PM Growth Strategies: Product-led Growth Workshop

Free career roadmap template

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In this event, we discussed the importance of having a career roadmap to stay consistent in your career goals.

We made a free template for you to help.

Please make a copy of it to edit: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VvvdbCIWq17wvso70uKOIL-S5auwJlt_lRbSXelCLUE/edit?usp=sharing

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About This Event

Join us for a hands-on workshop led by experienced Product Manager, Alex, who will take us through the ins and outs of growth strategies, with a special focus on Product-Led Growth (PLG).

In this interactive session, Alex will share insights on different growth methods, including PLG, and walk us through real-life case studies. You'll also learn how to put these growth strategies into action in your own projects.

Here's what the workshop will cover:

• An easy-to-understand introduction to growth strategies.
• A deep dive into Product-Led Growth.
• A comparison of various growth methods.
• Case studies showing these strategies in action.
• Tips on how to implement PLG in your work.

The workshop will wrap up with a Q&A where you can ask Alex any questions you have about growth strategies.

Come join us to boost your product management skills and learn about the benefits of a product-led approach to growth.

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The Panelist:

Alexander Akinyeye - Product Manager at Rocketdrop

Alex is a Product Manager and UX designer with over 8 years of experience working across diverse sectors in tech (Education, Health, Retail, Finance). He helps companies build products from ideation to development and product strategy.

Over the years, Alex has worked on diverse projects overseeing product development from ideation to launch.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderakinyeye/

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Event notes

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About Alex

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Software engineer → product designer → PM → VC

• You don’t need to learn all this to be a PM, but it helps
• No disadvantage to learning
• But not a requirement

Retail, e-commerce, health, finance, sport

Can pivot into from any career

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Product-led growth

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Help product grow (revenue, market share)

If your whole concern is product development - you still need to have knowledge to grow it

• Might not have a product if it doesn’t grow

Product sells itself

Experience of product goes beyond sales pitch

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3 types of growth

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1. Sales-led

• Pay upfront to access

2. Marketing-led

• Marketing the product
• Advertising, media

3. Product-led

• Sells itself

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Examples of product-led growth

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Slack, Notion, Netflix, Dropbox

• Still does marketing
• Product-led growth is 1 lever
• Marketing isn’t main driving force, only thing relying

Dropbox

• Get more storage when you invite people

Slack

• First few messages free, but rest is paid
• More features paid
• Kinda like free/limited trial

Hotmail placed footnote at the baseline of every email encouraging the recipient of you to create an account

It’s more than just free trials

• Consider UX - onboarding
• If you don’t get value from free trial, less likely to pay

We wanted to do Product-Led Growth for EntryLevel’s portfolios! Because when people see portfolios our students make, they ask “how did you make this” and people can say they learned from us

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If offering freemium plan

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What’s in free vs paid

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

From our Growth course: https://www.entrylevel.net/courses/growth

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Learning path

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I’d suggest this learning path: PM 1 -> PM 2 -> Growth Marketing -> UX design 1 (you don’t need UX 2 because it’s more about visual design/UI design)

A student suggested learning UX before PM ... because you'll transition into PM with more user perspective and an open mind.

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Is this example product-led growth?

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Free beer samples at a party

• Is there anything that’d nudge them to buy a beer later?
• If no - then no, it’s guerilla marketing
• If free trial → maybe
• Return bottle for more (coupon)
• Bring friend (buy one get one kinda)
• Kinda multi-level marketing vibes 💀

I think one company sent you a free product (cost them $2) but then you’d be more compelled to buy from them (principle of reciprocity) and average order was ~$30. So it made sense mathematically

• Open booth - people test product
• Can use AR/VR
• Don’t have to send out product

You have to drive stickiness

• If its a market fit it could work. if its what the market love it go look for it. Market-fit underscore all kind of growth strategy

Student insight:

💡 Cool...from this webinar, PLG seems to be more about the process / experience but using the product as the main marketing tool

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How to stand out?

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Offer value

Not just copying strategy

Growing the product and being creative about growth strategies = value. Because every company wants to grow

Systems thinking - not just think of getting the job, but long-term

Product roadmap for your career

PRODUCT MANAGE YOUR CAREER!!!

Example of someone who landed 3 roles in 6 months: https://www.entrylevel.net/events/how-to-get-pm-experience

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But how to figure out a career roadmap?

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Think of your career vision and work backwards from there

Having a roadmap makes every next step clear so it’s easier to stay consistent

Use a framework

• Set up a table - write down roles like product marketing
• Plot interest, demand, etc.
• What do I need to know in 3 months, 3 years, etc. to be in this career
• Have a lineup of skills, certifications
• Factor in different forces beyond your control (like AI)

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Data to grow the product?

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Look at data yourself

Doesn’t have to be fancy, can be just looking at Mixpanel, Analytics

Can use data from user interviews

• Net Promoter Score
• Customer Satisfaction Score

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Resources shared

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Book: Hacking Growth

Career roadmap template on Google Sheets: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VvvdbCIWq17wvso70uKOIL-S5auwJlt_lRbSXelCLUE/edit?usp=sharing

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EntryLevel resources

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Our website: https://www.entrylevel.net/

Our Product Management course: https://www.entrylevel.net/courses/product

Our Growth course: https://www.entrylevel.net/courses/growth

Weekly career tips newsletter: https://blog.entrylevel.net/

Check out this amazing resource (psychology of products): https://growth.design/case-studies

FAQs: https://intercom.help/entrylevel/en/

Contact: support@entrylevel.net, jennifer@entrylevel.net

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About us

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EntryLevel helps you learn and get experience so you can get hired. Our 6-week programs are taught by world-class mentors, so you can learn and build a portfolio of work.

You'll learn with a cohort of driven peers, and each lesson is unlocked after a set time so you stay accountable and finish the program.

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