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Foreign welcome everybody to the product podcast or if you're on YouTube. Hello. Today I'm going to be talking about how we are democratizing PLG at Product led and why it's a very good thing for business and everything else. So for those that don't know me, hello, my name is Wes and I am the founder of product led and bestselling author with product led playbook, product led growth. And we've helped over 400 plus companies generate a billion dollars in self serve revenue. Now today I'm going to be talking to you about something that's been years in the making. And honestly it's something I believe can like change our entire industry the way we grow and everything else. And that is I am giving away the Product LED Playbook completely for free. So it's just coming up on the one year anniversary of this book and this is something we've always done with all of our books. So the LED growth book, that's free, the Product LED onboarding book, that's you guessed it, it's also free. And so all of these books are foundational to how do you build a Product LED business much faster. But in this episode I'm going to actually share why do we do that at a product led? Because that's all of our IP and a lot of consultants will like hoard their IP and hold on to it and be like, no, that's our unique stuff. But what I'm going to share is why react? You believe that's really stupid and you should give it away as much as you can because it just pays for itself many times over. So that's what we're going to share in this episode. And ultimately like why I do this and everything else is really about supporting product led founders to build successful, profitable businesses with really tiny teams that can make a massive impact. So the first part, I just want to share a little bit of the backstory of turning down publishers and just betting on this book in general. So when I first finished writing the Product LED Playbook, I had a few publishers that were like thinking about, hey, we could partner up on this book and, and launch it together and everything else. And besides the weird part of like every publisher is just like asking basically the same question of like, hey, how could you sell 10,000 copies of this book in the first year? I was like, oh, that's interesting because I can do that. But I think you're the only one that's going to win the most out of that. This is kind of interesting dynamic, but all of them wanted the digital rights to the book. Because I was like, I already know, given the last two books, I'm going to be giving this away for free. And I'm like, is that a problem? And they're like, yeah, hell yeah. That's a big prime. You're giving give away the book we have invested in to just give it away to anybody. That, that sounds like a terrible partner to have. And I don't blame them. So it obviously didn't work out. And I invested over $150,000 in my own money to make this book fantastic. And this was honestly one of the hardest books ever I've written. It just, you know, after iteration, after iteration, there was 16 iterations. So that part was fun. But the main kind of part of why we're going to give this away for free is because I am not in the business of guarding knowledge. I don't believe in it. I don't think it's. It's really helpful. I believe the best idea should be shared. And I'm in the business of growing the product LED category. And so this is a really important distinction. It's not just about product led our company, it's about growing the product led category of all businesses in this space to see better success with product led growth. When product led growth, the first book I wrote first came out, it wasn't just a book launch. It was actually the start of this movement of plg and it gave founders a new way to go to market in their business. So now we're taking that exact same energy and applying it to the how. So. So that's exactly what the product LED playbook does. It's about how do you actually do this? It's the operating system you can install inside your product led business to grow it much faster. The first reason I'll share why we're giving away for free, it really just comes down to democratizing product led growth. And that's essentially it. So right now, a ton of teams treat product led growth like it's some elusive secret, something only the Silicon Valley insiders or top tier SaaS, companies like Slack or Mute Hero can pull off. But that's just not true. And PLG is a skill at the end of the day, full stop. It can be learned, it can be practiced, and it can be scaled. That's what I believe in. And so if you're willing to put in the work, you deserve the roadmap to actually get there much faster. And that's what the product LED playbook is It's a roadmap for anyone who wants to scale through product led growth. Whether you're at 100,000 annual recurring revenue or a hundred million annual recurring revenue, it's still going to be insanely helpful for you and your business. And the cool thing about this too, that we've realized when it comes to just people giving away our books and everything else like that too, is that it attracts many people who are doers. The people that actually go ahead, they read books, they test it, they iterate, and then they come to us and be like, wow, I've already made hundreds of thousands of dollars implementing the books and everything else and I'm for it, I want more. And those are the clients where we get excited to work with them because we're like, oh great, you've already done this. You, we don't have to explain what is the system. It's like, you get it. And that's what we're, we're bullish on at the end of the day. So the second reason real quick, as far as why we decided to give away a book like this for free, which is insanely valuable, is it's about aligning teams and building internal champions. So that's really what it's all about. The best companies we have worked with, they have one thing in common. They don't treat this like a siloed product thing. They treat this like a company thing. And when they do that, they have to bring along everyone inside the company. So any, even people who are in finance, to the marketing team, to the sales team, to the product team, and everyone else along the journey. Now how do you do that? How do you get everybody on the same page of like, hey, we're going this direction. This is what we're going to do for our business? Well, it's pretty hard if you don't educate them. And a lot of times companies, the best ones, will just purchase the book for everyone. But that's also quite tricky because nowadays there's people everywhere throughout the world. It's like, okay, do you have one admin person sending the book to everyone? You could do that, but one of the fastest ways is just now you can just send them the link to the free product LED playbook and then voila, everybody in Slack has access or is just simply dropping the link. And it's extremely accessible. And so that's why we wanted to make