Ramli John

Author of Product-Led Onboarding (+30K copies sold) | First Round Fast Track Mentor | Content Director at Appcues.

⭐️ Follow me for helpful tips to onboard, delight, and keep your customers coming back to your product.
📔 Author of Amazon #1 bestselling book "Product-Led Onboarding." 👉 𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙉 𝙀𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙎, Founder of GrowthHackers.com: "Product-Led Onboarding is 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 embarking on the critical activity of improving their user onboarding." 


⚡️ I use my multi-disciplinary skills in marketing, design, and software development to help product-led SaaS companies analyze their whole customer's journey and funnel to identify growth opportunities to 2-3X their MRR. 

Often, that means designing and implementing experiments to increase activation rate (trial-to-paid or free-to-paid conversions), decrease churn rate, or increase average revenue per user (ARPU)

If you asked my friends and colleagues how they would describe me, they'd say I'm resourceful, proactive, and entrepreneurial

►► CONTACT INFO
▷ Send a connection request
▷ Write me a note at ramli [at] ramlijohn.com

Founder

A weekly show and newsletter for marketers looking to level up their marketing and career. I interview world-class marketers to uncover the secrets, strategies, and frameworks behind their wins. In each episode, guests reveal three things:  (1) a marketing power-up,  (2) a real-world example of that in action, and (3) a power-up that’s helped them take their career to the next level.

Ramli "RJ" John

16 weeks ago, I could barely run 3K. Sunday, I ran my first half-marathon! I treated my training like growth experiments. 3 things that worked:


(Yes, I'm a nerd. My wife says I'm obsessed. I agree! 🤣)

Experiment 1: Fuel Strategy (Finding the Right Gel)

My biggest fear? Runner's trot. Google it if you dare.

I tested different energy gels to fuel a 2+ hour run. Honey Stinger caused stomach issues. Not fun.

I tried Maurten, GU, SiS, gummy bears, and baby applesauce.

Switched to Kronos, a Canadian maple-based gel. No issues and felt great.

The lesson? Test before it matters.

Your users won't tell you about embarrassing problems, but they'll quietly churn because of them.

Experiment 2: Continuous Running vs. Galloway Run-Walk-Run

I tested the Galloway method (run 90 seconds, walk 30, repeat). My splits were consistent. I felt fresher.

But I went with continuous runs that gradually increased speed.

Why? Simplicity. I didn't want to think about timers at kilometer 18 when my legs were screaming.

Same with product growth. The "optimal" solution isn't always the one users will stick with.

Experiment 3: Nose Breathing Technique

Two quick inhales through the nose, one long exhale. Sounds weird, right?

It dropped my heart rate. Made hard runs feel manageable.

A small technique change made a massive difference.

Just like when you change one small design tweak and retention jumps 15%.

In the end, I crossed the finish line in 2:19:01.

My "A goal" was just to finish. My "B goal" was somewhere between 2:10 and 2:30.

Mission accomplished!

It was fun running this one with Wes Bush and Catherine Hughes, M.Ed, PhD.

And honestly? I'm addicted. Already signed up for the full Toronto Marathon in May. Let's see what happens.

Every experiment started with "this should work."

Then I tested what actually worked for me. Then I kept what I could sustain for 21 kilometers.

Same process with product work. Best practices are starting points. Real users show you what actually works. Then you optimize for what they'll stick with.

—

What's something in your life right now that you're treating like an experiment?

Ramli John ⭐️

Building a community for AI Product Leaders. Founder @ Delight Path. 2x best-selling author. New book “Eureka” now available. Author of “Product-Led Onboarding” (+40K copies sold).

933 product leaders registered. 415 showed up live. That's 44% attendance (avg is 25%). The AI Product Leaders Summit exceeded everything I hoped for!


But the stats aren't what got me. It's the messages after yesterday's summit:

"Great Summit today Ramli! You provided huge value in the community!"

"Thanks, Ramli, this was a very enjoyable, educational and interactive summit! Great speakers and hosting! 👏👏"

"So well done! The speakers/content were top notch, where I just wanted more!"

