Product-Led Growth - The Future of User Acquisition, Expansion and Retention for SaaS Companies

Abstract: In today's society, technology has been given a more prominent role. The amount of digital products is increasing exponentially and people have a large range of products to choose from. Consequently, the competitiveness between companies is great. This has called upon the emergence of a business model named Product-Led Growth (PLG). PLG is about how to develop a product so that it, with its features and properties, itself acquires, activates and retains customers. The goalis to create a viral product without extensive marketing. This Master's Thesis examines PLG and underlying theories. It presents a prototype of a framework for what a product development process with aPLG strategy could look like for a SaaS company. The work is carried outwith a qualitative research study with semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis. The work demonstrates how PLG can be implemented in astructured product development process. The work also suggests that PLGis not only a method for product development, but also a method forbeing successful in the market. The method highlights the importance of creating a virality, which is integrated from the beginning of the development process. A main component in PLG is to allow customers to participate in product development, so that a value gap does not arise between users' expectations and what the product delivers.