Doing the work

What is the real difference between product-led, sales-led and everything in between, and which one are we?

The short answer

The question is not which model you prefer, it is who signs and how much they are risking. If one person can start using the product on a card without asking anyone, you can be product-led. If a buyer needs security review, procurement and three other people to agree, no amount of free trial removes the salesperson. Most companies end up with both: self-serve to create usage, sales to convert the accounts where that usage got big. Pick based on your actual buyer's approval path, then be honest that adding the other motion later is a second company-building exercise, not a toggle.

Go deeper, your way

4 hand-picked resources, 1 India-specific, 4 link-checked. Pick how you want to dig in.

✍️ Essay
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it Casado's argument that the modern B2B winners combine bottom-up adoption with a sales layer is the clearest framing of why 'which motion are we' is usually the wrong question. Uses Dropbox, Twilio and Atlassian to show the shape.

Growth, Sales, and a New Era of B2B

From Andreessen Horowitz by Martin Casado ~15 min read

Open a16z.com →

The same ground, at another level

How what gtm actually is reads from a different seat.

What does 'go to market' actually mean? People say GTM constantly and I still cannot define it. GTM is the whole answer to one question: how does a stranger who has your problem end up paying you and staying. That covers who you sell to, what ... Breaking into GTM 4 resources → When do I stop selling myself and hire the first person, and what kind of person should that be? Hire when you have closed roughly ten to twenty deals yourself, can describe who buys and why in one paragraph, and are spending more than a fifth ... Leading a GTM team 6 resources → What do the very best GTM teams do that everyone else does not? They treat GTM as a system they design rather than a set of tactics they copy. The best teams pick one narrow group of buyers and go absurdly deep,... How the best do it 5 resources →

People also ask

What does 'go to market' actually mean? People say GTM constantly and I still cannot define it. GTM is the whole answer to one question: how does a stranger who has your problem end up paying you and staying. That covers who you sell to, what ... Breaking into GTM 4 resources → I am a founder and I have never sold anything in my life. Where do I actually start? Start by talking to twenty people who have the problem, with no intent to sell, and write down the words they use. Then go back to the ten who lean... Breaking into GTM 5 resources → How do I tell whether our GTM is genuinely working or we just got lucky with a few deals? Luck looks like revenue. Working looks like repeatability. Ask whether you can name the trigger that made each of the last ten buyers start looking... Doing the work 4 resources → When do I stop selling myself and hire the first person, and what kind of person should that be? Hire when you have closed roughly ten to twenty deals yourself, can describe who buys and why in one paragraph, and are spending more than a fifth ... Leading a GTM team 6 resources → How do I turn the thing that worked when I did it into an engine someone else can run? Write down what you actually do, not what you think you do. Record your own calls, listen back, and pull out the four or five moves that keep showi... Leading a GTM team 4 resources → What do the very best GTM teams do that everyone else does not? They treat GTM as a system they design rather than a set of tactics they copy. The best teams pick one narrow group of buyers and go absurdly deep,... How the best do it 5 resources →
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