Most teams are messing up their opportunity to scale their product into higher-value deals—without even realizing it.

They’re following someone else’s Product-Led Sales playbook. ICPs are fuzzy. Qualification is weak. Sales motions aren’t landing.

Some teams are stuck in the messy middle: a PLG motion that’s working (sort of), but sales is jumping in too early—or not at all. Customers are confused. Deals stall.

Others know it’s time to evolve beyond pure PLG—but aren’t sure how to layer in sales without breaking what’s already working.

In this episode of The Forget the Funnel Podcast, Georgiana Laudi and April Dunford break down the real meaning of product-led sales, and the common mistakes that keep even experienced teams stuck—like unclear ICPs, poor qualification, and misapplied sales motions. Whether you’re adding sales to a PLG motion, or trying to make your sales-led org more product-led, this episode will help you avoid costly missteps and find clarity fast.

What you'll learn:

• Why PLG alone isn’t enough to close bigger deals
• The real role of sales in a product-led motion (and how to get it right)
• How to identify product-qualified accounts and avoid jumping the gun

What’s in the episode:

• (00:00) What is product-led sales, really?
• (03:00) Why your users ≠ your buyers—and why that matters
• (06:00) The shadow IT opportunity most teams miss
• (09:30) Postman’s evolution from PLG to strategic sales
• (14:00) The biggest misstep: Sales jumping in too early
• (20:00) What smart outbound looks like today
• (25:00) Faux freemium and low-risk PLG experiments
• (30:00) How to know when your product is ready to support sales

Links & Resources

• Lenny’s newsletter on GTM motions of 30 startups
• Explore April's work
• Check out April's books
• Follow Georgiana on LinkedIn
• Forget The Funnel Podcast
• Forget The Funnel on YouTube

As always, you can learn more about Forget The Funnel here:

• Read the Forget The Funnel Book
• Check out Forget the Funnel’s website