BUILD with Blake Bartlett

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The People Side of PLG with Expensify's Jason Mills Mar 20, 2019

Show notes

Expensify kicked off 2019 with a Super Bowl-sized bang, but it's a well-known fact that for most of their history, they haven't engaged in outbound marketing or advertising. Oh yeah, and they don't have a sales team. So what's the secret to their success? PLG. Jason Mills, the Director of Product and Customers, describes how they focus on their customers and the product to have maximum impact. He also describes how they are proactive about virality, their motivation to remove confusion from the product and how automation is augmented with a human. You'll also find out what else to expect from the Expensify team in 2019.

Wistia’s CEO on the Role of Sales in a PLG Company Mar 13, 2019

Show notes

PLG companies don't necessarily rely on a large sales and marketing team to grow. Wistia’s Co-founder & CEO, Chris Savage, explains their decision to create a self-service funnel and when their sales team gets involved in the buying process. Chris also explains how the sales team came to be and how they adopted Wistia’s values during the customer’s buying process. Also make sure you check out their One, Ten, One Hundred video series by going to wi.st/series.

Malwarebytes’ Elena Verna on Growth Hacking in the PLG Era Mar 06, 2019

Show notes

You've seen the growing trend of Growth teams and Growth leaders, but what does that actually mean? Elena Verna, the SVP of Product & Growth at Malwarebytes and formerly the SVP of Growth at SurveyMonkey, wrote the book on growth. This episode is all about the importance of a solid analytics platform, the metrics freemium businesses should focus on, how to make your customers drive acquisition and how the Growth team fits in with the rest of the business. Learn from her biggest wins.

How SendGrid Prioritizes Core Product Improvements Feb 27, 2019

Show notes

Scott Williamson, VP of Product at SendGrid (recently acquired by Twilio), is no stranger to utilizing a product to drive growth. He explains the nature of product led growth at SendGrid and how it calls for ruthless prioritization in the core product and a focus around making changes that positively impact the most people. He also discusses the importance of listening to your customers, prioritization of your roadmap, launching a new product within an existing company and much more.

Insights from Trello: How to Keep Your Product Simple While Driving Value Feb 20, 2019

Show notes

Justin Gallagher, Head of Product Management at Trello, is no stranger to building a simple, yet extremely valuable, product for users. On this episode of BUILD, he explains how Trello came to be, the importance of demonstrating value in your product from the very beginning to drive virality, the concepts that are most important to get right in a self-serve model and much more.

How Calendly Built Virality Into Their Product to Achieve Rapid Growth Feb 13, 2019

Show notes

Welcome to Season 5 of the BUILD podcast! Today's episode is all about virality. In this episode, we'll hear from Oji Udezue, VP of Product & Design at Calendly. Oji previously worked at Atlassian where he was the product owner for Atlassian's communication products like HipChat.
Oji discusses the story behind Calendly and how they built virality, network effects, and viral loops into their product. He also explains how to add virality to a product that isn't inherently viral, how to prioritize building out the core product vs. product enhancements, who should own the growth function in a product led growth business and more.

Lessonly's CEO on Doing Better Work Feb 06, 2019

Show notes

We're taking a break in between seasons to chat with Lessonly's CEO, Max Yoder. Max discusses the background behind his new book, Do Better Work, and how the principles laid out in the book are integrated throughout the Lessonly organization. Learn more and preorder your copy by going to www.dobetter.work.

Jim Baum (OpenView): Advice from Both Sides of the Board Table Jan 30, 2019

Show notes

Jim Baum is currently a Venture Partner at OpenView and serves on multiple boards including Logz.io, Applitools, project44 and DataStax. Jim previously served as President and CEO of Netezza where he drove the nearly $2B acquisition of Netezza by IBM in 2010. Jim also led Endeca’s early rise from tiny startup to the leading provider of innovative information access and delivery software solutions. Prior to Endeca and Netezza, he served at PTC as an Executive Vice President and General Manager.
On this episode, Jim discusses his experience as a venture partner and the difference between joining a board as an investor vs. an independent board member, why sitting on a board is a great opportunity for executives and advice for expansion stage CEOs looking for the right board members.

LogMeIn's CEO on The Importance of Creating a Board with Diverse Experiences Jan 23, 2019

Show notes

Bill Wagner started his tenure at LogMeIn in 2013 as their first-ever Chief Operating Officer. In 2015 he was promoted to President & CEO and joined the board shortly after where he's played a key role in their rapid growth. Prior to LogMeIn, he was COO at Vocus, a cloud-marketing software company, and held multiple executive and operator roles prior to that. Bill discusses the largest drivers of growth when he joined LogMeIn, the philosophy behind their freemium model and his role on the board when he first started his tenure. Bill also explains how to get the most leverage out of the board, the importance of a diverse board that brings different experiences to the table, and how to search for key external board members.

John True: How to Make The Biggest Impact as a Board Member Jan 16, 2019

Show notes

John True has had an impressive professional run, both as an operator and as a board member. He is currently a GP at Cultivation Capital and has previously held executive roles at Guidewire Software, Fortify Software and EqualLogic. John takes us through his remarkable career, including his experience joining his first board and what he's learned from his (currently) 7 board seats. He also discusses the importance of devoting time to building relationships so you're top of mind when opportunities come about and how to make the biggest impact once you get a seat at the table.

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