How to Get Started with PLG

PLG What are the first critical steps businesses should take when adopting PLG? Before anything else, you should ensure your organization is set up for success. In Volume 1, we discussed where PLG fits within an organization. There are a few ways to approach this question:

Product

In this widely used model, the growth team reports to the product team. One benefit: team members report to managers in the same area of expertise. It also positions PLG as core to the product team’s strategy.

Growth

In this model, growth is its own department, with a VP of Growth overseeing a team that includes growth marketing, product growth, and, potentially, analytics—all responsible for self-serve revenue. This model helps ensure alignment among team members.

Canal+ Poland Growth Director Bartłomiej Leszczyńśki recommends this approach, adding that other organizations should allow a dedicated growth team to “work together with different teams to incorporate new methodologies and ways of working in the organization.”

Dual model

In this approach, which we use at Amplitude, several teams co-own growth across marketing and product. In our case, both teams report to the VP of Marketing and VP of Product, respectively. Shared product metrics help reinforce alignment.

Another critical factor to getting started is implementing the latest technology, including a growth and data stack:

Growth stack:

• Access management
• User onboarding
• Customer relationship management (CRM)
• Lead scoring
• User support
• Scalable website

Data stack:

• Event-data collection from first-party sources
• Data warehousing in the cloud
• Data analysis
• Data activation for personalized experiences