I’ve heard a lot of chatter in my network that product-led growth (PLG) is dead. Spoiler alert: it’s not. But it is evolving.

I believe this sentiment stems from those of us who lived through the “growth at all costs” era. Back then, big budgets and land-and-expand acquisitions ruled. Today, especially for startups and early-stage orgs, that playbook just doesn’t fit. But we can borrow lessons from more mature companies where sustainable growth and customer success coexist.

One trap I see often? Locking ourselves into a single identity. “We’re PLG-only,” someone told me recently. But a quick look at their motion showed live workshops, onboarding reps, and a helpful product experience. That’s not just PLG, that’s a thoughtful blend of product-led and customer-led growth. And it’s working.

In this post, I’m breaking down what’s broken in PLG, what’s working now, and what you can do today to build a smarter, more aligned go-to-market motion.

But first, let’s make sure we’re all speaking the same language.

Product, sales, and customer growth, what does it all mean?

In a PLG model, your product does the heavy lifting when it comes to attracting, converting, and retaining customers and is commonly done through a self-service or freemium experience. Self-service allows users to explore the product on their own, supported by digital training and resources with no heavy sales touch. Freemium models offer free trials or limited features to help users reach an a-ha moment, making it an easy decision to upgrade. Think: Calendly, Canva, Miro.
SLG is the traditional go-to-market strategy many of us know well. The sales team owns the customer journey from acquisition to expansion through personalized outreach, relationship-building, and tailored solutions. Success depends on a strong sales org that drives revenue by qualifying leads, closing deals, and nurturing existing customers. Salesforce and IBM are classic examples of this model.
CLG puts the customer at the center of your growth strategy. Instead of focusing solely on acquisition, this model prioritizes retention, product adoption, and long-term customer health. It’s about deeply understanding your users' needs and delivering ongoing value. Happy, successful customers will also become your biggest growth engine, renewing, expanding, and advocating for your brand. Fun fact, Figma is known for investing heavily in CLG strategies through their product! The perfect marriage of CLG and PLG!

What’s broken in PLG?

It’s not one-size-fits-all, and it’s not about choosing one strategy over the other. It’s about meeting your customers where they are and not turning your back the moment you hit your first goal (usually acquisition). Here’s what I see as broken:

Ignoring the Handoffs
Creating a stellar PLG motion is great, but if you ignore the handoffs to onboarding, adoption, and customer success, you’re in for a rude awakening when renewal time comes around. Take care of your customers now, and you won’t have to worry about renewals later.

Oversimplification of PLG
Many early-stage companies dive into PLG thinking it’s just about freemium models or self-service products. While these are important elements, there’s often an underestimation of the need for human touch. Some customers need help, guidance, or a more personalized experience to truly succeed with the product, and that’s okay! Insert opportunities to connect with sales, onboarding specialists, solutions engineers, or customer success.

Missing the Blend with Sales and Customer Success
The perfect blend of PLG and CLG is powerful, but many startups cling too strictly to a “PLG-only” model. They miss how critical customer health, ongoing engagement, and personalized support are for retention and expansion. PLG fails when it overlooks the need to build meaningful customer relationships post-adoption.

Underestimating the Complexity of GTM Execution
PLG theory sounds great, but execution is where it gets tricky. Without alignment across your GTM teams (marketing, sales, customer success), PLG can quickly break down. It’s not just about having a great product, it’s about ensuring the right resources are available for customers at every stage of the journey, especially after onboarding.

What’s working in PLG?

Despite its challenges, PLG remains one of the most powerful growth strategies when it’s done right. It shines when companies lead with real product value, reduce friction in the experience, and stay deeply connected to their users. Here's what's working now:

Lead with value, fast
Free trials, freemium plans, or even product tours—whatever your motion, the key is helping users reach their first a-ha moment quickly. The faster someone sees the value, the more likely they are to convert and stick around.

Build clear onboarding and activation paths
The most successful PLG companies build intentional, in-product experiences to guide users to success, step-by-step. This is critical to reducing friction and making it incredibly simple for users to activate and see the product’s potential.

