of the PM role.

Here’s what influencers often miss:

Frameworks are supplements, not substitutes: There are many prioritization frameworks like Jobs to be Done, RICE scoring, and CIRCLEs that product influencers constantly promote. A PM’s real job is identifying customer needs to solve through research, mastering the problem space, and using frameworks to validate hypotheses and assumptions. No framework can substitute the time spent on customer interviews, surveys, secondary research, and studying internal documents on product and business vision.

Domain knowledge is the most crucial trait of a good PM: Top PMs live and breathe their product domain. They stay on top of industry trends by reading the latest blogs, publications, and constantly learning to maintain a relevant product roadmap.
B2B and B2C skills differ: A lot of advice on social media is offered as generically applicable to all domains. But as a B2B PM who has talked to fellow B2C PMs, I’ve realized the techniques for user research, prioritization, and product testing vary significantly across the two groups.

Deep understanding of technical architecture is crucial to building trust with engineering: Working hand-in-hand with engineering teams requires PMs to have a strong grasp of technical concepts and the ability to discuss trade-offs without shying away from complex issues. (I have a background in engineering, and there are days when I’d be hard-pressed to do my job well without it.) This collaboration fosters trust with the engineering team — your most critical partner.

Understanding design concepts and nuances are critical to work with designers: Understanding basic design principles and wireframing enables PMs to better communicate their vision and facilitate more effective collaboration with designers, especially for complex projects.

Exceptional writing skill is key to get stakeholder alignment: A PM’s core responsibility is selling the product vision across the organization.

Diving deeper into the data and getting your hands dirty is critical to extract actionable insights: In our AI/ML-driven world, data skills are table stakes. PMs must be proficient in SQL to perform exploratory data analysis and make data-driven decisions, particularly in B2C products where customer needs often live in the data.

Cross-functional stakeholder needs must be balanced with product priorities: One key skill heavily promoted on social media is being adept at cross-functional engagement. A good PM must prioritize working backwards from customer needs and then focus on product quality and velocity for career success. This often means saying “no” more than “yes” to feature requests that are misaligned with your product and business goals.

Effective time management prevents burnout: As you grow into the PM role and take on more responsibilities, prioritizing opportunities aligned with product and career goals becomes crucial to preventing burnout and maintaining quality output. Therefore, you’ll need to protect your time to be able to carve time for writing requirements docs and doing customer research – which are the bread and butter of this role.

The Bottom Line

While influencers offer some valuable insights, aspiring PMs must be cautious about taking their advice as gospel. The role demands a multifaceted skill set beyond frameworks and cross-functional affability.

As I learned firsthand, influencer advice can overlook the day-to-day realities, focusing on the glamorous aspects while glossing over the critical thinking and hard work required. By embracing the full scope of product management — from technical depth to influential leadership — early-career professionals can set themselves up for true, impactful success in this dynamic field.

_{The original content of the note was published on Hbr.org. To read the full note visit here}

Product-Led Growth Is Great. But Product-Led Retention Is Probably Even More Important.

