Ramli John

Author of Product-Led Onboarding (+30K copies sold) | First Round Fast Track Mentor | Content Director at Appcues.

⭐️ Follow me for helpful tips to onboard, delight, and keep your customers coming back to your product.
📔 Author of Amazon #1 bestselling book "Product-Led Onboarding." 👉 𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙉 𝙀𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙎, Founder of GrowthHackers.com: "Product-Led Onboarding is 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 embarking on the critical activity of improving their user onboarding." 


⚡️ I use my multi-disciplinary skills in marketing, design, and software development to help product-led SaaS companies analyze their whole customer's journey and funnel to identify growth opportunities to 2-3X their MRR. 

Often, that means designing and implementing experiments to increase activation rate (trial-to-paid or free-to-paid conversions), decrease churn rate, or increase average revenue per user (ARPU)

If you asked my friends and colleagues how they would describe me, they'd say I'm resourceful, proactive, and entrepreneurial

►► CONTACT INFO
▷ Send a connection request
▷ Write me a note at ramli [at] ramlijohn.com

Founder

A weekly show and newsletter for marketers looking to level up their marketing and career. I interview world-class marketers to uncover the secrets, strategies, and frameworks behind their wins. In each episode, guests reveal three things:  (1) a marketing power-up,  (2) a real-world example of that in action, and (3) a power-up that’s helped them take their career to the next level.

Ramli "RJ" John

I just hired my first full-time employee. Not an assistant. A Chief of Staff. And it's my wife, Joanna Ruth! Here's why:

For 1.5 years, I resisted hiring. I wanted to stay solo as long as possible—full control, no coordination costs, just me and clients.

Then I wrote down the job description for what Delight Path actually needs this year.

Someone who can:
→ Create content and community systems
→ Bring the vision to life (not just execute tasks)
→ Scale the impact for product leaders I had in mind

I realized: this isn't an assistant role. It's 2nd in command.

And Joanna is perfect for it:

1. She's built more than I have!

Joanna's self-published over 47 Montessori education books (I need to catch up)! She's a proven system-builder, not just an idea person.

2. She follows instructions when I wing it (let's talk about building IKEA furniture!) 

Joanna forced me to create SOPs for everything. She's started documenting processes I've been running on instinct. Business became transferable, not just in my head.

3. She connects deeper to people than I do

People call me emotionless sometimes (fair). She cares about people on a level I don't naturally access. It's why she studied early childhood education focused on autism and behavioral science. 

Community needs that energy, not just my frameworks

Transitioning Delight Path from 100% consulting revenue to 50% media + community requires coordination I can't do alone.

Before hiring, I asked:
→ Am I hiring for tasks or for leverage?
→ Can this person make decisions without me?
→ Will this free me to do what only I can do?

If it's not yes to all three, it's an assistant role (nothing wrong with that, but not what I needed).

What's Next:

Joanna starts immediately with partnerships and community for Product Leaders Lab. As we scale, she moves into the Integrator (EOS) role, and I move into the Visionary role.

The onboarding forced me to document everything—SOPs for content, client work, and community management. Business became a system, not just me.
I'm excited to build something meaningful together again (we organized a large youth church conference before we got married).

Please join me in welcoming Joanna to Delight Path.

What's been your experience bringing someone into your solo business?

PS. If you're thinking about staying solo versus hiring, Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell has been super helpful. Changed how I think about the business.

Building a community for product leaders (VP and Director-level). Founder @ Delight Path. 2x best-selling author. New book “Eureka” now available. Author of “Product-Led Onboarding” (+40K copies sold).

Most podcasts are interview-style. That won't cut it in 2026! It's why I'm doing a high-production narrative format for my new show: Product Leaders Lab (coming in Feb).

I turned my living room into a recording studio this Monday. Shot the intro and teaser with my creative producers, Carlo and Justine. 

Here's how it works:

Two veteran product leaders. Same impossible scenario. Completely different approaches.

