If you are working in marketing today, you have probably already heard about Product-Led Growth — or maybe you are just pretending you know (don’t worry, we all do sometimes).
In short, Product-Led Growth (PLG if you want to sound cool) means one simple thing:
the product itself becomes your best acquisition tool, your best sales rep and your best customer support.
Instead of spending all your energy (and budget) trying to “convince” people with ads and calls, you let them test your product, fall in love and decide to pay.
Easy? Well… not for everyone. Especially in B2B, where products are sometimes as complicated as a Swiss watch.
Why is PLG booming today?
Let’s be real for a second:
Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking, “Today, I want to book five demos, answer twenty sales emails, and listen to a long product presentation.”
No.
People — even in B2B — want to try things quickly, get value fast and make their own decisions.
And that’s exactly why Product-Led Growth is exploding today.
Here are the four big reasons:
Buyers are more independent than ever
Modern buyers are like modern travelers: they want to book their own trip, not sit in a travel agency for two hours. In B2B too, they prefer to explore your product alone, test it and decide if it solves their problem — without having a sales rep breathing down their neck.
PLG fits this mindset perfectly.
Cost of acquisition is becoming crazy
Running ads, doing outbound, building events… Everything is getting more expensive every year. If your product can sell itself — by offering a free version, a trial or a simple onboarding — you can save a lot of money and still bring better leads into your system.
Companies are under pressure to be profitable
Higher inflation? Tighter budgets?
Today, CFOs want results (especially ROI), not promises.
If your product can show immediate value without needing a huge sales process, it’s much easier to convince them to move forward.
Technology finally makes it easier
Let’s be honest: 10 years ago, doing PLG was hard. No easy way to track what users were doing inside your app. No smart onboarding tools. No instant feedback.
Now? With no-code onboarding, automated emails, product analytics and customer success AI tools, it’s way easier to guide users, measure success and improve activation — without having to hire a 100-people army.
Is PLG suitable for every product?
PLG sounds beautiful on paper — like a dream where customers magically come, try your product, love it and pay you lots of money.
But real life? It’s a bit more complicated.
Product-Led Growth is amazing… but not for every product.
It works like a charm if…
Your product is like a good cup of coffee: you don’t need a PhD to understand why it’s great.
- Simple to understand: Users should “get it” in less than 5 minutes.
(If you need a 45-min Zoom call to explain what it does… not so good.) - Quick time-to-value: Users must feel the first results fast — not after 6 months of configuration.
- Low-risk trial: If trying your product doesn’t require moving mountains (or asking the boss for budget approval), more users will give it a shot.
- Individual or small team usage: If a single person or a small team can find value alone, it’s perfect.
It might be a nightmare if…
Your product is more like building a rocket: exciting, but way too complex to try alone.
- Super complex or technical: Products like ERP systems, big cybersecurity platforms or industrial tools often need demos, onboarding and human help to understand.
- High price / high risk: If buying your product involves big budgets, legal reviews or changes to the whole company’s way of working… Users will not “just sign up and start.” They need reassurance — and a real salesperson.
- Long implementation time: If users can’t see any value in less than a few weeks or months, self-service won’t work. Nobody is signing up for a “12 months to activation” free trial.
How to integrate PLG into an existing strategy?
Ok, so maybe your product is not a perfect fit for pure Product-Led Growth.
Or maybe you’re just thinking:
“I don’t want to fire my sales team and cross fingers that users will figure it out alone.”
Good news: You don’t have to choose.
The smart move for most B2B companies today is to go hybrid — a little bit of Product-Led, a little bit of Sales-Led. Best of both worlds.
Here’s how you can start:
Offer a free trial (without asking for a kidney)
If you offer a free trial, please, don’t ask for a credit card at the beginning.
Nothing kills curiosity faster than a “give me your card number” form when users are not even sure they want your product yet.
The idea is simple:
Remove the barriers → Let people in → Show them the magic.
If your product delivers value, they’ll be happy to pay later.
Build a ridiculously easy onboarding
Imagine someone signs up for your product.
If they feel lost, confused and sad after 2 minutes… they will leave faster than you can say “wait, we have a tutorial!”
You need an onboarding that is:
- Super clear (step-by-step, no big walls of text)
- Super short (first win in less than 5 minutes)
- Super rewarding (celebrate small successes like it’s New Year’s Eve)
Think of it like a GPS: show the next turn, not the whole journey at once.
Use PQLs to connect product and sales teams
Not every user who signs up is ready to pay.
That’s basically why you need Product Qualified Leads (PQLs): users who show real signals of interest (ex: they use a key feature, they invite teammates, they hit a usage milestone).
Instead of wasting time calling every new signup, your sales team will focus on users who are already in love — or very close.
It’s smarter, faster, and less annoying for everyone.
Track your “Time-to-Value” like your life depends on it
“Time-to-Value” = the time it takes from signup to the first real “aha!” moment.
The shorter it is, the higher your chances to turn users into customers.
Ask yourself:
- How fast can a new user see real benefit?
- Can we make it even faster?
- Can we show value before they get bored and forget us?
Speed wins.
When I first heard about Product-Led Growth a few years ago, I thought it was just another Silicon Valley buzzword — like “disruptive synergy” or “hypergrowth ninja.”
But then, I tried a simple app for project management. No demo. No sales call. No pressure.
In 10 minutes, I was not just using it — I was recommending it to my team.
That’s when I understood: sometimes, a great product doesn’t need a long speech. It just needs a chance to show itself.
Maybe it’s the same for yours.
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