this playbook extremely shareable, so that, yeah, you can easily share it with a friend and anybody else. And so if that's you You've read the book and you're like oh yeah, this is awesome, I'm so excited for it. Just share the product of Playbook with somebody else please. That's my only ask for giving this away for free. The third thing, really just about expanding the categories, this is really long term comes down to my big mission for product led. But I want to make the product LED system the de facto way SaaS companies scale. And there will always be sales at companies, don't get me wrong, there's always going to be an enterprise segment and everything else, but I believe in the next decade product led companies are going to be the norm at the end of the day, full stop. If you don't have product LED Motion you just won't be able to compete in your market because markets fun fact are going to be getting much more competitive. And if you're in a red ocean, guess what? You need the best go to Market Motion to scale up. So that's why I want as many companies as possible to explore the system, implement it, tweak it, modify it, make it your own and and start there. And so that's what gets me super excited. The other part here then this ties into the mission is I truly believe product led companies can out give and anyone in the market because they have the best free model, they have the best monetization model that they can actually afford to have the most generous free plans and provide a ton of free value to other people. And so that's really what this movement is all about. This book is just one small piece that will help unlock the next generation of product led founders who adopt this mindset. The next part is just what is inside the playbook. So if you have not read it yet, this is the exact frameworks, templates, growth operating system we use with our clients. The same ones that are paying US tens to 30,000 plus dollars per month. And this system has generated over a billion dollars in subs of revenue for over 400 plus SaaS companies. And so it works and I am bullish on you installing it inside your company if you haven't yet. But some of the main things you can look to see if you install the product LED system is first you'll learn how to design a free to paid conversion strategy that compounds over time. So meaning your free to pay conversion rate will get better and better every single month. You'll also understand how to align your product and go to market teams around one metric and you'll see exactly how top product led companies scale without adding massive headcount or complexity. And don't just take it from me. Here's what some other SaaS legends had to say about the book. Nathan Berry from Convertkit said there's only one way to build a $40 million plus ARR Bootstrap SaaS company without a large sales team. You must be product led. And this book shows you exactly how. We also have Esben from User Flow and he said that we took user flow from 0 to 5 million ARR with just three employees and this is the manual for product led success. And then we had G from Lempire who said being product led is critical to running a profitable SaaS business. It's the guide I wish I had when I started and now it's yours. And when founders like that endorse your work, you know you're helping shape the future of the category. So my big ask here, at the end of the day, I give away a ton for free. But if this playbook helps you, all I say is just share it. Start with your team, then send it to the founder who you think could benefit from this. And because the more we spread this mindset and this approach of how to actually you see success with productlet growth, the faster the entire category grows and the more product led founders win. And so that's what I really care about. And so if you haven't already, grab your free copy at productlight.com forward/book playbook. We'll also put the link below everywhere to make it easy for you, but go through it, apply it and make it part of how your team operates. That's the most exciting part. And when you're ready to go bigger, when you're ready to truly scale your product led business, we will be here at Product Led to help you accelerate. And you can always book a free PLG game plan session with our team@productled.com and so I hope to talk to you soon. Thanks for sharing the book. Cheers.
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And to wrap things up, thank you everybody for listening to this version of.
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Going on in the world of plg. And every single week get the best actionable deep dives on product LED growth. Make sure to head on over to product led.com forward slash newsletter. I am personally writing each of these deep dives every single week and you're.
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Host: Wes Bush
Date: October 10, 2025
In this episode, host Wes Bush, founder of ProductLed and bestselling author, explains the bold decision to give away the "ProductLed Playbook"—a resource developed with over $150,000 in investment—completely free of charge. He digs deep into the rationale behind democratizing access to the proven playbook, how it aligns with his mission to grow the entire product-led growth (PLG) category, and why liberating knowledge is a powerful business move. If you're a founder, team leader, or SaaS enthusiast interested in scaling through PLG models, this episode unpacks the how and the why behind one of the most generous knowledge-sharing moves in SaaS.
"There's only one way to build a $40 million plus ARR Bootstrap SaaS company without a large sales team. You must be product led. And this book shows you exactly how."
— Nathan Barry, ConvertKit
"We took Userflow from 0 to 5 million ARR with just three employees, and this is the manual for product led success."
— Esben, Userflow
"Being product led is critical to running a profitable SaaS business. It's the guide I wish I had when I started and now it's yours."
— G, Lempire
On PLG Accessibility:
"PLG is a skill at the end of the day, full stop. It can be learned, it can be practiced, and it can be scaled." (04:24)
On Knowledge Sharing:
"I am not in the business of guarding knowledge. I don't believe in it." (03:28)
On the SaaS Future:
"If you don't have product led motion, you just won't be able to compete in your market..." (07:34)
The Big Ask:
"Just share the product LED playbook with somebody else, please. That's my only ask for giving this away for free." (07:00)
This episode provides an inspiring look at why Wes Bush and ProductLed are challenging conventional business wisdom by giving away their most valuable frameworks for free. It’s both a masterclass in modern SaaS growth and a call to action for founders and teams to embrace a more open, collaborative future in product-led growth. If you want proven strategies trusted by SaaS legends—and a contagious passion for enabling broader success—this is a must-listen (or at least, must-read) episode summary.