From $0 to billions: 4 proven GTM paths

Your growth model matters more than your product

September 02, 2025

Hey Warblers,

Stewart Butterfield had a problem most founders dream of.

Slack was growing so fast, he couldn't hire fast enough. 8,000 new companies signed up on the first day. Zero salespeople. The press called it "the fastest-growing business app in history."

But in 2016, something strange happened. Microsoft Teams launched with a radically different approach: pure enterprise sales. No free tier. No self-serve. Just old-school sales teams calling IT departments.

The tech world laughed. "Microsoft doesn't get it," they said. "Product led growth (PLG) is the future. Sales-led is dead."

Today, Teams has 300 million users. Slack was acquired for $27.7 billion.

The lesson? There's no "right" GTM strategy. Only the right strategy for your market, product, and moment.

The Three Kingdoms of GTM

Every B2B SaaS company lives in one of three kingdoms. Each has its own rules, economics, and success stories.

Kingdom 1: Product-Led Growth (PLG)

The Model: Product sells itself. Users discover, try, and buy without talking to humans.

The Economics:

  • CAC: Low ($100-500)

  • Sales cycle: Days to weeks

  • ACV: Lower ($1K-10K)

  • Margins: High due to automation

Success Stories:

Dropbox: Grew from 100K to 4M users in 15 months through pure PLG. Their referral program gave free storage for invites. No sales team until $100M revenue.

Slack: Discovered teams sending 2,000+ messages had 93% retention. Optimized everything around that milestone. Result: $0 to $100M ARR in under 3 years.

When PLG Works:

  • Simple product, quick value

  • Viral/network effects built in

  • Bottom-up adoption pattern

  • Low prices bypass procurement

Kingdom 2: Sales-Led Growth (SLG)

The Model: Human relationships drive revenue. Sales teams identify, educate, and close deals.

The Economics:

  • CAC: High ($15K-50K+)

  • Sales cycle: 3-12+ months

  • ACV: Higher ($50K-500K+)

  • Margins: Lower due to sales costs

Success Stories:

Salesforce: Marc Benioff didn't disrupt with a better product—he disrupted with a better sales model. "No Software" was a sales strategy. They've maintained 20%+ growth for 20+ years through sales excellence.

Workday: Enterprise-first from day one. No free trials. Just enterprise sales targeting Fortune 500 CFOs. Average deal size: $1M+. Net retention: 100%+.

When SLG Works:

  • Complex products requiring change management

  • High ACVs justify sales costs

  • Top-down buying processes

  • Mission-critical systems

Kingdom 3: Hybrid/Product-Led Sales

The Model: PLG for initial adoption, sales for expansion and enterprise.

The Economics:

  • CAC: Medium (blended)

  • Sales cycle: Varies by segment

  • ACV: Full spectrum ($1K to $1M+)

  • Margins: Optimized by channel

Success Stories:

Atlassian: Built $50B+ business with "no salespeople"—until they did. Pure PLG for a decade, then added enterprise sales for expansion only. Result: 40,000+ customers, $3B+ revenue.

GitHub: Developers loved PLG motion. Enterprises needed more. Added sales carefully—only engaging at certain thresholds. Microsoft's $7.5B acquisition validated the model.

When Hybrid Works:

  • Product simple enough for self-serve

  • But complex enough for enterprise value

  • Natural expansion path exists

  • Multiple buyer personas

The Secret Kingdom: Forward-Deployed Engineering (FDE)

The Model: Engineers are the sales team. They embed with customers, build solutions, handle contracts.

The Economics:

  • CAC: Extreme ($100K-$1M)

  • Sales cycle: Months to years

  • ACV: Massive ($5M-$50M+)

  • Margins: Low but strategic value high

The Palantir Story: When Palantir pursued a customer, they sent their best engineers with laptops. These "Forward Deployed Engineers" would literally move in with the client—CIA analysts in Langley, traders at JP Morgan, operators at BP oil rigs.

