Taking control of your growth journey 🚢
Facing imposter Syndrome? Is AI rivalling human capabilities?
From inspiring interviews to practical guides, in this edition, we uncover the wisdom of growth aficionados like Elena Verna and Julie Zhuo, dissect strategy frameworks from Bandan Jot Singh, and unwrap the art of structuring growth teams with Ben Williams. Oh and of course, we have a bonus for you - hang in there to learn B2B event marketing with a difference ⚡️
Welcome to the sixteenth edition of This Week in PLG!
1) Elena Verna (Growth Leader) on her Journey from Senior VP to Solopreneur with Peter Yang
Those who know of Elena, they’re well-versed in her obsession with Porduct-led-growth. But her interview with Peter Yang is a special one, it’s a little different than the usual growth wisdom. Elena opens up about how she overcame imposter syndrome and transitioned from a Senior Vice President to a solopreneur. She goes deep with how one can leverage their imposter syndrome as a superpower, insights on discovering exponential growth paths in your career and the benefits of pursuing advisory roles over full-time positions 👀
A must-watch if you want to differentiate yourself in the market 🚀
2) Julie Zhuo on Authentic Leadership with Leah Tharin
Leah kicks off Season 4 of The ProducTea with a captivating discussion featuring Julie Zhuo, Co-Founder of Sundial and former VP of Design at Facebook. The covers a wide range of topics, starting off with Julie prompting a thoughtful exploration of when to trust your gut feelings versus hard facts while hiring, to why you don’t need to embrace bad stereotypes from the past when becoming a leader. She also highlights the importance of clear communication and honesty in building strong relationships.
Watch to find out how taking risks and embracing vulnerability can lead to growth and learning ✨
3) This is the only Strategy Framework you need - Bandan Jot Singh
In this refreshingly candid piece from Productify, Bandan shares his bold take on the ultimate strategy framework you'll ever need (and we might just agree 🤔). With a tongue-in-cheek tone, he cuts through the clutter of overly complex strategies and presents a straightforward approach that's as practical as it is effective. Forget about drowning in a sea of buzzwords and convoluted diagrams—this framework is all about simplicity and getting straight to the point.
It’s time to keep it simple and get stuff done with this 10-Question Strategy framework 📝
4) Guide to setting your growth org up for success - Ben Williams
In this PLGeek edition, Ben dives headfirst into the art of structuring growth teams for success using insights from Snyk as an example. Forget the dry, technical jargon—you won't find any of that here. Instead, he offers a straightforward 4-step breakdown on how to build a growth org for conducive growth results.
Know your growth context: Understand your business priorities, current growth methods, constraints, and opportunities.
Design the org: Create a macro and micro design for your growth team structure.
Create the environment: Build an environment with essential prerequisites like ownership, strategy, process, analytics, tooling, and skills.
Iterate: Continuously evolve your growth organization to adapt to changing business priorities and market dynamics.
5) The AI SDR era? - Kyle Poyar
Kyle does it again with his usual detailed teardown through the journey of other startups. In this edition Kyle explores the rise of AI-driven Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) through the journey of 11x.ai, which achieved remarkable success, growing from zero to $2 million ARR in just six months. Despite initial skepticism, advancements in data, automation, and AI have enabled technology to rival human capabilities. Which has led to more efficient outbound prospecting without the need for traditional BDRs or SDRs. Founder Hasan Sukkar's vision for 11x.ai stemmed from a belief in the potential of digital workers, which pushed him to build their virtual SDR, Alice. By targeting prospects with intent and personalizing outreach, 11x.ai has seen impressive results, generating 70-80 qualified meetings per week 🤯
Bonus: B2B Growth, IRL: How to do event marketing that actually makes a difference
6 practical tips for making conferences your new favourite growth channel
Choose the right events: Follow your ICP and prioritize speaking and attendee access
Bring the right team to make the most of trade show booths:
Leverage side-events & partner events to amplify (or replace) your presence at the main event
Use guerrilla marketing to get attention
Prioritize speaking opportunities whenever possible
and, always negotiate your rates!
About This Week in PLG
Hey folks, Brijesh Bharadwaj here 👋 I am the co-founder of Segwise.ai, an AI-powered observability platform for Product Growth teams that tells you what is influencing your metrics every day! I started this newsletter to try and help out the product community in any way I could and connect with interesting folks out there. I understand how overwhelming the overflow of information out there can feel and think this initiative could help PMs, especially those in the early to mid stages of their careers. Hope to connect, learn, and grow through this newsletter and form a community of our own.
Our sources:
Lenny Rachitsky - Lenny's Newsletter
Elena Verna - Elena's Growth Scoop
Shreyas Doshi
Aakash Gupta - Product Growth
Leah Tharin - Leah’s ProducTea
Kyle Poyar - Growth Unhinged
Bandan Jot Singh - Productify
Adam Fishman - Fishmanaf
Reforge
Brian Balfour
Wes Bush - ProductLed
Peter Yang - Creator Economy by Peter Yang
Casey Winters
Ben Williams - The Product Led Geek
First Round Review
Stratechery
SVPG
Pawel Huryn - The Product Compass with Paweł
If you would like us to cover any other authors/newsletters moving forward, please write to us through mail at brijesh.b@segwise.ai or even tag @segwise_ai or @bbharadwaj with your suggestions on X.