Product-led Growth

PLG in vertical markets: self-serve motions that survive enterprise buyers, activation loops, and the hybrid PLG-plus-sales models that scale to $100M ARR.

What This Covers

Product-led growth uses the product itself as the acquisition and expansion channel: self-serve signup, in-product activation, and usage that grows before a sales conversation happens. In vertical markets it usually shows up as a hybrid rather than a pure motion.

Why GTM Is Different Here

PLG is harder in vertical SaaS because the buyer is often not the user, the data required to make the product useful lives in a system of record, and compliance can block self-serve entirely. The teams that make it work pick a single workflow that one person can adopt alone, then use the resulting usage data as the wedge into the committee deal. Activation has to be measured on a job completed rather than a login, and pricing has to survive the transition from individual card to procurement. The common mistake is bolting self-serve onto an enterprise product and calling it PLG, which produces trials that no one can finish.

What To Read First

Start with the Figma and Notion teardowns for the classic bottom-up motion, read the legal tech PLG piece for where it breaks in a regulated vertical, then use the pricing hub to design the self-serve to enterprise ladder.