Why product-led growth is the future | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Surveymonkey)

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

September 22, 2022

Duration

59m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Elena Verna has led growth at some of today’s most successful B2B businesses, including Miro as CMO, Surveymonkey as SVP of Growth, and now at Amplitude as interim Head of Growth. She’s also worked closely with over a dozen companies on growth and product strategy, including companies like MongoDB, Clockwise, and Netlify (where she sits on the board of directors). Elena is undoubtedly one of the smartest people on growth strategy in the world. Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/elena-verna-on-how-b2b-growth-is-changing-product-led-growth-product-led-sales-why-you-should-go-freemium-not-trial-what-features-to-make-free-and-much-more/#transcript — Where to find Elena:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaverna
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/elenaverna

— Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

— Thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible:

• Persona: https://withpersona.com/lenny
• Stytch: https://stytch.com/
• PostHog: https://posthog.com/lenny

— In this episode, we cover: 00:00 Elena’s career path 03:59 How did Elena go from an analyst at Safeway to Head of Product at Amplitude? 11:38 The path to advising 13:30 Elena’s most fulfilling and most challenging positions yet 17:00 What’s changing in B2B growth? 19:49 Consumerization examples 21:48 What exactly is “product-led growth,” and how can you apply it at every stage of growth? 23:15 Advice for founders starting a company 26:36 Layering sales-led and product-led 28:27 Why does PLG often get crushed when you move upmarket, and how do you avoid this? 35:00 Advice for starters going to market 36:38 Why product-led is the future of sales 38:57 Defining product-led sales vs sales-driven 41:41 Why is freemium the way to go, over trial? 51:34 Why you should hire internally for your first growth hire — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Elena Verna

  guest

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Elena Verna and Lenny Rachitsky, Why product-led growth is the future | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Surveymonkey) explores elena Verna Explains Why Product-Led Growth Will Dominate B2B SaaS Elena Verna, a veteran growth leader at SurveyMonkey, Miro, Netlify, and Amplitude, breaks down how product-led growth (PLG) and sales-led motions should be layered, not treated as either-or choices. She argues every B2B company must first nail product-led retention—activation and engagement—before expecting PLG to drive acquisition or monetization. Verna explains how many PLG companies unintentionally crush their product-led engine when moving upmarket by over-prioritizing enterprise sales and enterprise-specific features. She also predicts product-led sales—using product usage as the primary signal for sales—is on track to box out traditional top-down sales over the next decade.

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