gtm-product-led-growth

Evaluate three factors: whether users get value in under 10 minutes without docs, whether they can self-serve implementation, and whether the buyer equals the user. If any answer is no, sales-led or a hybrid motion is the better fit.

For each channel, map activity input to traffic output to conversions, such as one blog post driving 400 users at 5% conversion. Validate with a small test over 4 weeks, then scale the input only if the measured economics match the hypothesis.

Trigger sales on product-qualified lead signals: deep usage of core features, multiple users from the same company, or requests for SSO, compliance, or team pricing. Below $10K ARR deals, keep the motion fully self-serve to avoid scaring users away.

Track CAC, signup-to-paid conversion, 30-day and 90-day retention, LTV, and payback period per channel. Kill any channel where CAC exceeds LTV times margin after a 4-week improvement window, and scale channels with strong retention.

Common causes are time-to-first-value exceeding 10 minutes, a free tier that is too generous or too limited, and forcing setup steps before the aha moment. Fix activation by pre-loading sample data and deferring non-essential configuration.

PLG typically breaks between $20K and $50K ARR when procurement, legal, security review, and multi-stakeholder buy-in create friction. At that point, shift to a sales-assisted motion with human-negotiated contracts and dedicated onboarding.