So somehow, “Product Led Growth” became a seemingly magic savior for many struggling SaaS companies. Or at least, they hoped so. A magic cure for sales costs that are just too high. What if we just add a Free edition?
Sometimes it does work. I mean, Canva’s metrics for example are just awesome. $500k in revenue per employee at $2 Billion in ARR, and profitable. Now that’s a solid PLG motion.
But just as often, if you were any good at “PLG” — you’d already be doing PLG. Still, if you go all-in, truly 100%, add a free edition and a true hands-off free trial if you can. It will make your product better and easier to use, if nothing else. If it doesn’t magically change the trajectory of your startup.
But with everyone discussing PLG, there just isn’t enough discussion in B2B of Product-Led Retention. In fact, I can’t think of a single board meeting where I’ve even seen a slide on it.
Our products in SaaS just don’t tend to automatically retain themselves. To be so valuable, so cost-effective. and so deeply embedded in the fabric of our customers’ businesses that they’d never churn. They tend to come close enough to get most renewals though. Most. But far from all.
But our B2C friends obsess about Product-Led Retention. Sometimes in dark ways — making it hard to cancel. Sometimes in great ways — forcing B2C subscription businesses to relentlessly provide a great end-user experience. Churn is so high in most B2C and B2B2C they have no choice but to obsess on improving their value proposition constantly. Every month, the meal kit, the clothing, the game subscription, the video subscription almost has to be better than the month before.
But in SaaS? Well, we do all track NRR, churn and hopefully GRR too. And then sort of throw Customer Success at it. And usually — that’s almost about it.
I’m not saying the best product leaders don’t think about retention all the time at the product-level. They do. I just don’t see the obsession here across B2B companies, founders and their entire management teams. I just don’t see it discussed all that often.
Some of this may be that in the enterprise, many products really are so hard to rip out, you don’t have to worry as much about Product-Led retention. Look at $100B market cap Service Now, which is very, very enterprise. Customers often sign 3+ year contracts, and architect their entire business processes around ServiceNow. As a result, no one leaves. Renewal rates are steady at 98%-99%.
But that’s not most us. In fact, most of us saw churn rocket the past 12-18 months, and NRR fall. In fact, NRR fell all across the board in SaaS.
Raising prices and making threats at renewals helped a bit in 2023. But that’s not really Product-Led Retention. That’s not making your product so, so, so great and so, so, so important no one will leave.

_{The original content of the note was published on Saastr.com. To read the full note visit here}

The Silent Salesman: Relying On Your Product To Drive Growth

For as long as I can remember, the traditional sales strategy involved a highly active sales team pounding the pavement, crisscrossing the country to attend trade shows, and lots and lots of phone calls and follow-up emails. The goal is to get in front of potential customers to tell them what your product offers and why they need it. For SaaS companies, the initial goal is to book a product demo. However, as the industry dynamics evolve, so do the engagement methods. There’s undoubtedly still a place for this approach, but there’s a new kid in town called product-led growth (PLG), and let’s just say there’s talk.
Let Your Product Do The Talking
In the early 2000s, SaaS companies turned heads when they started using their products to attract and retain new customers rather than relying solely on their sales and marketing teams to push leads through the sales funnel. Once the sales touch is removed, you really only have your products to drive growth—hence, the term product-led growth.
The Diverging Paths To Business Growth
Everyone is familiar with sales-led organizations. They prioritize human interaction as a way to sell products and services. Simply put, they let the sales team do what it does best—relationship building and articulating the value of their products and services. With this strategy, customers typically have to request a demo and have a sales team member walk them through all the bells and whistles of the product to see it in action. And don’t get me wrong, this way is still alive and well. It’s particularly effective for complex products that don’t lend themselves to self-guided experimentation.
Contrarily, product-led organizations let customers self-serve, meaning they get to use a product before they speak to anyone at the organization.
Shifting The Product Development Mindset
The thought process toward product development often leans heavily on the technological aspect, prompting questions like "How do we build this?" and "Who would want this product?" However, I’ve realized that this approach isn’t that effective.
Core Advantages Of A Product-Led Growth Strategy
Customer Benefits
-Superior User Experience: Free or limited access trials let users autonomously assess the value of a product at their own pace, allowing customers to experience your product when and how they want without any hurdles.
-Continuous Customer Feedback Loop: This helps you improve the product in real time and focus on developing products that meet the needs of your current and future customers.
Business Benefits
-Shorter Sales Cycle: Self-onboarding removes the obstacles (e.g., human interaction and demo requirements) for potential customers so they can immediately start using your product. Converting them into paying customers doesn’t take long if they find it valuable.
-High Retention/Lower Churn Rates: Creating customer-centric products and delivering them to users with a dedication to product enhancement increases customer satisfaction, making it easier to attract and retain customers.
Attracting And Retaining Customers Through User Experiences
Customers expect a lot these days. To thrive, businesses must take a highly focused, customer-first approach to product development and delivery. Trials or "freemiums" allow customers to test drive a product or solution before making a purchase decision.
This methodology creates a win-win situation for the customers and the organization, making it an effective strategy for SaaS businesses aiming for sustainable growth.

