PLG

PLG, Product-Led Growth - a strategy in which the product is the main channel of attraction and conversion. Slack, Notion, Figma, Dropbox - their users come through the “try for free” option, fall in love with the product, and then bring it to the company themselves. No cold calls, no enterprise demos at the first step.

PLG works when the product solves a real problem quickly enough - before the user gets frustrated and leaves. The key point is time-to-value: how many minutes or hours does it take for a new user to get their first “aha” moment? In Slack, this is the first message sent in a team channel. In Figma - the first open design file. If the time-to-value is more than a few minutes in a self-serve thread, PLG will not take off.

I'm a PLG enthusiast, but with reservations. This model creates enormous pressure on the product team: onboarding must be perfect, the UX must be frictionless, the freemium must be generous enough to hook, but not so generous that it won’t convert. Most companies that say “we do PLG” are really just saying “we have a free plan.” It's not the same thing.