Hosting a 5 hour live event drained my batteries. But messages like those made it all worth it.

Here are the biggest takeaways from 16 product leaders:

→ Every single session came back to customer research and knowing "why"
→ Lauren Creedon shared Goldcast's actual product org chart and AI roadmap (transparency level: 100)
→ Time-to-value matters, but product growth is now more than ever focused on time-to-trust
→ Product leaders opened up about the specific AI tools they're using to enable and upskill their teams
→ And a ton more (I'm writing a blog post about it!)

Thank you to every product leader who showed up—from 143 different companies. You made this what it was.

Thank you to the speakers who brought real strategies, not theory:
Janna Bastow, C. Todd Lombardo, Nesrine Changuel, PhD, Netali Jakubovitz, Christine Itwaru, Lauren Creedon, Bernadette Fisher, Mariana Danylak, Deepti Pradeep, Lauren Schuman, Jacob Bank, Betsy Shaak, Vivek Balasubramanian, Partho Ghosh, Ryan Barry, Colin Matthews, and Matthew Abersfeld.

You shared what actually worked (and what didn't). That's what made this valuable.

Thank you to Userflow, Goldcast, and LogRocket for sponsoring and making the giveaways happen.

One more thing:

I announced something BIG yesterday. Something I've been quietly building the last few weeks. I shared it live at the summit.

I'll share more tomorrow. Can't wait!

What was your biggest takeaway from the summit?

I've had the same conversation 30 times in the past few weeks. Different product leaders. Different companies. Same exhaustion...


Here's what I heard:

🔥 "I'm exhausted from constant firefighting."
🙅‍♂️ "I need to learn to say no with confidence."
😵 "AI is changing things so much. It's hard to catch up."
🤔 "I need more space for strategic thinking than being stuck in the weeds."

Product leaders are stuck firefighting when they want to be two steps ahead. 

AI's moving fast, expectations are moving faster, and we're supposed to have all the answers while coaching our team and keeping execs confident.

And when we finally pause? It's hard to find people who actually get what it's like to sit in our seat.

The truth is that we don't need another framework or AI playbook.

We need space to think, connect with peers who get it, and build our leadership practice.

That's why I'm excited to finally announce the Product Leaders Lab. 🧪

A private community I'm building for experienced product leaders (CPOs, VPs, Directors, Heads, Group PMs, etc.) who want to stay ahead and lead through change with confidence.

Inside the Lab, you'll get:

→ Cabin Crews: Small groups of 5-6 peers for honest conversations and accountability
→ Workshops & AMAs: Leadership topics like setting strategy, managing up, and leading through AI-driven change
→ Co-Labs: Bring a challenge, leave with clarity and support
→ The Leadership Library: Resources on defining success, influencing without authority, and building teams that scale

I'm also intentionally building for diversity. The industry is male-dominated, and I'm aiming for at least 50% of members to be women. There's real value in creating a more balanced space where different perspectives shape the conversation.

I'm opening 25 Founding Member spots right now.

Apply by November 25 to help shape the Lab.

✅ Apply now → https://lnkd.in/gHrG7AaB

I've already said yes to a handful of product leaders:

→ Betsy Shaak, VP of Product at Voxpopme
→ Luis Caceres, Product Director at Spotify
→ Brent Beatty, VP of Product at 7shifts
→ Michelle (Reiman) Wright, CPO at Kurtosys

Want to join them? That means only 21 spots left.

—

PS. Know a product leader who needs this? Tag them below. They'll thank you for it!

If I could grab coffee with my 21-year-old self, I'd give him 3 networking tips that took me 19 years to figure out.

Last week, I met someone new to the industry. They made every mistake I made early on.

Here's what I wish someone had told me:

1. Give more than you take.

Early in your career, you don't have much to give. What you CAN give:
→ A genuine thank you
→ Updates on how their advice helped you
→ Buying coffee when you can afford it

As you gain influence, you can give more. Just this week, someone I barely know sent me a Starbucks gift card out of nowhere. Didn't ask. They just wanted to say thanks for advice I gave months ago.

