SaaStr Annual 2024: Freemium to PLG to SLG: Lessons (and Mistakes!) from Dropbox, Salesforce, and Vimeo with Vimeo's former CEO

Join Vimeo's former CEO as we explore the evolution from freemium models to Product-Led Growth (PLG) and Sales-Led Growth (SLG). This session will draw on lessons from industry leaders like Dropbox, Salesforce, and Vimeo, highlighting key strategies and insights. Learn how these companies transitioned through different growth models to maximize customer acquisition and retention. Discover practical tips on balancing product development with sales efforts to achieve sustained growth. Whether you're a startup or an established business, this discussion will provide valuable takeaways for optimizing your growth strategy.

1. Freemium to PLG to SLG: Lessons (and Mistakes!) from Dropbox, Salesforce, and Vimeo Adam Gross Board Member, Former CEO Vimeo

2. About Me Marketing & Selling to Developers is the Original PLG! Co-Founder @ Personify (web analytics) VP Platform & Developer Marketing @ Salesforce SVP Marketing & Sales @ Dropbox Co-Founder @ Cloudconnect CEO @ Heroku CEO @ Vimeo

3. WTF PLG?

4. Why is PLG / Self Serve Promising? Low customer acquisition costs Predictable revenue Lower organizational complexity/risk Systems problem Meal kit vs restaurant …. and only works in the long run when paired enterprise / sales lead GTM

5. What Does PLG Really Mean? GTM evolves with technology change, just like everything else GTM 1.0 (1990+) GTM 2.0 (2000+) GTM 3.0 (2010+) C-Level X X X Department / Team X X Individual X

6. Grand Unified Theory of GTM 1-2-3 Model Brings PLG and Sales Together 1 2 3 Creation Collaboration Compliance Free / Adoption Self serve Enterprise MAU MRR ACV Value Prop GTM Motion Metrics A B C Free (Individual) Team (Self Serve) Enterprise (C-Level)

7. PLG Lessons Learned (the hard way!)

8. PLG Is Not a Channel, It's a Business Model New levels of organizational alignment and collaboration required Marketing and product are becoming highly interdependent Each pillar is a unique product and value proposition Not a simple repackaging of the same product Moving to a new pillar means rediscovering product/market fit And requires different cultural capabilities (ie experience vs compliance) Staying aligned and coordinated is a key challenge Cross organizational execution models are essential to align marketing, sales & product

9. Doing Marketing in a 1-2-3 World Multiply the complexity of what you are doing by three We are moving from a single mode to a multi-mode marketing world Free / social / community adoption Content, evangelism, etc Online self serve (+ light sales support) Growth, retention, automated programs Enterprise demand gen and support Product marketing, pipe gen, ABM, etc How do you allocated resources / priorities across the three? How do you ensure each pillar can execute in their own mode while connecting the seams? Who owns the self serve number?

10. PLG + Sales = The New Normal SaaS companies customer count increasing, average deal size declining - while revenue goes up More companies are executing this playbook, which means more teams and people you can hire Stay aligned and clear Cross functional squads, explicit investment / prioritization decisions Keep it simple Companies fail by adding unnecessary complexity - just do the basics well Invest and value operational excellence BizOps / RevOps, customer data infrastructure proficiency is key for this model, and the future (GTM 4.0) Source - SaaStr: The Average Public SaaS Company has 35,000 Customers

11. Marketing Marketing (Online Programs / Evangelism) Enterprise PMM Sales Marketing Direct Sales Enterprise Sales Support Support (Different SLAs) Success / Retention Marketing Direct Sales CSA Business Ops BizOps Free (Individual) Team (Self Serve) Enterprise (C-Level) PLG + Org Design / Responsibilities SaaS companies customer count increasing, average deal size declining - while revenue goes up

12. PLG Anti-Patterns Doing GTM 2.0 Treating Free as price, not a product Not having clear ownership of self-serve Not operating cross functionally (particularly product <> marketing) Having too many metrics Not building an data / operational culture / RevOps / BizOps team Source - SaaStr: The Average Public SaaS Company has 35,000 Customers

13. - PLG is not a GTM motion, it's product + business - You have to add enterprise to self serve eventually - Its 3x the complexity - keeping aligned is key!

14. UP NEXT: How to Build a Bottom-Up AI SaaS Startup Sam Liang CEO & Co-Founder Otter.ai