The process:

  1. Embed (Months 1-3): Work alongside users

  2. Build (Months 3-6): Custom solutions in real-time

  3. Prove (Months 6-9): Demonstrate massive ROI

  4. Expand (Years 1+): Become indispensable

The numbers:

  • Average initial deal: $5-10M

  • Customer lifetime value: $100M+

  • Net dollar retention: 150%+

  • Customer count: ~300 (governments and Fortune 100s)

When FDE Works:

  • Mission-critical problems, no existing solutions

  • Massive budgets, complex needs

  • Deep customization required

  • Winner-takes-all markets

The Hidden Truth About Each Model

PLG's Dark Side:

  • Winner-take-all dynamics create category monopolies—there's rarely room for more than one or two Slacks in any market.

  • Race to bottom pricing is inevitable when competitors go free, forcing you to match while somehow maintaining viable unit economics.

  • Support costs spiral when millions of free users flood your help channels but contribute zero revenue to offset expenses.

  • Enterprise features become afterthoughts since the entire org is optimized for individual users, not IT departments with compliance needs.

SLG's Hidden Costs:

  • Sales turnover at 34% annually means you're constantly recruiting and training while losing relationships and institutional knowledge.

  • New reps take 6-12 months to ramp, meaning you pay full salaries for half a year before seeing meaningful revenue contribution.

  • Only 67% of reps hit quota, so a third of your expensive sales force actively destroys unit economics while you debate their future.

  • Commission structures create misalignment where reps overpromise features or give unsustainable discounts to hit quarterly numbers.

Hybrid's Complexity:

  • Channel conflict erupts when self-serve users grow into enterprise accounts and both teams claim credit for the expansion revenue.

  • Metrics become muddy when you can't attribute revenue—was it the product experience, perfect sales timing, or last month's webinar?

  • Cultural clash creates two companies in one: product optimizes for user delight while sales pushes enterprise features, paralyzing roadmaps.

  • Sophisticated data infrastructure for proper multi-touch attribution costs millions and takes years to build correctly.

FDE's Extreme Requirements:

  • Engineers who can sell cost 3-5x traditional salespeople and you're competing with FAANG for the same scarce talent.

  • Deal cycles stretch 2+ years while you burn $500K+ per opportunity with no guarantee of closure and quarterly boards demanding progress.

  • CEO-level patience is mandatory because traditional sales metrics are meaningless when your team builds for months before discussing commercials.

  • Only transformational products justify the customer's time, switching costs, and premium pricing required to make the economics work.

The Practical Playbook

If You're Starting PLG

Week 1: Obsess over activation metrics Find your "2,000 message moment." Track: setup → first value → habit formation. Dropbox: users with files on 2 devices had 10x retention. Zoom: 3+ person meetings predicted paid conversion. Instrument everything, find the behavior predicting paying customers.

Month 1: Build viral loops Three types work: collaboration (Figma), incentivized (Dropbox's storage), visible usage (Calendly links). Measure K-factor—the number of new users each existing user generates; you need >0.5 (each user brings half a new user) to grow without paid marketing. Build sharing into core workflow, not as afterthought.

Month 6: Watch for enterprise signals Track: multiple users from same domain, SSO requests, security questionnaires, teams hitting limits. Build alerts for 5+ users from same company. Route enterprise inquiries to humans within 2 hours. Start SOC 2 now.

Year 1: Consider sales for expansion Hire Customer Success first, not sales. Target existing accounts with 20+ users. Create PQLs (Product Qualified Leads) based on usage thresholds - behaviors that predict readiness to pay more, like hitting plan limits 3+ times, using advanced features, or adding team members rapidly. Use 70/30 base/variable comp. Focus expansion, not new logos.

If You're Starting SLG

Week 1: Define your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) precisely Map "day in the life" of your buyer. Include: pain frequency (daily vs. quarterly), budget owner, urgency trigger, current solution cost. Interview 10 prospects, score A/B/C by deal velocity—how fast they'll move from first call to signed contract (A = <30 days, B = 30-90 days, C = 90+ days).