That's what happens when you give first.

2. Go beyond work topics.

Most people treat networking as transactions. It's short-term gains, immediate asks.

But real relationships are built on more than work:
→ Ask about their hobbies
→ Remember their kids' names
→ Check in about that marathon they mentioned

When I ask someone, "How's Cam doing?" and they're surprised I remembered their son's name? That's not a networking tactic. That's being a decent human who actually listens.

3. Turn online into offline when you can

If someone's in your city, make time to meet.
→ Not a 30-minute "networking coffee."
→ An actual hangout  for breakfast, a walk, whatever feels natural

Five years ago, Kirsty McConnell just started at Chameleon. She helped promote my first book, Product-Led Onboarding, when almost nobody knew who I was. Last week, she flew from Barcelona to Toronto. We met, not for networking but as friends.

We talked about marathon training, family adventures, and life moves. The professional stuff came up, but it was secondary.

That shift from transaction to friendship? That's when your "networking" becomes more about relationship-building.

Networking is simple: be genuinely helpful, stay in touch, and show up when you can.

If you're ever in Toronto, let me know. There are some great coffee spots I'd love to show you.

What's one networking lesson you wish you'd learned earlier?

—

PS. 🔖 Bookmark this for when you're wondering how to build real relationships, not just collect connections.

PPS. I'm building a private community space for 25 experienced product leaders (VPs, Directors, and Heads of Product) to connect about life and the latest hot topic... AI in product. It's called the Product Leaders Lab. If that's you, I'd love to connect.

My AI tool stack saves me 156 hours a year. That's 21 working days that I get back with my 3-year-old son, Zane...


Most product leaders I talk to use AI randomly. Chat here, summarize there, no system.

Here's what actually works for me (my 6-tool AI tool stack):

1. Claude (Projects)

Every client gets a project. Half-marathon training gets a project. Evening journaling gets a project.

I have everything in my life organized in Claude projects. That way, it has context about me and produces a richer, more accurate output.

This approach is way more powerful than prompt-and-pray.

2. Better Dictation (Text-to-speech AI tool)

I talk faster than I type. Always have. This voice-to-text helps me write posts, emails, and (yes) even books by speaking my thoughts. The ROI paid for itself after writing 3 client emails.

The best part is that it's a one-time payment (not a subscription!). Oh, it also helps that it uses ChatGPT for accurate transcription.

3. ClickUp (AI needs structure)

AI is only as good as your data structure. I codify every workflow in ClickUp, including deliverables, presentations, and tasks.

The AI can then actually help, rather than hallucinating random suggestions.

4. Fathom.ai  (Meeting notes)

This records my client calls and lets me chat with the transcripts afterward. I use it to recap client requirements, pull exact quotes for proposals, and craft follow-up pitches

Saves me from frantically searching "wait, what did they say about their onboarding drop-off rate?"

5. Lex Page (Long-form writing copilot)

This helped me write my new book, Eureka. It's built specifically for long-form content, not just quick prompts. When I'm stuck on a chapter or a framework explanation, Lex helps me think it through without losing my voice.

6. Mem (My second brain)

I dump thoughts here, and it organizes them automatically. Then it funnels insights into my calendar, links to relevant projects, and surfaces patterns I wouldn't have seen.

It's like having a research assistant who actually remembers what you said 3 months ago.

The Pattern is that each tool solves one specific friction point in my workflow:

→ Claude = thinking partner
→ Better Dictation = speed up input
→ ClickUp = structure the chaos
→ Fathom = never lose context
→ Lex = write without losing your voice
→ Mem = organize thoughts automatically

The result is 2-3 hours back every week.

That's time I spend with my family, not typing the same client email for the 47th time.

What's your AI stack look like? 
What am I missing?

—

✅ PS. Bookmark this stack for when you're drowning in admin work and need those hours back. Future you will thank me.

PPS. If you like this, I'm hosting the AI Product Leaders Summit next Tuesday, 11/18. I have product leaders from Adobe, Slack, and Google sharing their daily AI Toolkit.

