By the time I joined Wistia, they'd generated hundreds of thousands of free users and tens of thousands of paying customers - with no sales team. 100% touchless.
As a growth nerd, I loved it.
But something interesting was happening. People were writing in with questions.
Some specifically asked to speak with a salesperson.
Some asked basic questions about how the product worked.
Some had complex use cases and wanted to see if the product would be a fit.
At first, a small team of CS folks fielded these questions. But they eventually morphed into a sophisticated (and very successful) product-led sales team.
They had a badass self-service engine. Then layered on product-led sales.
Unfortunately, I see the opposite playbook more often.
IE a company has a sales team that's used owning every signup. Then tries to make major changes to their lead flow, incentive structure, and their operating system to become more product-led/ sales-assisted.
That's way harder.
Market President for BMO Commercial Bank
2wCongratulations!