SaaStr Annual 2024: Transitioning from Sales-Led to Product-Led Growth and Scaling to $100M ARR with Apollo.io's Co-founder & CEO

Tim Zheng joins SaaStr to share how Apollo transitioned from a sales-led motion to product-led, which has contributed to the company’s rapid growth over the past three years and unicorn status. Tim discusses why he switched to a PLG motion, the time and team it took to build their self-serve product — covering user acquisition, conversion, and retention — and what you need to consider in your own PLG journey.

1. Transitioning from Sales-Led to Product-Led Growth and Scaling to $100M ARR with Apollo.io's Tim Zheng Tim Zheng, Co-founder & CEO, Apollo.io

2. 2,500% revenue growth since 2021 80,000+ total paying customers Cash flow positive

3. Lessons from Apollo’s Story How to pivot to re-ignite growth How to build a PLG business generally How to transition from SLG to PLG How to succeed in a crowded space

4. Agenda The context for transformation Key lessons I’ve learned along the way Strategy Product-Market-Model-Channel Fit Competitive Strategy Execution Growth Model Activation & Retention Acquisition Monetization Role of Sales / Humans Principles / Culture

5. ARR

6. Source : Nicolas De Kouchkovsky’s 2024 SalesTech Landscape

7. HOW TO FIX THIS?

8. Source: https://brianbalfour.com/four-fits-growth-framework MARKET SMBs PRODUCT All-in-one Outbound Sales Solution MODEL $10K / Annual Contract CHANNEL High-Touch Sales Process ❌ ❌ ✅ Product-Market fit vs. Product-Market-Model-Channel Market / Product Fit Channel / Model Fit Product / Channel Fit Model / Market Fit

9. Market / Product Fit Channel / Model Fit Product / Channel Fit Model / Market Fit Source: https://brianbalfour.com/four-fits-growth-framework MARKET SMBs PRODUCT All-in-one Outbound Sales Solution MODEL Free or $99/mo CHANNEL Fully Self-Serve The Product-Market-Model-Channel Fit for Apollo

10. ??? Dark (celestial)

11. Retain Expand Onboard Closes deals Growth Model: Before Generate Opps

12. Growth Model: After Signups Activate Free Users Paying Customers Self-Serve New Biz Self- Serve Upgrade Biz Opps Rep-Driven New Biz Ops Rep-Driven Upgrade Biz Free User Retention Paid User Retention Everything must be self-serve Monetization comes after usage User retention is key

13. What We Needed To Do Metric Current State Target Retention Free User Retention 6% 25% Monetization Self-Serve Conversion Rate 0.4% 4% Acquisition Signups / week 200 5000

14. Scientific Method to Moving Metrics Define input/sub metrics Measure baselines of sub metrics Figure out ROI potential of submetric Select top sub-metric to improve Source: The Lean Product Playbook (Dan Olsen) Define submetrics Measure baselines of submetrics Figure out ROI potential of submetric Brainstorm ideas to improve submetrics Identify highest ROI idea Design and implement Analyze how the submetric changes Select top submetric to improve Learn and iterate Global Level Metric Level

15. Defining our habit moments & driving users toward them Rigorous, data-driven experimentation LI extension 2.0 App prospecting 2.0 Design system 2.0 Omnisearch 2.0 Mobile/direct dials 1.0 Onboarding flows 2.0 Mar 20 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% May 20 Jul 20 Sep 20 Nov 20 Jan 21 Increased Retention by 6x

16. Dead Zone $100 $1K $30K $100K Viral marketing Marketing Sales Complex sales Target: Consumers Small business Big business, government Monetization: Pricing & Packaging Source: https://www.dave-bailey.com/blog/pricing $10K

17. Monetization: Conversion Rate Conversion 0% 1.00% 2.00% 3.00% Jan 20 Mar 20 May 20 Jul 20 Sep 20 Nov 20 Jan 21 New feature gates New pricing page Reducing friction in pricing & buying process Unlimited credits / new pricing & packaging Pricing split test infrastructure

18. Acquisition: Growth Hack Discovery Unknown Ads Others Number of Signups 2,500 5,000 7,500 10,000 12,500 July 2019 - March 2020

19. NPS loop # New Registered Account % Activation # Free Users Self- Serve $ New ARR # Paying Customer Self- Serve $ Upgrade ARR # New Biz SQOs $ Rep-Driven New ARR # Upgrade Biz SQOs $ Rep-Driven Upgrade ARR # PQAs # PQAs NPS loop Acquisition: Viral Loops

20. Role of Sales & Humans # of Tickets ARR

21. After: What was the output of all this work? Restarted Growth : >25x revenue Efficiency: Cash flow positive

22. Small teams CAN move mountains Start with first principles Product-Market-Model-Channel-Fit Competitive Strategy - Zig vs. Zag Build your growth model Apply the scientific method to moving metrics Retention, Monetization, NPS, # Human Inquiries “Learn it all” mindset Watch parties and playlists SaaStr and other resources ← Our team’s Spotify Podcast playlist Key Takeaways

23. UP NEXT: AI in GTM: What’s Really Working Marcel Santilli CMO Deepgram Marino Fresch VP of Marketing Sprout Social Paige O’Neill CMO Seismic