Register via the last page of the document.

Ramli John's 6 AI Tool Stack

Excited to be hosting the AI Product Leaders Summit on 11/18. 
Here's why I'm genuinely excited about this..


I've been watching product leaders navigate AI for the past year. Some thriving, most overwhelmed. Everyone's trying to figure out the same things: 

How do we build AI products users love? 
How do we structure teams for AI success? 
How do we get CEO buy-in without overpromising?

This summit brings together people who are doing this work right now:

→ Christine Itwaru ( VP of Product and Design at Beamer/Userflow) on building AI-first product teams
→ Lauren Schuman (VP of Product Growth at Close) on maintaining PLG principles while integrating AI
→ Partho Ghosh (VP of Product at Uberall) on getting product-CEO alignment
→ Jacob Bank (Founder at Relay.app, Former PM at Google) on the AI toolkit that actually matters

Plus product leaders who work or have worked at Adobe, Slack, Spotify, Microsoft, and more.

No vendor pitches. No theory. Just real strategies from people actively building AI products and leading teams through this transformation.

November 18th, 10 AM to 3:30 PM EST. Free and virtual.

Register for free: https://lnkd.in/gcCwnvvA

What's your biggest question about leading AI products?

—
PS. Thanks to the sponsors Userflow, LogRocket, and Goldcast for making this event possible and giving away over $4,000 in prizes, including a product onboarding audit, an AI prototyping course, and books from speakers.

PPS. Tag a product leader who needs to see this.

+10K AI tools exist right now (and growing). What are product teams actually using to ship features? That's a question we're answering at the AI Product Leaders Summit.

Not what's trending on Product Hunt. Not the flashiest new thing. 
The tools product teams are actually using day-to-day.

I'm bringing together some stellar product leaders to tackle this topic and more:

→ Matthew Abersfeld (LogRocket's CEO, ex-Google Chrome PM) on frontend monitoring for AI product experiences
→ Mariana Danylak (Director of PM, Growth at Slack) on what her growth team uses to ship AI features
→ Jacob Bank (CEO of Relay.app, ex-Google Gmail/Calendar PM) on the tools that matter for product leaders
→ Deepti Pradeep (Director of PM, Growth at Adobe) on the tools driving growth for Photoshop and Lightroom

What frameworks help you decide what to build? What prototyping tools are worth learning? How do you monitor AI features in production?

Real tools. Real workflows. No vendor pitches.

November 18th, 10 AM - 3:30 PM EST. Free and virtual.

Register for free: https://lnkd.in/gcCwnvvA

What AI tool has actually made your team more productive?

—

PS. I'm giving away a $1,450 seat for Colin Matthews' "AI Prototyping for Product Managers" course to a live attendee! I took the course and loved it.

He'll also be joining us for the panel, "The AI Toolkit for Product Leaders!"

PPS. Tag a product leader who needs to see this toolkit session.

Wes Bush

Product-led coach helping founders scale from 6 to 8-figures in product-led revenue. Author of the bestselling book, Product-Led Growth.

Over the last 8 years, I’ve worked hands-on with 400+ SaaS companies, helping them unlock $1B+ in self-serve revenue through Product-Led Growth (PLG).

Yet, right now, the failure rate for product-led companies is still far too high.

I’m on a mission to change that because I believe the world needs more product-led companies where you can try before you buy. 

This approach builds trust faster than any sales pitch ever could—after all, 97% of buyers prefer it. But, let’s be real, PLG isn’t easy.

That’s why I’m here to help in three ways:

➡️ Is PLG is right for you?

I wrote the bestselling book, Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself, to help you determine if PLG is the right strategy for your business. 

You can read it for free at ProductLed.com/Book—my treat!

➡️ What’s the best approach to scale up PLG?

After two years of research and working with hundreds of companies, I discovered the 9 essential elements that separate PLG success stories from the rest. 

I break it all down in The Product-Led Playbook.

You can grab a copy at ProductLed.com/Playbook, or watch my free masterclass to see the entire process in action: ProductLed.com/Masterclass

➡️ Ready to scale up?

