Welcome folks! 👋

This edition of The Product-Led Geek will take 4 minutes to read and you’ll learn:

• Why hybrid GTM is an inevitability for many companies

• How to know when the time is right to shift to sales engagement

• The key to seamless handoff from self-serve to sales

Let’s go!

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Airplane Go-to-Market

When I was a kid we had model airplanes with rubber-band motors.

You wound the propeller till the rubber screamed, let go, and hoped the plane flew farther than your friend’s.

Startups have two such motors.

One is the product.

The other is the sales team.

Some founders think you can just wind up product, launch, and watch compound growth carry you.

PLG’s romance promises exactly that.

Occasionally it delivers.

Attio is a good example.

They launched an AI-first CRM so intuitive you could set it up before the coffee’s done.

Their free tier is generous enough to outfit a three-person founding team without ever talking to a human.

Users wound the propeller for them by inviting teammates.

Every @mention triggers an invite.

That loop will have added thousands of seats without needing to spend a dollar on customer acquisition.

But rubber bands don't wind forever.

Every PLG company hits the same wall: big customers want SOC-2, discounts, and someone to quiz about data residency.

That someone is usually a salesperson.

A second motor gets bolted on, and the plane keeps climbing.

Salesforce sits at the opposite pole.

They strapped on the biggest sales engine they could afford and pointed the plane at the enterprise.

The product mattered, but mostly as proof the salesperson wasn't lying.

You're escorted - often over six months or more - by an entourage of AEs, solution engineers, and red-jacketed demo magicians.

When the contract finally closes, you half-expect confetti cannons.

So which approach wins?

Both, but only where the air matches the motor.

The product motor spins fastest wherever one curious individual can swipe a credit card without first hunting for budget or approval.

Whenever a single user can discover, try, and experience an Aha moment on their own, product-led growth is the obvious - and often only - propulsion system that makes economic sense.

But climb into enterprise airspace, where zeros multiply and procurement wields Medusa’s stare, and you need that sales engine.

Success drags every PLG company up-market, into air too thin for a rubber band alone.

When customers show up with GDPR checklists, SSO demands, and CFOs who want three-year pricing locks, you either fire up the second engine or stall.

Just look at a few of the open roles at Attio:

As teams grow and upgrade to Plus and Pro plans, Attio's hiring reflects their hybrid approach:

Product-Led Sales.

One plane, two motors.

Now look at Salesforce.

Their massive sales engine still leads the charge, but look more closely.

Salesforce Starter edition - month-to-month pricing, 30-day free trials.

They're quietly bolting on a rubber band motor.

And even not so quietly when you consider the Slack acquisition.

Even the behemoth knows that somewhere below their usual cruising altitude lives a long tail of credit-card-ready users who'd rather click than talk.

The Inevitability of Hybrid GTM

Why can't a startup fly forever on its rubber band?

1. Saturation: Early adopters top out quickly; new ARR eventually depends on larger segments.

2. Requirements: Bigger customers demand security audits, analytics, and formal contracts that self-serve alone rarely satisfies.

3. Buying norms: Enterprises equate salespeople and higher prices with lower risk; they expect human guidance.

Pure SLG also often falls short because acquisition costs keep rising, and increasingly buyers insist on trying a product before they talk to sales.

A self-serve path lowers CAC and speeds evaluation.

Durable growth therefore looks the same for many: self-serve to attract and activate users, sales to convert and expand larger accounts.

It’s economics, not preference.

Designing the Plane

If you're launching a PLG startup today, plan for two flight paths:

• Low altitude (now): Build your instrumentation first. Track every signal - from activation metrics to time-to-value to product qualified accounts. These metrics are your flight data recorder and prospecting radar.

• Higher Altitude (later): When the time comes, hire sellers who can read that radar. Their job is not cold-calling; it’s leveraging signals the product already surfaced.

Let software do what it does best - education, onboarding, small upsells.

Let humans do what humans do best - negotiation, reassurance, political navigation.

The Takeaway

Don’t debate motors. Debate timing.

If conditions are right to start with the rubber band, squeeze out every bit of lift.

The moment procurement calls instead of product managers, fire up engine two.

Wait, and competitors will pass you at altitude.

Success isn't choosing between product and sales.

It's knowing when to use each.

THAT’S A WRAP

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That’s all for today,

If there are any product, growth or leadership topics that you’d like me to write about, just hit reply to this email or leave a comment and let me know!

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Until next time!

— Ben

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