Product Led Growth Leaders

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the CTO, Sr. Manager, Lead, and Mobile Architect, Ahmed Khan. Ahmed discusses the evolving landscape of AI, particularly generative AI, and its impact on startups. He highlights the diverse perceptions of AI, the technological advancements that have enabled generative AI, and the challenges and opportunities it presents. The conversation delves into building A...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the AI Startup Advisor, Steve Ardire. Steve discusses his work with Omega Human, a startup using neuromodulation through sound frequencies for personal growth and spiritual development. He explains the challenges of identifying successful startups, the importance of clinical validation, and the potential of software as a medical device. Steve highlights Omega...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Founder and CEO of xiQ, Usman Sheikh. xiQ is an AI-powered platform for B2B sales and marketing. Usman explains how xiQ integrates AI with behavioral science and psychology to create personalized sales communications. The platform leverages data about individuals and companies to help salespeople craft tailored emails and call scripts. Usman discusses the...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the CEO, Professional Speaker, Trainer, Global Accessibility Consultant, and Digital Marketing Consultant, Meryl Evans. Meryl is a deaf influencer and educator. She discusses the significance of accessibility and inclusive marketing. Meryl, who uses a cochlear implant and captions, shares her expertise on how businesses can enhance their products and marketing...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the CEO of inLinks, Dixon Jones. Dixon discusses his professional journey, the evolution of InLinks, and the strategic use of the freemium model in SaaS. Dixon explains InLinks' entity-based SEO approach, which focuses on understanding the context of terms rather than just keywords. He discusses how InLinks helps users improve internal linking and SEO thr...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the CEO and Co-Founder of Sales Chatz, David Stein, and the CTO and Co-Founder of Sales Chatz, Kylon Gustin. David and Kylon discuss their innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital marketing for franchise brands. They explore the unique challenges of franchise marketing, emphasizing the importance of franchise development and recruitment. Sales...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the CTO at Displate, Product Coach, and Product Leader of Product Blocks, Piotr Kacala. Piotr Kacala is a seasoned web development and software engineering expert. Piotr, formerly the CTO of a European marketplace for metal posters, now advises tech companies and champion teams to apologize. Piotr centers on creating effective product engineering teams, viewin...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Co-Founder and CEO of JUICER, Ashwin Kamlani. Ashwin discusses his background in e-commerce and the challenges the restaurant industry faces in adopting technology. He explains how JUICER helps restaurants with data-driven solutions to optimize pricing and profitability. Ashwin covers the impact of COVID-19 on this sector, the complexities of digital chann...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Founder and CEO of Tilled, Caleb Avery. Caleb shares his extensive background in financial services and the journey that led to founding Tilled, a company that helps SaaS businesses monetize credit card transactions. The discussion covers the challenges vertical software companies face in payment processing and how Tilled's innovative solutions stream...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Founder and CEO of Apollo 21, Danny Nathan. Danny shares insights on fostering innovation within organizations, emphasizing the need for dedicated resources and a collaborative culture. He discusses Apollo 21's approach, which combines product design, venture building, and management consulting to help companies overcome barriers to innovation. Key th...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Sr. Director of Products at DISA Global Solutions, Sharlene Cooper. Sharlene discusses her journey into product management, emphasizing the importance of agile methodologies and building strong teams. She shares insights on transitioning to agile practices, overcoming initial resistance, and fostering a collaborative culture. Sharlene also highlights the s...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the CEO and Founder of Kalicube, Jason Barnard. Jason discusses the evolving landscape of digital marketing, and provides a wealth of insights into the importance of productizing services, understanding Google's algorithms, and the strategic approaches necessary for effective digital marketing. Jason emphasized a significant shift in Google's algorit...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the VP of Product of Dealfront, Vincent Jong. Vincent emphasized the importance of a fundamental mindset shift when moving from a sales-led approach to a product-led approach. In a sales-led company, product usage data often exists but is not integrated into the go-to-market strategy. In contrast, a product-led approach places product usage data at the core of...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Founder and CEO of Simplero, Calvin Correli. Calvin shares insights on the intersection of spirituality and entrepreneurship, emphasizing the importance of aligning business with one's life purpose. He discusses his journey from a software developer to creating an integrated platform for courses and coaching, driven by a spiritual realization. Calvin...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Director of Growth Marketing at Prefect Technologies, Sarah Bedell. Perfect Technologies is a workflow orchestration tool designed to help technical teams manage their code more efficiently. Sarah highlights the importance of open-source products in the developer tooling space, noting that open-source can significantly enhance product adoption and communit...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Executive Chairman of TrialKey, Saurabh Jain. Saurabh Jain's career trajectory is a testament to the power of diverse experiences. Starting as a software engineer, he founded a tech startup that he later sold to Telstra, Australia's equivalent of AT&T. His journey took an unexpected turn into sales, where he spent a decade before returning to...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Founder and CEO of Outforce, Sean Languedoc. Sean, an experienced entrepreneur and sales CEO, shared his deep understanding of outsourcing, the critical nature of product-market fit, and the nuances of different service providers. Outsourcing can be both beneficial and challenging for many companies. While it offers cost savings and access to specialized s...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Executive Chairperson of Winning by Design, Dave Boyce. Dave highlights the rapid evolution of the PLG landscape. Despite its significant impact on the industry, there is still a considerable gap in understanding and documentation of PLG strategies. This gap presents an opportunity for companies to gain a competitive edge by adopting and mastering PLG prin...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Distinguished VP of Gartner, David Yockelson. David defines PLG as a strategy that emphasizes the product as the primary driver of customer acquisition, expansion, and retention. However, he clarifies that PLG is not solely about self-serve models. Instead, it often involves a hybrid approach that integrates product-led tactics with traditional sales and m...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Co-Founder and CEO of CPV One, Julia Draghici. Julia's companies, CPV One and CPV Labs are ad-tracking platforms designed for performance marketers. These platforms help users track, optimize, and test their marketing campaigns, providing a comprehensive view of their marketing efforts. CPV Labs is a self-hosted solution where users need a server host...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Head of Growth of Zuora, Dana Yobst. Dana emphasizes that the growth department is a unique entity that sits at the intersection of product, marketing, and sales. This department is crucial for driving a go-to-market motion that effectively combines these three groups. Product Management focuses on understanding the market and customers to build successful...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Fractional CPO, Automation Champion in AI enablement, and Product-led Growth, Jason Dadah. Jason brings a unique perspective to the table, having served as a chief product officer at Gate List, a mortgage AI company, and as a product owner at various companies. His journey through the startup landscape and his focus on SMB growth strategy has equipped him...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Product Operation Manager of HCSS, Tiffany Murphree. Product Ops, or Product Operations, is a term that's gaining traction, yet it's defined differently across various organizations. At its core, Product Ops serves the product management department, aiming to streamline efficiency and enhance communication among teams. Tiffany emphasized the impo...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the Product Design, Usability, and DesignOps Consultant and Co-chair of Women In Product, Houston, Alison Ostendorf. Alison peeled back the layers of Product-Led Growth (PLG) and its transformative impact on the tech industry. Alison brings a fresh perspective from the design world, challenging the status quo of sales-led strategies. Alison candidly shares her...

Your host, Thomas Watkins, talks with the CEO of Foundersuite, Nathan Beckord. Venture capital is not a game of chance; it's a strategic decision-making process guided by a VC's thesis. This thesis is the bedrock of their investment choices, influenced by industry trends, personal expertise, and market predictions. Nathan shed light on the importance of aligning your startup with a VC&ap...