Productboard’s Path to PMF

Behind the $1.75-billion B2B SaaS.  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Failory's logo]( Hey — It's Nico. Here's what I got today: - 🔥 10+ weekly picks. - 💰 ​Productboard’s path to PMF​ - 📈 Hackathons as a GTM strategy [.]( ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ 🔥 This Week’s Picks Ping.gg’s founder discusses burnout and shares his “No Zero Days” approach to staying productive ([Link](=)). Forbes and TrueBridge Capital Partners list 25 startups likely to become unicorns ([Link]()). An interview with Tim Schumacher, from saas.group, on how he buys and grows SaaS companies ([Link](=)). AI startup founder is charged with defrauding investors and manipulating financial documents ([Link](). Gustaf Alströmer, a group partner at Y Combinator, believes design doesn’t make a pitch deck better ([Link]()). Techcrunch discusses startups and trends from signups in their Startup Battlefield competition ([Link]()). Calvin Chenn, a Y Combinator founder, shares his experience pivoting and finding a new idea ([Link]()). Richard Socher shares his views about AI and his journey building an AI-powered Google competitor ([Link](=)). The stories behind how Tinder, LinkedIn, and Reddit solved their cold start problems ([Link](=)). A teardown of XO’s recent acquisition of Growthbar, an AI writing SaaS ([Link]()). ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ 💰 [Productboard’s Path to PMF](=)​ [Productboard's path to PMF] ​ In 2011, Hubert Palan was VP of Product of a company that suffered from the shiny object syndrome: they couldn’t stay focused long enough to build something great. Tools like Jira or GitHub weren’t helping the company to have a clearer alignment and understand their customers and their pain points. These tools were too focused on engineers. That’s when Palan came up with the idea for Productboard. He’d build a project management tool but with what product managers needed: features for customer feedback and pain points. A decade later, Productboard has become a $1.75B unicorn startup with more than 6,000 customers and 500 employees. ​[In an article recently published in First Round Review](=), Palan shares Productboard’s path to PMF. Here are the main events from the 3 main stages of this journey: 1) Validating the idea: - From April 2013 to April 2014, Palan and his co-founder conducted +1,000 customer interviews testing 13 different prototypes. - The first prototype consisted of a 250-page Keynote deck, which they used to do interactive slide walkthroughs. - Features were first built on Keynote. If people responded positively, they added them to the app. - Eventually, they came up with a winning prototype: a platform that tied customers’ problems with specific features and allowed product managers to prioritize them. 2) Defining customer segments: - With the winning prototype, they focused on defining who they were building for. - To do this, they set out to identify the differences between the people they interviewed who had enthusiastic feedback about the prototype and those who did not. - Eventually, they came up with an ultra-specific target profile: early-stage startups with one product team building a single B2B product. 3) Beta testing: - They put up a landing page where visitors could sign up for early access. - In April 2015, 50 users got access to the beta for free in exchange for feedback. - By July 2016, they had raised $1.7M, reached 100 paying customers, and grown to $200k in ARR. - That summer, they got into TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield and shortly after saw a 5,000% increase in trial signups and thousands of dollars in new MRR. They had PMF. If you've read up to here, can you help me with a [click here](=)? It's my way of knowing if people find this kind of content useful. ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ 📈 [A GTM Hack: Hackatons](​ [CommandBar's landing page] ​ When CommandBar was just a one-month-old company, someone working at a Unicorn SaaS company emailed them saying he wanted to try their product during an internal hackathon. Internal hackathons are events that last 1-5 days where teams of members from different areas of a company are formed and given the goal of solving some problem or building a new project or feature. The team at the Unicorn implemented CommandBar during the hackathon - and they won! But unfortunately for CommandBar, the Unicorn didn’t end up buying their tool. However, this showed CommandBar what would later become [one of their GTM channels: hackathons](. How it works? You help a team competing in an internal hackathon implement your B2B tool to solve some problem or add some feature. ​ Why Hackathons Work - Urgency: Hackathons are time-bound, which means the company can’t postpone testing your tool. - Diverse teams: Hackathons form teams from different areas. This is ideal if your product requires usage from different areas within a company in order to provide value. - Happy prospects: During a hackathon, you can build the specific features required by the company’s team. This generates a close relationship with your potential customer. ​ How to Use This - Run an email outbound campaign: Oriented to making companies aware that they can try out your tool for their next hackathon. - Create a Slack channel: It’s critical to squash bugs/misunderstandings and guide the team’s implementation towards high-value stuff. - Shape the buying journey: Ideally, schedule a meeting with an exec of the company the week before the hackathon begins so that the company doesn’t forget about your product later on. - Push the most valuable use cases: Focus on implementing features of your product that are going to create the most value for users after the hackathon, not just the flashy/sexy features. - Craft the presentation around value: Help the team craft a presentation that showcases ways in which your tool can move metrics like user conversion, user retention or ticket deflection. ​ --------------------------------------------------------------- ​ How did I do it today? - ​[🔥 Great](=)​ - ​[😒 Meh](=)​ - ​[👎 Not interesting](=)​ That's all of this week. Cheers, Nico 1309 Coffeen Avenue, Ste 1200, Sheridan, Wyoming 82801 Not getting what you need? [Unsubscribe](