Month 1: Build sales collateral You need 4 things: (1) One-pager passing "CEO elevator test", (2) ROI calculator showing 10x return—an interactive tool where prospects input their metrics (team size, current costs, time spent) and see dollar savings/gains that dwarf your price, (3) 15-minute demo with 3 "wow" moments, (4) Case study template. Skip 50-slide decks.

Month 6: Optimize sales process Measure conversion: Lead→Meeting (10%), Meeting→Opportunity (30%), Opportunity→Close (33%). Fix biggest bottleneck first. Warm intros beat cold outreach 3:1. Use "triple touch": email + LinkedIn + unexpected channel.

Year 1: Consider PLG for acquisition Only if CAC >$15K or cycles >6 months. Add trial with human touchpoints. Trial if value visible <1 hour, freemium if needs time/data. Keep sales for expansion.

If You're Starting Hybrid

Week 1: Define segment boundaries Pick ONE segmentation: company size OR deal size. Example: <10 employees = self-serve, 10-100 = inside sales, 100+ = field sales. No cherry-picking. Build routing rules day 1.

Month 1: Build attribution system Multi-touch: First touch (20%), Product activation (30%), Sales engagement (30%), Close (20%). Need unified customer IDs. Define "influence" vs. "coincidence." Track product usage in CRM.

Month 6: Resolve channel conflicts Three conflicts: territory, compensation, resources. Solutions: First-touch wins territory. Separate comp plans. Allocate resources by revenue/engineering hour. Weekly "channel sync" meetings. CEO breaks ties publicly.

Year 1: Optimize by segment Self-serve: <$500 CAC, <7 day conversion. Inside sales: <$5K CAC, <30 day cycles. Enterprise: >$100K ACVs, <120 day cycles. Different segments need different products.

If You're Considering FDE

Week 1: Validate $1M+ problem exists Three questions: "What's this costing today?" (>$500K). "What if unsolved?" (threatens core business). "Who else cares?" (C-suite). If they've failed 2+ times before, that's validation.

Month 1: Recruit technical sellers Need unicorns: engineers who present to CEOs. Look for ex-consultants with CS degrees, senior sales engineers, failed startup founders. Pay $200-300K base plus deals. Interview: explain complex diagram to "CEO" in 5 minutes.

Month 6: Land lighthouse customer Criteria: brand name, hardest problem version, patient for v1. Process: embed on-site 4 days/week. Build trust through small wins. Show 10x improvement on ONE workflow before expanding.

Year 1: Prove ROI or pivot Success = 1-3 customers at $5M+ with 150%+ retention. Failure = struggling for 10x ROI or 12+ month cycles. If failing: simplify for standard sales or pivot entirely.

The Future: Post-PLG Era

We're entering the post-PLG era. Winners will run "full-stack GTM":

  • AI-powered sales with usage insights

  • Intelligent PLG adapting to behavior

  • Community-led growth

  • Ecosystem distribution

  • FDE-lite: technical account managers who code

Companies pioneering this: Snowflake (sales-led adding usage-based), Databricks (developer-friendly but enterprise-sold), Stripe (PLG for developers, white-glove for enterprise).

The Meta-Learning

Stewart Butterfield was right about PLG. Microsoft was right about enterprise sales. Palantir was right about forward deployment. They understood their markets, not because one model is superior.

Your GTM strategy should fit like a custom suit, not hang like a borrowed coat.

The winners don't ask "Which kingdom?" They ask "What does our customer need to be successful?"

Then they build exactly that.

Even if it means sending your best engineers to live in Langley for six months.

What Caught My Eye This Week

Must-Watch: Analysis of Jiro Dreams of Sushi - how the world's greatest sushi chef exemplifies the path to mastery. Core insights: "Ultimate simplicity leads to purity," why competence is your only safe harbor, and how years of daily iteration creates excellence. Jiro's approach to craft transcends any industry. Watch on YouTube.

Reading: "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz - His chapter on when to break the rules (like Palantir's FDE model) is essential. Get it here.

Quote: "The best products don't always win. The products with the best distribution do." - Reid Hoffman

Your kingdom awaits. Choose wisely. Then transcend it.

~ Warbler