PLG company: Shortwave

Discover how Shortwave, an AI-powered email client leverages a product-led growth (PLG) strategy with instant onboarding, advanced collaboration, and viral team features to transform email productivity.

Author

Gary Chan
June 03, 2025

Every week I will feature a PLG company and break down how they win.

Company and Product

Shortwave - AI email client

Gary’s Shortwave

April 2020: Shortwave raised a $9 million Series A round.

September 2023: Shortwave reported 20,000 monthly active users

Competitors: Superhuman, Missive, Front

Industry/Category

Email productivity software / B2B SaaS communication tools

Target User Persona

  • Primary: Business professionals and knowledge workers managing high email volumes

  • Secondary: Teams and organizations looking for collaborative email management

  • Specific: Productivity enthusiasts and team needs beyond Gmail limitations

PLG Model Used

Freemium with Team Network Effects

  • Free tier with core functionality

  • Paid tiers ($18-$45/month per seat) unlock advanced AI and team features

  • Team collaboration features create network effects

Learn more about pricing strategy and paywall strategy.

Advanced Pricing & Packaging Strategies in a Product-Led Growth (PLG) Motion

Learn how we built the perfect PLG pricing and packaging and apply the framework. A Product Led Growth pricing strategy drives customer acquisition, activation, and retention.

growthwithgary.com/p/advanced-pricing-packaging-strategies-in-a-product-led-growth-plg-motion

Time to Value (TTV)

Immediate (< 5 minutes)

  • Connects directly to the user’s Gmail account

  • Automatically organizes inbox on first login

  • Instant access to core features like task to-dos, splits, and AI assistant

  • Get users to "inbox zero" feel within minutes of use


Onboarding Experience

  • Simple OAuth connection to Gmail/Google Workspace

  • AI automatically categorizes and organizes existing emails

  • Progressive feature discovery through contextual tooltips and product bumpers

  • Team setup for collaborative features

Read more on how to improve onboarding.

Why does your SaaS Onboarding suck?

Measure success: 1. Less time spent per call 2. Increase upsell 3. Less "I don't know what to do" customers questions 4. Increase activation 5. Lower churn

growthwithgary.com/p/onboarding-sucks

Key Growth Loops/Virality

Team Collaboration Viral Loop

  • Shared live threads create network effects

  • Team comments and mentions drive invitations

  • "Sent with Shortwave" signature creates awareness

  • Thread sharing URLs expose non-users to product value

  • Team channels require team members to join for full collaboration

  • User testimonials and social sharing

  • Influencers promote productivity tools

Shortwave Homepage

Are you using Shortwave? What do you think? Love to hear your experience.

P.S. If you have 2 min, please take this three-questions survey about this newsletter for me @ https://tally.so/r/3EaPyl 

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- Tuesday: my PLG experience
- Wednesday: Memes on product, AI, and marketing
- Thursday: tactical growth tips
- Friday: raw accounts of my startup journey

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