Thread by @searchbrat

Product-Led companies grow fast.

Loom > $350 million valuation

Calendly > $3 billion valuation.

You need a sticky product that sells itself.

Here are 10 great examples of how companies turn their products into revenue machines.

🧵👇

First, let's start with a fun stat.

"60% of software users will log into a free app just once, and never log back in"

You need stickiness to create revenue!

Both are critical in creating a rocketship product-led company.

1. Groove - (feedback loops, just ask)

When Groove started, the first email a user would get was from their CEO & Founder, Alex Turnbull.

It asked why did you sign up.

Knowing the answer to this question helps you create sticky onboarding.

2. Superhuman - (personal onboarding)

Superhuman made onboarding a loveable experience

New users received a 30 min 1:1 onboarding call.

The call provided lots of value. It helped people optimize their inbox & use Superhuman.

It led to a sticky product and great worth of mouth

3. HubSpot - (playing detective)

After launching free products, HubSpot wanted to know the free features to include in onboarding.

What features lead to more revenue?

They did regression analysis finding the most common free features among users with the best upgrade rates

4. Quora & Twitter (create value in product signup)

Many free products struggle to show value until the user begins using the product.

But most users only log-in once 🤔

Products like Quora & Twitter solved this by getting you to start using the product when signing up.

5. Airtable (templates, and more templates)

Why do we love templates?

They can help brands grow signups through search.

But, they help a lot with onboarding people onto specific use cases.

Very helpful for products like Airtable, where the world is your oyster.

6. Ghost (the thing that really matters)

Finding what matters in user onboarding matters a lot!

Ghose discovered users who added a theme during onboarded were 10x more likely to upgrade.

So, they made adding a template part of their onboarding.

7. Google Inbox (remind people of the value of your product)

How many times have you emailed yourself a reminder?

When Google detected you were emailing yourself, they had the perfect reminder for their product 'Reminder.'

8. BuzzSumo (show value, ask for money)

BuzzSumo does a great job of finding the balance between free, and asking for money.

They let you get some results for free and show what else you can get by paying.

9. Grammarly (provide a constant reminder of your value)

Grammarly is an amazing tool.

It helps you look smarter.

It also gives you a constant reminder of just how smart it can make you if you open your wallet and upgrade to a paid plan.

10. Evernote (make the perfect sales pitch)

Evernote created a sticky product but struggled to turn that stickiness into revenue.

Too much in free.

But, their sales pitch started to get better.

Evernote realized people would pay to use their app across devices.

I spend a lot of time on Twitter breaking down why fast-growth companies are successful; follow @searchbrat if you like the content.

Or, join the gang in my newsletter >>
kieranflanagan.io/newsletter

TLDR

- Groove (feedback loops)
- Superhuman: (personal onboarding)
- HubSpot (playing detective)
- Quora (value in product signup)
- Airtable (templates)
- Ghost (the one thing)
- Google Inbox (add value)
- BuzzSumo (give free, ask for money)
- Grammarly (constant reminder)