Building a Hybrid GTM company (PLG+SLG) is HARDER than building a pure SLG company.

Building a Hybrid GTM company (PLG+SLG) is HARDER than building a pure SLG company.

A week or so back, Wes Bush stated (refer his LinkedIn post here ) that

Building a Product-Led business is HARD

However, his other claim about building a sales-led company is EASY has been getting a lot of flak. @ ThriveStack , we decided to dig in and this is what we found.


1. Most new SaaS companies cannot survive with pure PLG or SLG GTM.

They will have to do both - hence the term Hybrid GTM. Refer https://resources.thrivestack.ai/p/successful-companies-use-multiple-gtm-motions

In fact, most successful companies use multiple GTM motions. And it depends how they layer them.

2. Building a PLG product is way HARDER than building a traditional SLG product.

Refer article: https://resources.thrivestack.ai/p/saas-struggles-for-plg

PLG readiness is a thing, a chasm, if you will.

PLG Readiness is a new chasm
PLG Readiness is a new chasm


and what does it take to takes to build a baseline self-serve revenue engine,

  • 8-36 months years
  • Between $1-3M Product + Engineering spend
  • Custom built with 20+ tools cobbled together.


3. PLG or SLG is not the debate, How you GET STARTED matters!


Compare the cost of decision: https://resources.thrivestack.ai/p/delaying-the-plg-decision-increases-spend

4. Layering SLG on top of PLG is lot more EASIER than PLG over SLG

Someday soon, could write more details (let me know in comments if we should)

PLG on top of existing SLG is HARDER
PLG on top of existing SLG is HARDER


Let me know what you think.

Thank you for subscribing and reading till the end.

Igor T.

Not your Father's Accountant | Fractional CFO | Proven Record in Enhancing Profitability for Startups and Small Businesses | Building the Accounting Firm of the Future

2 个月

Gururaj, this is great!

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Krishna Jadhav

Director of Cloud, Data, AI, Blockchain, Web3 | Board Advisor | MBA @UChicago Booth

2 个月

Thanks for sharing Gururaj Pandurangi , very helpful. Isn’t both have their chasm on different context, mainly product Vs Sales driven investment, cashflow and market capturing matters most and it depends on business you’re entering In. And moreover you need a hybrid strategy which takes precedence at different decisions and it continues … ~Krishna Jadhav

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Anuj Adhiya ??

"The Growth Guy" | Author, Growth Hacking for Dummies (Wiley & Sons) | Startup Mentor |

2 个月

Building an SLG product is easier - which means many more might start this way, right? If that's true then most will be in the position of having to layer on PLG even though it's harder than the other way. So really no reason to hand wring. Use the mode that works/is easiest to get started with and deal with whatever comes later. It's all hard, relatively harder doesn't matter - got to figure out out either way

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