# GTM product led growth Human Guide

## What This Is For
Build self-serve acquisition and expansion motions. It gives the agent a clearer input/output frame for growth marketing: what context to ask for, what decisions to make, and what usable artifact to return.

Use this as a human-readable version of the GTM product led growth agent skill. It is meant for marketers, operators, founders, and other non-coders who want the workflow without reading agent-specific implementation instructions.

## When To Use This
- Use this when you need a repeatable process for GTM product led growth.
- Use this when the task needs judgment, examples, constraints, or a clear output format rather than a one-off prompt.
- Use this when you want to hand an AI assistant enough context to produce a usable marketing artifact.

## When Not To Use This
- Do not use this when you only need a quick factual answer.
- Do not use this when the work depends on private data you cannot share with the assistant.
- Do not use this as a replacement for legal, compliance, financial, or medical review.

## What You Need Before Starting
- The goal or business outcome you want.
- The audience, customer segment, or market context.
- Any source material the assistant should respect, such as notes, briefs, examples, URLs, or brand guidance.
- Constraints such as tone, length, channel, deadline, region, or approval requirements.
- A clear definition of what a good final answer should look like.

## Step-By-Step Workflow
1. State the job clearly: "Use the GTM product led growth guide to help me with..."
2. Add context: audience, goal, offer, channel, source material, and constraints.
3. Ask the assistant to identify missing inputs before producing the final output.
4. Have the assistant follow the skill-specific guidance below.
5. Review the result against the final checklist and ask for revisions where needed.

## Skill-Specific Guidance
- "Should we build PLG or sales-led?"
- "How do we drive self-serve adoption?"
- "Freemium to paid conversion isn't working"
- "Developer-led adoption strategy"
- "Which growth channels should we invest in?"
- "How do I know if PLG will work?"
- Developer tools and platforms
- B2B SaaS with self-serve potential
- Products where value is obvious without demo
- Growth channel prioritization
- Value is obvious in first 5 minutes
- Individual user gets value without team buy-in

## Decision Points And Nuance
The original skill emphasizes: When to Use, Core Frameworks, The PLG Reality Check (Test Before You Commit), The Growth Equation (Map Inputs to Outputs), Channel Economics (Kill Losers, Double Down on Winners), Time to First Value (The Only Activation Metric), The $5K → $50K Inflection (When PLG Breaks), Growth Forecasting (Plan for Uncertainty), The Playbook Documentation Habit, Decision Trees.

Use these questions to steer the work:
- What is the intended audience or buyer?
- What source material must be preserved?
- What should the assistant optimize for: clarity, persuasion, accuracy, speed, creativity, or conversion?
- What examples represent the desired quality bar?
- What should the assistant avoid?

## Common Mistakes
- **Before building PLG, test your motion. Don't assume PLG is better because it's trendy.** PLG is efficient at volume, but sales-led can be more profitable with complexity.
- CAC ≈ (LTV × margin) → Optimize, don't scale
- Test 2 new channels monthly. Give each 4 weeks of data. Kill decisively if economics don't work. Document learnings regardless of outcome — what didn't work is as valuable as what did.
- Users decide product value in the first 5-10 minutes. If they don't reach the aha moment fast, they abandon.
- **Progressive disclosure.** Don't show all features upfront. Start with one core workflow. Reveal complexity gradually.
- **Show, don't tell.** Interactive tutorial > video > text docs. Let them click through a workflow.
- **Monthly Update:** Compare forecast to actual. Adjust model. Don't forecast-and-forget.
- ├─ No → Sales-led required

## Copy-And-Paste Prompt
```text
Use the GTM product led growth human guide.

My goal:
[Describe the business outcome]

Audience:
[Describe who this is for]

Context and source material:
[Paste notes, examples, links, or existing copy]

Constraints:
[Tone, length, channel, timeline, must-include items, must-avoid items]

Before producing the final output, ask me for any missing information that would materially improve the result.
```

## Final Checklist
- [ ] The output matches the original goal.
- [ ] The audience and context are reflected in the answer.
- [ ] Important constraints and source material were preserved.
- [ ] The assistant made the relevant decisions explicit.
- [ ] The final artifact is ready to use, review, or hand to the next person.

## Source
This guide was generated from the github/awesome-copilot skill entry for `gtm-product-led-growth`.

## Source Skill Notes
These notes preserve the nuance from the original skill. Use them as supporting reference when the workflow above feels too generic.

# Product-Led Growth

Build self-serve acquisition and expansion motions. But first, figure out if PLG is even the right motion for your product.

## When to Use

**Triggers:**
- "Should we build PLG or sales-led?"
- "How do we drive self-serve adoption?"
- "Freemium to paid conversion isn't working"
- "Developer-led adoption strategy"
- "Which growth channels should we invest in?"
- "How do I know if PLG will work?"

**Context:**
- Developer tools and platforms
- B2B SaaS with self-serve potential
- Products where value is obvious without demo
- Bottom-up adoption motions
- Growth channel prioritization

---

## Core Frameworks

### 1. The PLG Reality Check (Test Before You Commit)

**What I Learned Running Both Motions in Parallel:**

Classic startup debate. PLG camp: "Developers want self-serve." Sales camp: "Enterprises need hand-holding." Instead of arguing, we tested both for 6 months. Same product, two GTM motions, tracked everything.

**The Results:**

PLG: High volume, low ACV (~$5K), fast time-to-revenue, higher churn. Sales-led: Lower volume, high ACV (~$50K), slower time-to-revenue, lower churn. **Sales won 10x on dollars despite 10x less volume.**

**Why:** Product complexity + buyer seniority = sales-led wins. The product required integration with existing infrastructure, change management across teams, and multi-stakeholder alignment. Developers loved self-serve. But they weren't the economic buyer.

**PLG works when:**
- Value is obvious in first 5 minutes
- Implementation is trivial
- Individual user gets value without team buy-in
- No procurement/legal hurdles
- Buyer = user

**Sales-led works when:**
- Product requires integration/setup
- Multiple stakeholders need alignment
- Buyer ≠ user
- Deal size justifies human touch
- Customer needs education to see value

**Before building PLG, test your motion. Don't assume PLG is better because it's trendy.** PLG is efficient at volume, but sales-led can be more profitable with complexity.

---

### 2. The Growth Equation (Map Inputs to Outputs)

**The Pattern:**

Growth compounds when you systematize the relationship between activities and user acquisition. Not "do more marketing" — map specific inputs to measurable outputs.

**How to Build Your Growth Equation:**

For each channel, define: Activity (input) → Traffic (output) → Conversions.

- **Organic Search:** 1 quality blog post → 400 users/month → 5% conversion = 20 new users
- **Paid Ads:** $1K spend at 8% conversion on 100K impressions = 8K clicks → conversions at X%
- **Community Events:** 1 event → 60 attendees → 35% conversion = 21 users
- **Referral:** 1 integration partner → N referred users → conversions at Y%

**Why This Matters:**

Once you validate the equation, scaling becomes math. "I need 200 more users next month" → "I need 10 more blog posts" or "I need $5K more ad spend." Without the equation, you're guessing.

**Testing the Equation:**

1. Start with hypothesis: "If I create X, it drives Y conversion"
2. Test with small sample: 1 blog post, measure actual conversion
3. Validate: Does reality match hypothesis?
4. Scale with confidence: If yes, increase input