Your product isn’t selling—yet

Good morning. If your product can’t sell itself, you’re leaving growth on the table. This week we dig into product led growth, the strategy powering companies like Slack, Zoom, and Figma, and show you how to use it to scale smarter and faster.

Plus, you'll discover the latest signals from the economy, AI, and startup world that matter most for founders and business owners right now. It’s a crisp playbook of insights and tools to help you build momentum this week.

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U.S. Q2 Growth Beats Expectations
Revised data shows the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 3.3 percent in Q2. That’s up from the earlier 3.0 percent estimate. Fueled by consumer spending and AI-linked investment in software and R&D. Despite lackluster job gains, spending on healthcare, food services, and light vehicles remains strong.
What this means to you: Consumers are still buying, and AI is warming the engine room of the economy.
Source: Wall Street Journal

AI Spending Isn’t Creating Jobs—Yet
Big tech is pouring into AI infrastructure, now estimated at $360 billion in 2025 and a potential $7 trillion by 2030. Yet employment growth is lagging. In Virginia, construction jobs tied to data centers are down 10%, while layoffs related to AI hits over 31,000 so far this year.
What this means to you: Don’t rely on AI hype to fuel hiring; look for product-led ways to sharpen automation without bloating your payroll.
Source: Barron’s

Aurva Raises $2.2M to Secure AI
Aurva, a data security startup focused on AI observability and access monitoring, has exited stealth mode with a $2.2 million seed round. The funding will help scale product development and operations in a market where AI trust is growing but still fragile.
What this means to you: AI is no longer just about performance, it needs visibility and control. Consider embedding similar guardrails in your product to win over wary customers.
Source: The Economic Times

Cold truth: if buyers need a demo to feel value, you’re funding drag, not growth.

Product led growth is simple. Put your product in people’s hands fast. Let them hit real outcomes before you ask for money. When the product drives acquisition, conversion, and expansion, you get lower CAC, faster cycles, and happier customers.

Why it matters. B2B buyers act like consumers at work. They Google, sign up, invite a teammate, and make a call before a rep gets on Zoom. If your path to value feels like paperwork, the click goes to a competitor.

Start with the moment of value. What is the first concrete outcome a new user can reach in minutes, not weeks? A shared doc with comments. A first dashboard with live data. A test SMS that arrives. Build onboarding around that one win. Remove fields. Seed templates. Prefill sample data. Then point to the next best action right inside the product.

Choose the right free door. Trials work when value is quick and broad. Freemium works when collaboration, usage, or limits nudge upgrades. Hybrid works when you need time for setup but still want a no-pressure start. Tie paywalls to value, not time. Limit seats, projects, or usage where customers feel the benefit.

Make the product your top channel. Add invites where collaboration is natural. Reward sharing with real utility, not trinkets. Integrate with tools your users open every day so your value shows up in their flow. Clear wins spread.

Define PQLs, not just MQLs. A Product Qualified Lead is an account that has touched value and shows intent. Example signals: created 3 projects, invited 5 teammates, hit 80 percent of a limit, integrated with Salesforce. Route those accounts to sales for friendly help, not hard pushes. The call is simple: remove friction, unlock security reviews, expand use cases, close procurement.

Pricing follows outcomes. Start small. Let customers scale seats or usage as their results grow. Keep packaging obvious. If a CFO cannot read your pricing in 30 seconds, fix it.

What to do this week:

• Map your “aha.” Write the one action that predicts day-30 retention. If you cannot name it, find it.

• Cut onboarding steps by half. Kill fields. Add one template that delivers a result in under five minutes.

• Pick your free model. Trial, freemium, or hybrid. Add one upgrade nudge tied to a real limit.

• Define three PQL signals. Send a daily list to sales for light assist. No scripts, just help.

• Build one growth loop. Add an invite at the moment collaboration helps the current user win.

Common traps. Free that hides value. Onboarding that starts with a tour instead of a task. A “no sales” stance that stalls enterprise expansion. Fix all three and PLG compounds.

Ask yourself: if a stranger signs up at 8 a.m., do they reach a real win by 8:15? If yes, your product can sell. If not, you are still selling the old way.

Most platforms push you to make thousands of ads. Kojo helps you make better ones. We turn your social data into proven ideas, predict which will perform, and send them to real human creators in seconds. Less waste, more certainty, and ads that actually work.

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Build a PQL Engine

Most founders track marketing leads, but product led growth requires a sharper lens: Product Qualified Leads. A PQL is a user or account that has already touched value—sent their tenth message in Slack, built their first dashboard in Datadog, or invited three teammates in Figma. The play is to define those signals, instrument them in your analytics, and set up alerts that hand them straight to your sales or success team. Instead of chasing cold leads, you’ll focus on warm accounts already proving intent. This not only shortens the sales cycle but also compounds expansion revenue.