A lot of founders are forcing the wrong growth model
Something I’ve been noticing lately:
A lot of founders argue about PLG vs SLG like one is universally better than the other.
But honestly, most startups fail because they pick the wrong one for their stage and product.
Technical founders usually lean heavily toward PLG because they don’t want to deal with sales.
Non-technical founders often do the opposite and start hiring sales too early before the product is even easy to adopt.
Both end up wasting months.
I think the better question is:
how does your product naturally get adopted?
If someone can sign up alone, experience value quickly, and start using it without talking to anyone, PLG makes sense.
If the product requires:
approvals
onboarding calls
multiple stakeholders
procurement/security discussions
…then sales probably matters much earlier.
Feels like a lot of startups are trying to force a growth model instead of paying attention to how users actually buy.
I recently read a deeper breakdown on foundersbar.com around PLG vs SLG and it genuinely made me rethink how many startups are optimizing the wrong GTM motion early on.
Leaving the article below because I think more founders should probably think about this stuff earlier:
https://foundersbar.com/articles-and-research/product-led-growth-vs-sales-led-growth
I’ve seen a bunch of teams pick a growth model based on vibes instead of how their product actually lands with users, and it usually bites them later. The quickest gut check I use is watching how fast someone gets value without me explaining anything. If they stall or start pulling in their boss or security folks, I know we’re in sales land. Saves a lot of wheel spinning.
This is a really good point alot of founders focus on trends instead of how customers actually buy and use the products