Doubts with PLG

Organization buy-in makes it difficult

Gary Chan
February 11, 2025

What’s the Misconceptions about PLG?

Many SaaS companies have challenges and doubts about product-led growth motion. They simply think that PLG is a freemium motion. Although thats the TLDR, PLG is an acquisition and marketing strategy thats powered by the what product experience can deliver. That in itself, can be difficult to unwrap.

What’s the ROI and Team Structure for PLG?

What’s the ROI of the product-led growth?

One of the biggest questions surrounding PLG is its return on investment. Initially, we approached PLG with a large team, including:

An engineer
A head of design
A small sales team (3 BDRs)
A demand generation marketer
Myself as the product lead

In the beginning, this leads to a lot of uncertainty and confusion. Numerous meetings. Keeping everyone aligned on plans. We were iterating very slowly, because we cannot keep everyone in sync.

If I were to suggest a SaaS company to explore PLG motion, I would recommend a lean team. An Ideal team size: 2-3 members

Key roles:

Product person (acting as salesperson, customer success, and operations lead)
Engineer (crafting the self-serve experience)
Designer (ensuring seamless UX with the core product)

Not only would we limit investment, we would streamline our operations. Faster learning cycles. Quicker alignment. More efficient reporting.

How do we balance PLG with existing strategies?

Another doubt and consideration is, "Are we doing too many things?"

Many SaaS companies worry about juggling multiple strategies simultaneously. It's a valid concern, as implementing PLG alongside a sales-led motion can create confusion within the organization.

My recommendation:

Incorporate both motions, but do so strategically. Layer the motion once one of them is seeing traction. Help direct the sales-led motion to focus on upmarket opportunities. While using the PLG motion to capture downmarket segments. This avoid feeling of "cannibalising," otherwise experienced, if both SLG and PLG are going after the same customer segments.

It minimizes organization panic and conflicting narratives.

Introduce PLG gradually
Demonstrate small successes over time
Build buy-in through consistent positive results

By taking this measured approach, you can reassure your team and organization about the value of PLG while maximizing its potential for your SaaS company. Ultimately, the key to successful PLG implementation lies in starting small, iterating quickly, and gradually expanding based on data signals, customers insights and organizational buy-in — against the overall company strategy.

Read more about leading Product Led Growth:

I write daily*** about my learning on launching and leading PLG. Feel free to subscribe.

I am Gary Yau Chan. 3x Head of Growth. Product Growth specialist. 26x hackathon winner. I write about #PLG and #BuildInPublic. Please follow me on LinkedIn, or read about what you can hire me for on my Notion page.