Embedded iPaaS CEO Fraser Davidson discusses how at Cyclr he doesn’t favour product-led growth.
In all honesty, I don’t favour Product-Led Growth (‘PLG’) for Cyclr, an embedded integration platform. In the SaaS industry and tech world, we often debate product adoption strategies. Every conference I go to I am sold the benefits of going ‘all in’ on Product Led Growth. Give the prospect access to the product with no/minimal intervention. I have even seen VCs that will only invest in PLG businesses.
But I am not a buyer of this for Cyclr.
What do we do at Cyclr?
PLG to me is a high-volume, low engagement, play. At Cyclr I am much more in favour of a lower volume, high engagement, strategy. We use some elements of PLG in our go-to-market. But we are heavily weighted towards a model where we work with prospects to ensure our product is fit for their needs. They receive guidance early to ensure they are comfortable with their prospective purchase.
We want to help prospects on their buying journey – not abandon them to their buying journey.
PLG can work well for SaaS products with a light footprint, and it’s often praised for its efficiency and scalability. But there are situations where I believe a more hands-on, “handheld”, approach can be advantageous.
A B2B SaaS Context
This is especially true in a B2B SaaS context. These products are deeply integrated into a business’s operations such as embedded iPaaS. The two-way partnership between vendor and prospect/customer becomes crucial. Our product is not ‘light’, our product delivers complex outcomes. As a result, it is responsible for an important part of our customers’ ecosystems.
A curated introduction to Cyclr gives you a more realistic experience of using the product. This includes understanding its challenges and benefits. As well as, and more importantly what that partnership with us as a vendor will be like.
Full PLG works best for SaaS products that users can quickly pick up, use, and move on to the next tool without much disruption. For instance, while we might not worry too much about switching from one CRM to another, the stakes are much higher with an integration platform that requires a long-term commitment. The relationship with the vendor and their level of service should be a significant factor in the purchase process.
As I mentioned above, that’s not to say we don’t adopt elements of PLG. For example, we include built-in guidance, good UI, good UX, and learning modules. For me, those are common sense and basic table stakes.
The Curated Approach
In short, when you’re making a decision that will affect your business for years, I believe you want to make sure that the product/vendor fit is right. For that reason, we favour the curated approach over PLG with our prospects.
I will admit it doesn’t sit well with all prospects and some bounce of our pipeline as a result – some prospects just don’t want the engagement. I have been called old-school and short-sighted. However, we have found that the best long-term partnerships are founded on good engagement on both sides from the beginning.
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