Starting and Scaling a Product-Led Company

The entrepreneurial journey of today’s brilliant guest has been an interesting one—from product manager to founder and chief strategist of ProductPlan. ProductPlan is a roadmap software used by thousands of product teams at the world’s leading companies to power their product roadmaps. In this episode, Jim Semick shared what the journey of starting and scaling a product-led company has been like. He also covered other engrossing topics like product-market fit, the role of pricing, and how product management has changed over the years. Show Notes [00:33] Why he founded ProductPlan [02:47] What his WHY was for starting the company [05:18] How has product management changed over the years [08:41] His market validation process [13:00] His definition of product-market fit [18:56] What the transition to self-service has been like  [21:18] The biggest challenge they have encountered [24:20] One thing he’ll do differently knowing what he knows now [27:07] The role of pricing in a product-led business [28:56] When they decided to have someone in sales [32:02] How they went about hiring their first sales person [34:31] How they are different compared to the traditional sales-led companies [36:50] How their compensation model has changed [38:29] Where people can go to learn more about him and ProductPlan About Jim Semick Jim Semick is a mentor, speaker, and entrepreneur. He has also written books on Product Roadmaps, Product Leadership, and Product-Market Fit. Jim is also the co-founder and chief strategist of ProductPlan, the world’s leading roadmap software. ProductPlan makes roadmapping collaborative, transparent, and easy. Today, leading companies like PBS, Nike, Intuit, and Alaska Airlines has been relying on ProductPlan to guide their product decisions daily.  Links GoToMyPCGoToMeetingGoToWebinarAppFolioHubSpot Profile Jim Semick on LinkedInProductPlanProductPlan BlogProductPlan ResourcesProductPlan on FacebookProductPlan on TwitterProductPlan on YouTube