_{The original content of the note was published on Forbes.com. To read the full note visit here}

Sprint vs Scrum: What's the difference?

The key difference between a sprint versus Scrum is that Scrum is an Agile product development framework, while a sprint is a fixed-length development cycle Scrum teams use to incrementally develop a product. Sprints are a part of Scrum.
The most popular software development process in use today, Scrum self-identifies as a simple, intentionally incomplete, lightweight framework that helps teams solve complex problem.
Scrum doesn’t have a lot of rules.
What is a sprint in Scrum?
In Scrum, sprints are a time-boxed container in which all other events occur. According to the latest Scrum Guide, “each Sprint may be considered a short project.”
One of the events that takes place during an Agile sprint is the daily Scrum. The sprint’s daily Scrum is the important ritual for which the Scrum framework is named.
A sprint’s daily Scrum is a quick, 15-minute meeting where developers discuss their progress, share concerns, motivate each other and potentially adapt their plans if unforeseen circumstances disrupt their quest to achieve the sprint goal. Only developers are expected to participate in the daily Scrum. Scrum masters and product owners aren’t required.
How sprints work in Scrum
One of the biggest misconceptions about sprints and Scrum is that the term sprint only applies to Scrum’s development phase. Many people think that Scrum events such as planning, retrospectives and reviews happen outside of the time-boxed confines of Scrum’s sprint. That’s incorrect.
All four of Scrum’s prescribed meetings happen inside the scope of a sprint. Furthermore, when one sprint ends the next sprint starts immediately. In Scrum, nothing happens outside of the scope of a sprint.
Sprints in Scrum, SAFe, Agile and other frameworks and methodologies
While Scrum and sprints are two heavily intertwined topics, the concept of a sprint is not limited to Scrum.
The term sprint is used widely throughout Agile circles by teams that use a variety of development frameworks, processes and methodologies including SAFe, XP, Lean and Scrumbut. Every Agile methodology that does development in short, time-boxed increments to minimize risk regularly defines their short-term development horizon as a sprint.
The concept of a sprint is pivotal to Scrum, but the term is widely used throughout the world of software and product development.

_{The original content of the note was published on Theserverside.com. To read the full note visit here}

How product-led growth can help scale your business

In the modern digital landscape, product-led growth has emerged as a powerful and efficient growth strategy that aligns with customers' preferences and expectations.
Product-led growth (PLG) centers the product as the primary driver for customer acquisition, engagement, retention and expansion. In a PLG strategy, the product itself is designed to be intuitive, user-friendly and valuable, enabling users to easily adopt and get value from it without extensive effort from sales and marketing teams.
PLG often leads to lower customer acquisition costs, faster adoption rates, higher user engagement and increased customer loyalty.
However, PLG has made sales and marketing teams wonder if their roles will become obsolete. In short, no -- they aren't going anywhere. Marketers still hold the key to attracting users while sales reps amplify monthly recurring revenue. However, you should use PLG alongside existing efforts to gain a competitive edge in the market.
Growth isn't sequential
When you find product-market fit, you should distribute your product or service in a cost-effective way to grow your business. This process is known as the sales funnel. However, growth is only possible if you can help customers efficiently navigate their journeys through the funnel. If you can't drive product growth, it doesn't matter how good the offering is.
Further, this model requires a constant and increasing flow of potential users to function. You must acquire, retain and monetize your customer base. However, generating revenue, activating and retaining customers, and getting referrals creates silos within an organization
Sales funnels vs. growth loops
The linear sales funnel is a traditional approach to sales and marketing. It represents a step-by-step process detailing customers' actions, ideally leading to conversions, which produce more revenue over a customer's lifetime than acquisition. The sales funnel assumes that customer acquisition is an event, not a process. The funnel is a natural visual aid since the number of potential customers decreases as they move toward the final conversion stage, with only a fraction making a purchase.
The growth loop is a cyclical approach that recognizes how customer acquisition, retention and monetization are interconnected and ongoing processes. Growth loops account for the fact that one customer's actions lead to more customers, creating a self-reinforcing cycle.
The future of PLG
PLG might become the dominant go-to-market strategy for B2B SaaS companies. It is disrupting the way vendors sell software. Product-led strategies are becoming increasingly effective due to advances in AI and machine learning (ML).
Businesses can use AI and ML to personalize CX, identify and fix usability issues, and predict churn. We can expect to see new tools and technologies emerge that are specifically designed to help companies implement and execute PLG strategies. PLG is currently most popular in the SaaS industry, but it has the potential to be successful in various other industries, as well.

