Hubert Palan

Is double digit growth a sign of true product-market fit? Jason M. Lemkin at SaaStr does an excellent job at emphasizing the importance of metrics such as customer retention, engagement, and adoption rates in determining product market fit. Additionally, it discusses the significance of customer feedback, market demand validation, and the ability to solve a pressing problem for target customers. By focusing on these key indicators, startups can better assess and refine their product-market fit strategies for sustainable growth and success.

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What if your product could sell itself?💡 In this Product Thinking episode, I had the pleasure of chatting with Wes Bush, CEO of ProductLed and author of "Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself." Wes is a pioneer in the product-led growth movement, which flips the traditional sales model. Instead of relying on a sales team, the product itself drives acquisition, engagement, retention and revenue by proving its immense value upfront. Our discussion covered key insights like: 👉 Building products so valuable that users naturally want to upgrade and pay 👉 Optimizing seamless user experiences that convert free users to paid 👉 Rapidly demonstrating your product's core value to facilitate adoption As Wes emphasized, product-led growth goes far beyond simply offering free trials or open access. It's about meticulously crafting an exceptional first product experience that instantly captivates users and showcases the immense value from the start. Wes provides a fresh perspective on this increasingly important approach. Our discussion offers insights into effectively implementing product-led principles in any business. Have you embraced product-led growth strategies? What successes or challenges have you faced? Share your experiences and insights below! Listen now: https://lnkd.in/eBJePuVx #ProductLedGrowth #ProductStrategy #UserEngagement #SaaS #ProductManagement

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Hiring a Founding AE with 2-3 years of experience? Without clarity, face a great honeymoon but miserable marriage.  In a recent discussion with a coach of B2B sellers, she shared that the boom of 2020-2023 saw many sellers become order takers and lose their skills. The need to prospect went down and sellers working with eager buyers forgot how to create the momentum early in the sales process. Another trend is job openings for Founding AEs looking for 2-3 years of experience. This seems to be motivated by investor instructions to “keep things lean.” I’m all for lean, but make sure to look for some key AE traits to make sure you’re getting full value out of your precious cash. Simple things to look for: -Startup experience. Be extremely cautious of hiring sales reps who have only worked in enterprise companies. I hired a rep once who fit this profile who was talented at getting people on the phone but couldn’t build his own prospecting lists in salesforce given he was use to having someone do it for him. Not a good match. Ask for details around how they would setup their day to prospect, have they created their own decks, how would they run a POC, etc. Listen for the details and ask for examples. -Domain knowledge. Look for AEs who have sold to the ICPs you are targeting. If you have a product for developers, find someone who’s sold into that persona. If you have a RevOps tool, Marketing, etc. Ask for them to explain what’s unique about the persona they have experience with. -Company size experience. Early stage startups buy from each other. That’s part of the fun of a startup - the community and supporting each other. It’s a fast-paced transactional selling environment easily managed through PLG or an SMB sales motion. If you want to sell to enterprise, you need someone with that experience. It’s totally different momentum and skillset of navigating enterprise. Examples are powerful here. Ask them to describe a deal from start to finish and highlight what actions they took and who on their team was involved. Founders are busy. This list is simple and obvious but it will help you quickly screen for the skillset you need before you interview. I’d suggest even including questions on your job application. Looking at LinkedIn it seems each open role is getting hundreds of applicants within days so to save your sanity take an extra 10 min and include some open ended questions about this stuff on the submission form. Too many founders hire inexperienced sellers who are the wrong fit in terms of skillset -  prioritizing budget over effectiveness. As a result they hire someone who is cheap but does not perform. Think about other creative ways to hire an experienced sales executive or GTM leader and compensate more on commission percentage and equity than base salary. Al Rey and I are talking about this topic and other GTM challenges faced by Seed Founders at our event in June. Check it out here:

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