Product

The Product-Led Growth Market Map

August 16, 2022

Editor’s Note: This article was first published on October 4, 2018, and updated on August 16, 2022

When OpenView coined the term product-led growth (PLG) in 2016, we believed it was the future of SaaS. Now that PLG has gone from novel to normal, we look forward to the next generation of companies that will continue to push the boundaries in the new era of PLG: the Age of Connected Work

We’re excited to announce an update to our Product-Led Growth Market Map. We developed the PLG Market Map in 2018 to illustrate the breadth and dynamism of PLG. It features PLG companies across all product categories, such as developer tools, finance applications, and enterprise-grade solutions. The companies that are considered the most mature have not only built a flywheel where their product is acting as the primary driver of user acquisition, conversion, and expansion, but they’re also open products that play well in users’ existing ecosystems and are embedded in their existing tooling. These aspects of a company serve to power the underlying flywheel of growth that keeps a product-led business running well regardless of sales and marketing inputs.

We based the PLG Market Map originally on four categories:

  • Developer and product tools. These tools are designed specifically for the builders and designers of modern software.
  • Back office and operations.  Software in this category helps businesses run more efficiently.
  • Customer engagement. Tools in this section help businesses connect with their customers.
  • Productivity and collaboration. This is a broader grouping, but these are any tools that enable individuals, teams, or organizations to manage their workflow and communication needs.

More than 100 companies are featured on our PLG Market Map. This latest version has been curated to include and highlight not only standout product-led businesses but also emerging businesses that empower product-led growth operators. We chose to add this because it’s exciting to see software companies take advantage of this market change. These companies make it easier for others to adopt product-led tactics and more easily onboard, convert, and retain users.

We expect to see growth and innovation in the coming years and will continue to track new and existing companies leading the pack with product-led growth strategies. For now, please let us know if we missed anyone using this form.

 

VP of Growth<br>OpenView

Sam Richard is VP of Growth at OpenView, helping our portfolio accelerate top-line growth through establishing best practices and processes to support product led growth. At OpenView, Sam works closely with portfolio leadership teams to discover and implement the most impactful strategies for growth, including onboarding and retention optimization, expansion strategy, funnel optimization and channel/partner strategy.