How to Use HubSpot for PLG SaaS Companies, with Emma Cimolini

The go-to-market motion for product-led growth (PLG) SaaS companies is VERY different from sales-led growth companies.

➡️ The contact lifecycle/funnel stages are different

➡️ The data/system architecture is different

➡️ The relationship between the CRM and billing systems are different.

➡️ The key funnel conversion rates are different.

Instead of setting up sales pipelines, hiring Account Executives, and managing territories, you’re doing defining custom in-app behavior triggers, you’re integrating your CRM to your app user records or intermediary tools like data warehouses, and you’re tracking a very different set of success metrics. And the sheer amount of data will usually be significantly larger as well.

What is the best way to run a CRM and marketing system like HubSpot for PLG SaaS companies like this?

Emma Cimolini knows a thing or two about this subject. She’s been using HubSpot to build out go-to-market systems for SaaS startups and big publicly traded software companies for years. She’s built and launched multiple growth teams and has deep experience in building productive relationships with sales teams.

In this episode, we talk through how to set up HubSpot to run product-led growth motions for SaaS companies. We discuss:

1️⃣ How to set up your system architecture and data architecture between HubSpot and different systems like your app databases, data warehouses, app analytics tools, web analytics tools, and billing systems

2️⃣ How and when to decide whether HubSpot or your data warehouse should be your company’s primary source of truth

3️⃣ How to make the case to get engineering resources for building your PLG funnel

4️⃣ How to map out PLG-focused contact lifecycle stages in HubSpot

5️⃣ What to watch out for when reporting on MRR and other financial metrics between HubSpot and your billing system

6️⃣ Technical constraints to watch out for in terms of API limits, multi-object reporting, data management, and engineering development time

This is a must-watch episode for anyone working in go-to-market teams at PLG-focused SaaS companies!

And if you’re at a company that runs Salesforce as your CRM rather than HubSpot, this episode will also apply to you as well. Most of the topics we cover here are equally as important to companies running Salesforce or other CRMs as companies running HubSpot by itself.

Give this episode a listen and learn what you need to know for building up a killer go-to-market motion for your PLG-focused company.