The three dominant GTM motions in B2B are Product-Led Growth (PLG), Sales-Led, and Hybrid. Every founder has an opinion on which is best. The right answer is: it depends entirely on your product, your buyer, your price point, and your stage — and getting it wrong is expensive.
I see two common failure modes. The first is founders who choose PLG because it sounds more modern, without the product complexity, user volume, or viral mechanics to support it. The second is founders who default to sales-led because that is what they know, when the product would grow faster and cheaper if users could discover value without a rep in the room.
The decision matrix
PLG works when: The primary user and the economic buyer are the same person or in the same team. The product delivers value quickly — ideally within a single session. There is a natural viral or network mechanism (users invite other users). The price point is low enough for a credit card purchase. Time-to-value is short enough that a free trial is a credible acquisition mechanism.
Sales-led works when: The buyer is senior and the purchase requires organisational buy-in. The sales cycle is measured in weeks or months, not days. The product requires meaningful onboarding, configuration, or change management. The deal size justifies the cost of a human in the process. You are selling to enterprises where security, legal, and procurement are involved.
Hybrid works when: You have both a self-serve entry point (PLG) and a sales motion for expansion or enterprise accounts. The product has both an individual user and an organisational buyer. You want to use product usage data to identify and prioritise accounts for sales intervention.
The switching signals
The most expensive mistake is staying in the wrong motion for too long. Here are the signals that the current motion is wrong:
Switch from PLG to Sales-led when: Free trial conversion is below 5%, sales cycles are lengthening despite product improvements, or you are consistently losing deals where the champion loved the product but couldn't get it approved.
Switch from Sales-led to Hybrid when: Inbound interest is outpacing your sales capacity, users are signing up without sales involvement and converting, or your CAC is rising while deal velocity is falling.
The motion is not fixed. It is a hypothesis — and like all hypotheses, it should be tested against evidence and revised when the evidence demands it.