If you’re ready to scale and need hands-on help, our ProductLed Implementers are here. They aren't consultants—they are experienced PLG operators who want to roll up their sleeves and work alongside your team to help you address your biggest growth bottleneck, whether that's getting more users to sign up, upgrade, or get to value.

Since we only work with a handful of clients at a time and guarantee growth, you must apply to work with us at ProductLed.com

Let’s turn your product into a growth engine and scale your business the product-led way. 🚀

CEO & Founder

We help you build a successful product-led business.

Start with our free ProductLed Masterclass 👉 productled.com

Had a great first day at the SAAS NORTH Conference!

Started off catching up with friends and colleagues - always one of my favorite parts of these events.

Then spent most of the day in conversations with founders who are a step or two ahead of where I'm trying to go. Getting their unfiltered takes, understanding what they're seeing that I'm not, picking up on patterns before they become obvious.

Also, Michael Litt's talk on "Why SaaS is Dead and the Rise of Results as a Service" was a standout.

This morning I hosted the official CEO run through Ottawa where 13 people showed up at 6:30 AM in the dark to run through the city. Shout out to everyone who came, and thanks to David Tyldesley for letting me organize it.

Later today, I'm running a session on AI x PLG. We're covering how to use AI to become more effective and how to apply it across your entire PLG motion: pricing, onboarding, expansion - all of it.

If you're here, come say hi.

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Co-Founder and CEO at Vidyard

Co-Founder of SAAS NORTH, TechExit.io, Tech Talent North and more...

#1 PLG Partner | Scale Your Revenue, Not Your Headcount | $1B+ Self-Serve Revenue Generated For Our Clients

Nicolas Mejia, MBA.

You can get PLG advice from me anytime now…WITHOUT spending thousands of dollars on consulting fee or waiting to find a virtual coffee spot on my calendar.

People want to learn from practitioners - the ones actually doing the work.

That's why thought leaders exploded in the last few years and there’s been a massive rise in podcasts, blogs, newsletters, etc.

But it comes with a constraint…

These creators can only provide personalized feedback to a tiny fraction of people who want it. Maybe 5-10 virtual coffees per week before they burn out completely.

Casey Winters built SuperMe to break this constraint.

Once you upload your content and frameworks, anyone can now ask you specific questions and get real answers based on your actual expertise. You help thousands of people without burning out.

I uploaded everything I know about PLG - all the frameworks from helping 400+ SaaS companies scale.

Want my advice but couldn't get on my calendar? Now you can, instantly.

Try it: https://www.superme.ai/wes

JUST recorded what might be the most practical AI x PLG playbook out there with Aakash Gupta.

Aakash is neck-deep in AI tools every day, and he brought this framework that really crystallized things for me. There are two sides to the AI x PLG equation.

First, there's how AI transforms your actual PLG motion.

One of the biggest shifts I’m seeing is how time-to-value needs to drop to 1/10th of what it is today.

AI-assisted activation can analyze someone's domain the moment they sign up, infer their use case, and deliver value immediately.

Then there's pricing.

AI has real COGS, which changes everything. We're watching the shift from seat-based pricing to usage-based to outcome-based (eg: Intercom's Fin - they only charge when the AI actually resolves a support ticket.)

The second side is how AI makes you more effective as a practitioner.

Aakash walked through his entire stack - Claude Projects trained on his context, agent workflows handling everything from competitive analysis to marketing, prototyping tools that turn ideas into working demos in minutes.

The companies crushing it right now are doing 10x more because of AI.

All that said, I believe “taste” is the new moat because features are commoditized now.

Linear is the perfect example. They hit $1B valuation with "just task management" because they obsess over craft. Zero tolerance for bugs. That's what sets them apart now - not features anyone can copy.

If you're building a product-led SaaS, this conversation might be the most valuable 60 minutes you can spend this week.

Youtube: https://lnkd.in/gKpyF69T
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gUy3GkZM
Apple: https://lnkd.in/gPJuWmgb

Thanks for giving away all the sauce, Aakash!

