For internal tools, don't rely solely on product-led growth. A hybrid approach combines a frictionless product experience with a proactive "sales" strategy of advocating for the tool's potential, constantly proving its value to leadership, and removing friction for users.

For a new product, don't choose between targeting executives or end-users; do both simultaneously. While mapping the C-suite (top-down), engage lower-level employees to gather intel and build internal champions (bottom-up). This dual approach creates pressure and relevance from both directions.

Avoid pursuing prosumer and enterprise motions simultaneously. The optimal sequence is to first build massive bottoms-up love and brand trust with individual users. This creates internal champions within target companies, providing crucial momentum and turning a cold B2B sale into a pull-based motion.

High-level company initiatives are not real demand. True demand only exists when a specific person has the project on their personal to-do list. Sales efforts are wasted if you cannot find and sell to that individual owner.

Directly approaching large organizations is often ineffective. Instead, emulate Slack's growth model by getting individual employees to use and love the product. This creates internal champions who advocate for wider organizational adoption, pulling the product in rather than pushing it from the outside.

Instead of pitching a future product, identify an enterprise champion's urgent, blocked project. Deliver the solution manually as a service first (e.g., a PDF report). This validates demand, generates revenue, and is a common path in enterprise software.

Bypass C-suite gatekeepers by interviewing lower-level employees who experience the problem daily. Gather their stories and pain points. Then, use this internal "insight" to craft a highly relevant pitch for executives, showing them a problem their own team is facing that they are unaware of.

Instead of approaching leaders first, engage end-users to gather 'ammunition' about their daily pains. They may not have buying power, but their firsthand accounts create a powerful internal case (groundswell) that you can then present to management, making the approach much warmer and more relevant.

Your ideal champion inside a large company is often someone who secretly wishes they'd founded a startup but is too risk-averse. They are drawn to the founders' ambition and will advocate for you because they want to feel part of the startup journey vicariously.