Superhuman's secret to success, the OnlyFans of podcasting, Notion's latest acquisition, and more...
Waiting eagerly for the weekly Top of the Lyne newsletter be like 😉 … Btw, meet our latest recruit - Shelby 🐶 He’s super excited to meet you all! Leave a comment for Shelby down there 👇🏻
Now that we have you hooked 😉 Hey, Ruchin here! 👋🏻 Welcome to the Top of the Lyne newsletter! Just over two years ago, I was a 23-year-old blue-eyed tech enthusiast joining Sequoia Capital's growth investment team - woefully uninformed of the world I'd stepped into. SaaS, PLG, PQLs … all alien to me 👽 It's been a while since then, and I'm now a co-founder of a SaaS company - Toplyne! 🤷🏻♂️This newsletter is a humble effort to help those in my position just a few years ago. Those eager to learn, read, absorb and grow but facing the hurdle of initial discovery!
The outcome we're shooting for is simple... to get enough folks excited about the product-led world that we so dearly love ❤️
Today, we discuss Superhuman’s secret to success, how the best PLG companies surround themselves with a media moat, and exciting news as David Sacks launches his newest product - the OnlyFans of Podcasting 👙😉 … Let’s jump right in 👇🏻
Into the Twitterverse 🐦🌌
Superhuman’s obsession with customer experience 🥰: From my time in venture, most SaaS churn finds its roots in botched onboardings!
And Superhuman has taken this to heart! ~40% of the company’s employees are customer success reps who are onboarding specialists! 🦸🏻♀️
What do great sales teams look like? 🧐
They are well, but fairly, paid 💰
They need examples of success to emulate 💪🏻 you need 2 or 3 star performers to prove to the rest that it can be done
They have great support! 🤝 Sales ops, marketing, you name it!
They are self-replicating - talent attracts more talent. The best get the flywheel firing on all cylinders 🚀
Lastly, they have great leadership! 🙌🏻 Sales reps choose their next gig based on the VP of sales
The days of performance marketing-led businesses are drawing to an end! Product-led growth (PLG) is here to stay and the best in breed businesses surround themselves with a media moat!
Own top of mind. Be the thought leader. Customers buy from those who they believe are subject matter experts 🎓
Nerding out on PLG 🤓📚
Is PLG binary or is it spectrum!? 🌈 We’re strong believers in the latter. Every business, product and company can be product-led in its own way! 😎
Here’s the textbook to finding the Go-To-Market fit and gaining your Product-led Growth, brought to you by Blackbird.
Growth Stories 🚀
Skyrocketing from idea to $7.8 billion in 2 years might sound crazy to A LOT of founders? But not to Hopin! Find out how genuine value creation, smart fundraising, a remote workforce, and the right GTM infrastructure made Hopin the fastest growing SaaS company in the world! 🔥
Fundraising, Venture Capital and Exits 🤑
Automate.io has been acquired by Notion! While the deal's amount isn't disclosed, Notion claims it will bring in Automate's 40-person staff, bringing its total to 150. It also marks the foundation of Notion’s first overseas *engineering* office! Hyderabad, India 📍
Loom’s Shahed Khan joins Hyper as co-founder and General Partner!!. Here’s to another friendly PLG face in the halls of venture 🥂
Virtual meeting platform Vowel announced its latest Series A funding round - $13.5 million - with the aim to get rid of meeting drowsiness. The round was led by Lobby Capital with participation by existing investors Box Group, Amity Ventures, and a group of angel investors.
Launches, events, and releases 🆕
The OnlyFans of Podcasting launched last week! 👙😉
Founded by former Google Executive Bob Summers, Goodcall announced its launch on Wednesday with $4 million in seed funding participated by marquee angels including Pipe’s Harry Hurst and Zillow’s Spencer Rascoff.
Circle, a modern community platform for creators just made 4 big announcements on Wednesday as they shipping the latest features including paywall and members directory as they serve thousands of paying communities with millions of members.