Layer in human support strategically
PLG doesn’t mean zero human interaction. That myth needs to go. Well-timed support, whether it’s live chat, a welcome call, community touchpoints, or an optional sales assist, can make the difference between someone dropping off or sticking with you. Human touchpoints work with the product, not against it.

Tight feedback loops between Product and GTM
Strong PLG orgs operate with tight alignment across go-to-market (GTM) teams, including product, marketing, sales, and customer success. Usage data, feature adoption, and real customer feedback can’t live in silos, they’re shared, discussed, and acted on. PLG isn’t set-it-and-forget-it. It’s a constant loop of testing, learning, and improving.

Why PLG works

When done well, product-led growth delivers more than just conversions—it builds a stronger, smarter business.

Scalable by design: Growth isn’t bottlenecked by sales bandwidth. Your product does the heavy lifting, even as your user base grows.
Cost-effective: Lower reliance on traditional sales and marketing means you can grow leaner, without sacrificing impact.
Customer-first: Users build a relationship with the product from day one, leading to deeper engagement and higher retention.
Segmentation-ready: PLG makes it easier to tailor onboarding, messaging, and in-product experiences based on user behavior, persona, or stage, without manual effort.

What you can do now

So you already have a free trial in the market, or are you ready to launch? You may even have that welcome email and free trial expiration email ready to deploy, but now what? Here's my step-by-step guide to help you get started and build a strong PLG foundation:

Map the customer journey
Before you start building flows or writing copy, you must understand what your users are experiencing. A simple customer journey map helps you step into their shoes, anticipate needs, reduce friction, and guide them towards value, quickly.

This doesn’t have to be perfect. At an early stage, it’s really about estimation. Start by answering:

What do users need to do in their very first session to experience value?
What are the likely a-ha moments that should lead to conversion?
Where might they get stuck?

If you already know potential friction points where human interaction can help, include them. But these insights will come with time as you gather real data.

Build an onboarding strategy and flow
Your onboarding experience is the make-or-break moment for PLG. It’s not just about a welcome email. It’s about guiding users to value as quickly and clearly as possible. Great onboarding blends in-product guidance, email nudges, helpful resources, and, when needed, human support. Using the customer journey map you created, I’d tackle the following (likely in this order):

In-App Guidance: Use checklists, tooltips, and demos. Highlight the most important first actions and offer human help where it counts.
Email Sequence: Create a smart email flow to prevent drop-offs, reinforce aha moments, and send behavior-based nudges when users go quiet or hit friction.
Human Touchpoints: Trigger messages like “Need help?” if setup isn’t complete, offer a live onboarding session, or provide an in-app help center.

Develop a testing mindset
Set up your dashboard and track user activity and behavior from the start. Watch for trends, patterns, dropoffs, or changes, particularly as you launch new content. I keep a running list of gaps in the flow, leakages in the funnel, opportunities for improvement, and lessons learned. This allows me to test new ideas each week. This can be quick optimizations of a current flow or testing new content on a specific audience.

Incorporate feedback loops and iterate

Talk to your users. Regularly. Send surveys. Ask what’s confusing, where they get stuck, and how they prefer to engage. If they want more guidance, human help, or even sales touchpoints before upgrading, that’s okay. You can still run a strong PLG motion and offer high-touch moments through:

Thoughtful customer segmentation
“Choose your own journey” onboarding
Adding 1:many formats like office hours, live demos, or webinars

Most importantly: Share your takeaways with your product team. PLG is not a one-and-done strategy. It’s a constant cycle of testing, learning, optimizing, and evolving together.

Need help getting started?

I offer PLG and marketing automation audits to help you map the customer journey, tighten your onboarding, and identify quick wins. Whether you need a fresh set of eyes or a full strategy and execution partner, I’ve got you. If you’re ready to turn theory into execution, I’d love to help. Just reach out.

PLG isn’t dead: What’s broken, what works, and what to do now