There’s ZERO chance companies like Cursor, Lovable or any AI-native SaaS can scale at this lightning pace without PLG.

You can’t scale with AI alone. 

You need a strong product-led motion to power it.

Without a self-serve product experience and rapid time-to-value, these companies wouldn't be able to hit the growth rates we're seeing.

To put it simply,

AI is the rocket. PLG is the fuel.

Let’s look at the numbers…

Both Cursor and Lovable hit $100M ARR in under a year with explosive, largely through self-serve growth.

Could any sales-led SaaS company scale to $100M in under a year? Even with an elite outbound team?

No chance.

This kind of growth isn't possible without a product users can adopt immediately, a frictionless self-serve experience, and organic expansion loops.

AI removes friction from the product experience through faster workflows, better outputs, more intuitive interfaces. But PLG removes friction from everything else: onboarding, adoption, expansion, and monetization.

You need both.

AI-native companies that build without a PLG motion will hit the same growth ceiling that every other sales-led SaaS has hit. They'll need more reps, longer sales cycles, and heavier implementation.

All the old problems that PLG was designed to solve.

AI creates the capability.

PLG creates the velocity.

#1 PLG Partner | We Scale (and Sometimes Buy) SaaS Businesses | $1B+ Self-Serve Revenue Generated For Our Clients

If you’re a B2B SaaS debating which user recording tool to use, just go for Microsoft Clarity.

It does everything Hotjar does, but better - and it's completely free.

That sounds too good to be true, but after working with hundreds of SaaS companies, we recommend Clarity to every client at ProductLed.

Here's why…

Hotjar bogs down your website. It's clunky, it's expensive, and honestly, there's no good reason to use it anymore.

Clarity isn't just a basic free alternative.

There's real depth under the hood. You can feed it events, send user information, and run sophisticated analysis. It's a genuinely powerful tool that happens to cost nothing.

Companies default to tools they think are "industry standard" without questioning whether those tools actually work.

When you're trying to reduce friction in your self-serve funnel, the last thing you need is an analytics tool that slows everything down.

Note: This is not a paid promotion. Simply a tool we’ve been (and our clients too) loving.

I've watched dozens of SaaS companies kill their freemium motion in the past year.

They wonder why conversion rates are stuck at 2% and users ghost them after signup.

Our ProductLed Implementer 🔥 Anastasia Kudrow recently helped a client fix this exact problem.

They came to us with a classic early-stage issue. They'd tried everything - hard paywall trials, freemium, different combinations. Nothing was working.

Their users were browsing, exploring, getting some value from the free version... and then disappearing.

Sound familiar?

Here's what most companies get wrong about freemium:

They give away too much with no strategic friction.

Users can accomplish their goals entirely on the free plan. There's no compelling reason to upgrade.

They gate random features instead of desired outcomes
"Unlock advanced analytics!" "Get priority support!"

These don't create desire. Users don't lie awake at night wanting "advanced analytics." They want to accomplish something specific.

They use generic upgrade messaging
"Unlock the full experience" - what does that even mean?

Users need to know exactly what they're getting and why it matters RIGHT NOW.

We worked with this client to build a strategic freemium + trial hybrid model.

Here are the key changes we made:

→ Lock outcomes, not features.
We identified what their power users desperately wanted. That's what went behind the paywall.

→ Create new-user urgency.
A first-time-only incentive that only appears at specific moments when users are already expressing intent.

→ Let users explore freely, then create strategic friction.
Free users can browse and experience value even with the free plan. But when they want more of the thing they actually came for, that's gated.

The results?

☑ 64% conversion rate on the upgrade trigger 
☑ Trial volume increased 3X in the first month 
☑ 42% trial-to-paid conversion rate

Most companies overthink the model and underthink the execution.

They debate "should we be freemium or free trial?" for months.

The model matters less than what goes into it.

- Can users experience meaningful value before you ask for money? 
- Do they understand exactly what they're upgrading to? 
- Is there a clear reason to act now?

