Thread by @briannekimmel

The fastest growing software companies have something in common…
They started with no sales team aka product-led growth 🏆

When I talk to founders today, it's easy to get addicted to self-serve revenue. But here's the problem: Self-serve rarely lasts forever.

Self-serve SMBs churn at a much higher rate than Mid-market and Enterprise customers. This is especially true if you’re selling to other startups or tech companies who typically try a number of free tools and ultimately choose based on price, feature set and relationships.

Self-serve users have a low expansion rate. While free trials are effective for driving new user sign-ups, keep in mind these users are less loyal, less engaged, and less likely to change plans or add premium features.

When self-serve channels have been exhausted, your $/customer will flatten.

You are not likely to get any additional revenue from these users from any product-led growth channel. This is when you need to hire a formal sales team.

With the introduction of any new function, it's important to identify blind spots and assign an owner. An example: PQL/MQL > SQL > Customer Success

SaaS companies should deeply understand both acquisition & upsells.
Acquisition is 4x more expensive than Expansion.

A recent study from Price Intelligently found companies w/ a customer success team see a 50-125% increase in expansion revenue compared to those without.

For more thoughts on self-serve vs. sales-assisted growth, check out my recent post: briannekimmel.com/sales_assisted…