_{The original content of the note was published on Techtarget.com. To read the full note visit here}

Product-Led Growth Strategies: Are Customers Your Forgotten Product Manager?

Product-led growth is a hot topic these days. Product-led organizations desire a deeper connection with their customers and users. They attempt to understand their problems and anticipate what the customer wants.
Let's take a look at product-led growth strategies.
“Product-led growth means that every team in your business influences the product,” says Wes Bush, author of "Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself."
Consider your traditional sales-led growth model that consistently needs more: more business development reps to cold call prospective customers, more salespeople to demo to them, and more marketing budgets to generate the leads to fill the funnel.
Instead, product-led growth strategies rely on the product to drive customer acquisition, activation, retention and expansion. Regardless of if a company uses a free trial or a freemium product to drive sales, product-led growth companies always focus on one thing: the end user.
Product-Led Growth Strategies: It’s All About Adoption
Customers have come to expect a frictionless product experience. They don’t want to contact a salesperson to upgrade or purchase. They want a seamless experience driven by the product.
In product-led growth strategies, users need to get value from a product as quickly as possible, because it’s the customer onboarding experience that will convince them to activate or continue beyond a free trial period.
However, with many products, it can be challenging for customers to set up teams on a new platform or access the features necessary to accomplish their goals. That’s where customer success comes in.
Customer onboarding can make the difference between a customer successfully adopting your product the first time they use it, or churning before they realize the value your product you can deliver.
Marrying Qualitative and Quantitative Feedback
It used to be that all we needed to design a good product was gut instinct. But now, we must get as close to our customers as possible. And that means one thing: obsessing over data.
By aligning customer feedback with product data, product managers can make data-driven decisions about product development and improvement.
But quantitative data only goes so far, and that’s where customer success comes in. Customer success teams can help drive product-led growth with their understanding of the customer and their needs.
3 Ways to More Empathetic Understanding of Customers
Here are three ways customer success teams can help the product team supplement their quantitative feedback with a more empathetic understanding of the customer:
-Bring customer experience tools to the table: One of the most important things that product management and customer success teams can do is to develop a shared understanding of the customer. This includes understanding the customer's needs, preferences, pain points and goals.
-Get a deeper understanding of how customers use the product: Customer success teams are in regular contact with customers and can provide valuable feedback on product features and functionality. Product management teams can use this feedback to develop products that meet customer needs.
-Tap into your most passionate customers: Your CSMs know who your “power users” or brand evangelists are. They can help you close the feedback loop with these high-value customers, building greater loyalty and fueling their passion for your product.

_{The original content of the note was published on Cmswire.com. To read the full note visit here}