Get those right and your model will work.

Get those wrong and no model will save you.

"PLG takes too long to see results."

That's what founders tell me right before they spend six months fixing what they could've avoided entirely.

Here's how it usually goes:

You build something and launch it fast, hoping users will just "get it" and start converting.

But then reality hits.

Sign-ups aren't turning into active users, and the ones who do sign up disappear after a few clicks.

So you start guessing your way to a solution.

→ Maybe it's the onboarding flow.
→ Maybe the pricing is wrong.
→ Maybe the messaging isn't clear enough.

12 weeks later, you're still tweaking everything.

The whole process is slow, expensive, and exhausting.

The problem is most companies don't have a systematic way to figure out what that constraint is.

They're making decisions based on what feels urgent, what the loudest customer is asking for, or what worked at their last company. They're optimizing the wrong thing while the real bottleneck sits unaddressed.

That's exactly why we built the PLG Sprint.

It's a 4-week diagnostic built to answer one question: what's the actual constraint limiting your growth right now, and what do you need to fix first to break through it?

☑ We analyze your data to find where the system is breaking.

☑ We interview your team to understand what's really happening versus what should be happening.

☑ Then we give you a prioritized plan that identifies your highest-leverage fix and maps out how to execute it in the next 30/60/90 days.

For companies stuck at $3-10M ARR trying to figure out why growth feels harder than it should, this is how you stop grinding and start breaking through.

Visit productled(dot)com or DM "Sprint" to learn more.

AI is changing PLG in ways most companies haven't figured out yet.

Aakash Gupta and I just spent an hour mapping out the specifics - what's actually changing and what to do about it.

Look, the PLG fundamentals haven't changed.

You still need a great free trial or freemium model. You still need strong activation.

The difference is what's possible within that framework now.

Take activation.

We used to accept that it takes days or weeks for users to get value. You sign up, go through tutorials, configure settings, invite your team, and eventually you hit that first moment of value. 

That timeline made sense when software was static.

AI compresses this. 

When someone signs up, you can analyze their domain, understand their likely use case, and surface personalized value immediately. Not days later.

Pricing is shifting too.

Most PLG companies still use seat-based pricing because that's what worked. 

But AI introduces real COGS that didn't exist before. Every interaction costs money. This is pushing pricing toward usage-based and outcome-based models.

Aakash pointed to Intercom's Fin as an example - they charge per resolved support ticket, not per seat or message volume.

Earlier, features used to create moats. 

You'd build something differentiated and have plenty of time before competitors caught up. That window is basically gone now. Anyone can see what you built and replicate it fast.

What's hard to copy is taste. 

Aakash used Linear as the example - they hit $1B valuation with task management software because of obsessive craft.

Zero tolerance for bugs. Perfect details. Competitors can copy their features but not their taste.

We got into the tactical side too.

- The specific tools worth using for PLG teams.
- How to think about AI-assisted expansion.
- What the actual workflow looks like when you're using AI to move faster.

Full episode: https://lnkd.in/gKpyF69T

So pumped to have Esben join ProductLed!

We've got some epic stuff in the works for product-led founders.

Going to be fun!

Entrepreneur in Residence at ProductLed - Co-Founder of Userflow and Cobalt

I guess my Linkedin hiatus is over.

I am happy to announce that I have joined Wes Bush and the amazing ProductLed team as an Entrepreneur in Residence.

With Userflow we scaled to $4.6M in ARR with a team of 3 using PLG and in my view PLG is still the #1 way for SaaS B2B businesses to build for profitability and scale.  

While AI has made it significantly easier to implement, companies are still often struggling with building a solid PLG foundation. That is why I am excited to join ProductLed and help more SaaS businesses become truly ProductLed

More to come from me soon.

#PLG #Productled #SaaS

taplio

The Battle

Ramli "RJ" John

Wes Bush

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Performance ScoreRamli "RJ" John's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreWes Bush's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Ramli "RJ" John

Wes Bush

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ramli "RJ" John's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreWes Bush's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreRamli "RJ" John's LinkedIn Performance