“Even in today’s buying environment for B2B software, that next layer of directors and managers already have a lot of influence-probably more influence than we may give them credit for,” said Dave. That means just because someone has the title of chief operating officer, it doesn’t mean they’re the right person to start with. But even then, in my experience, most executives rely on the next level of leadership, who are largely the functional experts in their organizations, to recommend changes in technology or process.” After I work that out, I’m going to turn my focus to the execution and the operational side. “As an executive, I’m largely going to be focused on whether I have the right strategy to win, and whether I have the right people to be successful.
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Generally in the buying market, while there are of course exceptions, most executives aren’t necessarily focused on the next great software or piece of their technology stack,” said Dave. So what does that mean in terms of who you should build for and who you should get your product in front of? Is it the same as old school software, or is it different now? There’s a lot more complexity to it than just the external appearance of what product led growth companies have-you have to be wired for it and there are so many things it changes, like the buyer persona. It’s a fundamental part of your strategy.”
It goes something like this: “I’ll just put a self-service signup form on the front end of my product and offer a free tier, and then boom! Now I’m product led.” There’s a misconception about how easy it is to become self-service if you didn’t start out that way. Self-service can be a compelling model, but it has to fit and be accepted as a fundamental part of the company and product strategy.” If the company grew up with a pure self-service motion as we did at Lucidchart, layering on enterprise sales requires a big learning curve. “If you come from a traditional enterprise sales background, introducing a self-service model will bring up some real challenges. It’s a fundamental part of your strategy, so it has to tie in tightly to your product positioning, your target market, your buyer persona and so on.”ĭave added that changing a company’s go-to-market motion is really tough. “Self-service-or, more broadly, your go-to-market motion-isn’t just a tactic. “As much as I love the self-service model, it’s important to recognize it’s not necessarily the right model for every product at every stage,” Dave explained. To help us kick off season 9 of the BUILD podcast, Dave called in to discuss all things growth-including the self-service model, a hot topic right now with so many big companies adding it for the first time.
And as President and COO, Dave has been instrumental in leading the company to over $100 million in ARR and a $1 billion valuation. With over 600 employees, Lucidchart is a household name in productivity software, enabling over 20 million users to think, work and communicate visually. Lucidchart had 20,000 users, four employees, and $0 ARR.
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In 2010, Dave Grow joined Lucidchart in a cold Salt Lake City basement-an upgrade from the company’s original office, the living room of co-founder Ben Dilts’ student apartment.