Embracing Product-Led Growth: The Shift Toward User-Centric SaaS Solutions

It’s time to say goodbye to traditional marketing-driven strategies and hello to product-led growth (PLG)! I believe the shift toward user-centricity is about to revolutionize the way we think about software as a service (SaaS). According to UserGuiding, 21 large companies have implemented PLG with a total market capitalization of $208 billion, and MarketSplash has found that the brands that have adopted PLG harness 60% higher average revenue per user than non-PLG brands.
Based on my experience, let's explore how embracing PLG can lead to success for SaaS companies, providing tangible benefits for both businesses and their customers.
The Rise Of Product-Led Growth In SaaS
PLG is reshaping the SaaS landscape by focusing on user-centricity and instant gratification, leading to higher conversion and retention rates. According to Emerge, “PLG companies have 60% more ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) than non-PLG companies.” PLG is all about letting users experience your product firsthand and allowing its value to speak for itself. This can provide a number of benefits, including:
-Sense Of Ownership
One of the key advantages of PLG is its ability to foster a sense of ownership among users. By allowing individuals to discover and engage with a product at their own pace, you give them a way to develop a deeper understanding of its features and benefits and discover its value before they invest in it.
-The Snowball Effect
PLG also empowers SaaS companies to scale quickly via virality and network effects.
-Data-Driven Product Development
PLG equips companies with smart tracking to help them gain user insights, identify pain points and make data-driven decisions.
Three Strategies For Implementing PLG In SaaS
1.The Freemium Model
Consider offering a self-serve free trial or freemium model in SaaS to provide immediate value. In my experience, this model can often bypass sales engagement and speed up adoption while collecting helpful user data. Freemium models are generally designed so that, once hooked, users can easily upgrade for more features.
2.Shareability
Embed social sharing in your product, and incentivize referrals by offering rewards to those who bring in new customers. This win-win situation can turn satisfied customers into loyal brand advocates who bring in new customers.
3.Product-Led Conversion Funnel
Traditionally, marketing funnels were driven by generating leads, which were then handed off to sales for closure. In PLG models, the focus is on building an in-product conversion funnel. This involves streamlining the user journey from sign-up to long-term usage, minimizing friction and showcasing immediate value.
Challenges With Adopting A Product-Led Growth Model
As with any system, there are potential challenges when adopting product-led growth. For example:
1.Sustainable Customer Acquisition: A great product attracts customers, but they need to know it exists first, especially before you have cultivated solid word-of-mouth referrals. Consider implementing targeted marketing and sales channels to sustain your growth and maximize revenue potential.
2.Continuous Innovation: User needs are constantly evolving, so keep innovating and iterating to ensure your product keeps meeting those needs. I recommend investing in R&D and incorporating ways to maintain team agility into your overall plan.
3.UX Design: It can be hard to create a seamless UX that drives continuous product adoption. I recommend continuously A/B testing your UX elements to find what resonates most with users. Menus and options should be intuitive, as complexity is often the enemy of adoption. Integrate tooltips, walkthroughs and tutorials so that learning is part of the experience.
Overall, embracing a product-led growth strategy requires putting your product at the forefront and using it as a catalyst for success. By focusing on delivering immediate value and empowering users to become advocates, your SaaS company can unlock great growth potential in today's competitive landscape.

_{The original content of the note was published on Forbes.com. To read the full note visit here}

Growth Marketing Strategies for Web3 Brands to Achieve Product Market Fit

Marc Andreessen defined Product-market fit as finding a good market with a product capable of satisfying that market. Marc is often credited with developing the PMF concept
In other words, it is the point at which a product satisfies a strong demand within its intended market, resulting in widespread customer adoption, engagement, and satisfaction.
Generally, PMF is characterized by many factors which could be Customer Demand, Usage and Adoption, Customer Satisfaction, Engagement and Retention, Competitive Advantage, etc.
Many startups often focus on reaching this stage before scaling their operations and investing heavily in marketing and expansion efforts.
If you remember the early days of Netflix, how they originally started as a DVD rental service but then achieved PMF when they transitioned into a streaming platform.
They identified a growing customer demand for convenient and on-demand access to a wide variety of movies and TV shows.
And then capitalized on the shift toward online streaming.
It’s not just Netflix as a startup that has hit PMF, other brands like Apple, Tesla, Lemlist, Nike, Airbnb, Slack, Meta (Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp), Paypal, Superhuman, Stripe, Supreme, and Linktree amongst many other hundreds of startups have also hit PMF.
It’s my belief, however, for PMF to happen, the Product and the Market must be fitted together. Sounds cliche, however, that fitting is like a bowl of spices — filled with different spices — all mixed and called Brand Connection.
Many of these brands I mentioned went viral, people loved their products, and till now, their core customers are true stans; they have a strong brand connection.
This means that if Virality is always engineered from the get-go, so also, Brand Connection is engineered from the get-go too.

_{The original content of the note was published on Medium.com. To read the full note visit here}