Author: Gérard

Posted on

Go beyond PLG and focus on the Customer Journey

In this podcast episode, I look at why it isn’t about Product-Led, OR Sales-Led, OR Marketing-Led Growth. It’s all the above simultaneously. It’s about Customer-Led Growth. It’s about delivering an end-to-end experience at every touchpoint of the customer life cycle that feels like one, delighting the user at every step.

This episode has a related blog post, and includes a graphical representation of the Customer Journey “Game of Life” and the Product “Ferris Wheel”.

Continue reading “Go beyond PLG and focus on the Customer Journey”
Posted on

Time to go beyond Product-Led Growth – think Customer Journey

In recent years, PLG, or Product-Led Growth, has become a significant buzz in the tech world, and rightfully so. Products that delight customers and fuel growth loops are essential. If your offering can’t deliver considerable value to your users, if your product isn’t resolving major pain-points, or isn’t providing big WOWs over the alternatives where it matters, then you’ve got (lots of) work ahead. But with the rise of digital channels, customers interact with businesses in multiple ways that drive the overall experience. Only focusing on the product or go-to-market-led growth is no longer enough – it’s time to prioritize the whole Customer Journey (CJ).

It isn’t about Product-Led, OR Sales-Led, OR Marketing-Led Growth. It’s all the above simultaneously. It’s about Customer-Led Growth. It’s about delivering an end-to-end experience at every touchpoint of the customer life cycle that feels like one, delighting the user at every step.

Continue reading “Time to go beyond Product-Led Growth – think Customer Journey”
Posted on

Leveraging Lean Startup in established organizations

In this podcast episode, I look at how established organizations can leverage the lean startup methodology to drive velocity through simplicity. I also experiment with the format, providing you with a chance to participate and go through the framework described yourself.

This episode has a related blog post that will provide you with the framework in written form.

Continue reading “Leveraging Lean Startup in established organizations”
Posted on

Leveraging Lean Startup in established organizations

As organizations mature and become more complex, aversion to risk increases, resulting in a slow decision process. Yet the world around is not standing still, and the speed of change continues to accelerate. Nimble young businesses, who live by the Lean Startup approach of building, measuring, and learning, move from nothing to a product customers love in what appears, from an established company perspective at least, virtually no time.

If both have strategic clarity around the vision, startups leave established organizations in the rear-view mirror because they optimize for simplicity and velocity. Startups practice the lean methodology to avoid spending time on things that ultimately won’t deliver value. They prevent waste by learning early and quickly where they are wrong.

Continue reading “Leveraging Lean Startup in established organizations”
Posted on

V1 innovation within a V+1 org

Startups are optimized towards launching version 1.0 offerings, identifying product-market fit, and putting in place the best go-to-market organization to attract new customers. Once the “magic” happens (or should I say the challenging work pays off), when users and products find each other in a happy place, the growth loops evolve towards retention in addition to the original focus purely on acquisition. As the company matures, there is a natural tendency to increasingly drive the business towards delivering incremental products, focusing on the existing target audiences. After all, that’s where the revenue has come from historically, so why not concentrate the R&D and go-to-market investments on what we know best and minimize financial risks? Larger companies sometimes have a hard time going after something unproven that will take investing multiple years to become a meaningful part of the revenue. It could even take market share away from existing offerings!

Continue reading “V1 innovation within a V+1 org”
Posted on

Where in the org is Product Marketing?

As companies evolve, they (sometimes) take the time to reflect on the best teams’ structure to achieve their strategies and goals. For most groups, the roles and responsibilities are self-contained within that function. For example, while the sales team organization to deliver the expected results might change significantly over time, from an inside-sales structure to heavy OEM or direct-to-consumer focus, the boundaries remain within “sales” – I can’t name any examples of companies beyond the Seed stage where the R&D leader manages the enterprise sales team. Yet, for one role, defining its location in the org-chart is not as clear… and that challenge is fundamentally described in the function name: Product Marketing.

Continue reading “Where in the org is Product Marketing?”
Posted on

Freedom and Responsibility

This podcast episode is by a Guest speaker, Marielle Métrailler and she looks at the relationship between freedom and responsibility.

My wife Marielle is a Leadership and Life-Balance Coach. She founded Clarivia in 2016 with the clear vision of enabling people to achieve their full potential, one conversation at a time. She has worked throughout Europe and North America, applying her skill-set to industries as varied as luxury goods and biotech, as well as to pharmaceutical advocacy organizations. Marielle combines proven methodologies with her strong natural aptitudes: listening, empowering, guiding, facilitating, and change management. With care and precision, she enables individuals and groups to achieve their best and to meet and surpass their personal and professional goals.

This episode is based on the article Marielle published recently on Linkedin.

Continue reading “Freedom and Responsibility”