One episode breaks down their decisions, what worked, what didn't, and the lessons that actually matter.

Episode 1 premieres February 24th: "The AI Adoption Pressure"

Netali (VP of Product) and Greg Leach (Senior Director of New Business) faced the same problem: their teams were drowning in prompt engineering.

Netali's solution? She created a new role, "Prompt Ops," to centralize AI expertise and protect PM capacity.

Greg's approach? He became the chair of the company's AI committee to remove red tape and encourage the adoption of internal AI tools. Over 100 people attended the first demo (out of 230 employees).

Two leaders. Two strategies. Both worked.

I've already recorded:

→ Christine Itwaru (VP of Product at Userflow): "The Launch Recovery" - How protecting her team after a launch disaster became her defining leadership moment.
→ Michelle Green (Director of Product at Coley): "The Strategy Misalignment" - When customer success and product saw the same problem completely differently.
→ Nesrine Changuel, PhD (Author of "Product Delight," former PM at Google, Spotify, Skype): "The Competitive Moment" - How she became Google Meet's first PM for Delight during the pandemic and chose benchmark against, "If we were all in a physical room, how would the experience be better?"

I'm scheduled to record with other amazing product leaders:
Betsy Shaak, Joseph King, Chris Downey, Jason Knight, Gabrielle Bufrem, Lauren Schuman, Deepti Pradeep, Angela Sze, Lilach Yaniv, Warren Dombowsky, Nick Cust, Purnima Bihari, and Aakash Gupta.

I'm looking for more VPs, Directors, or Heads of Product who want to share their defining leadership moments.

DM me or tag someone below.

PS. Bookmark this for when you're stuck on an impossible decision and need to see how other leaders navigated it. First episode drops February 24th.

2025: The year I learned focus has a price tag. Turned 40. Ran my first half marathon. Doubled my income while working fewer hours.

But here's what nobody tells you about Year 1 of consulting:

The wins are incredible. The valleys are brutal.

Some months hit $50K. Others dipped to $2K. I got ghosted after proposals. Had deals go sideways. Watched summer dry up completely.

Before I left my job, April Dunford told me: "Don't try to do too many things at once. Focus on one thing and get REALLY good at it."

So I said no to:
→ Newsletter sponsorships (even when I needed the money)
→ Course launches
→ Content creation I actually loved

The result? My biggest deal ever—with a Fortune 100 company.

But it came at a cost: I didn't create anything I'm truly proud of last year. No podcasts. No creative projects. Just focused execution.

That changes in 2026.

I'm launching Product Leaders Lab—a community + media brand for VPs, Directors, and Heads of Product. Already have 22 founding members and $60K in sponsorships locked.

Also launching a documentary-style podcast: One impossible scenario. Three veteran product leaders. Three completely different approaches. 20-25 minutes, not 60+ minute rambling.

First episode launched in Feb 2026: "The AI Ambush" - Your CEO announces an AI pivot without telling you. Product team panics. Board meeting in 48 hours. What do you do?

And I'm also running the Chicago Marathon in October to raise $2,500 for a close friend fighting stage 4 cancer.

2025 was depth. 2026 is reach.

What's one thing you're most proud of from 2025?

PS. Full year-in-review in the newsletter.

2025 has been the most transformative year of my life. Not just professionally, but personally, emotionally, and physically. Just like my review of 20

Open article: 2025 in review: the year everything changed by Ramli John • 9 min read

2025 in review: the year everything changed

In this live workshop, Becki Floyd will share how to turn user feedback into working AI prototypes within a day.  

Engineers can now use AI to ship in hours, not weeks. If UX can't keep pace, product decisions happen without user input.

Becki redesigned her entire UX process to work at AI speed:

✅ Async video research + AI analysis = user insights in hours (not weeks)
✅ Morning feedback → afternoon prototypes using Replit and ChatGPT
✅ High-fidelity prototypes that developers can ship immediately
✅ Process that keeps UX leading when speed matters most

This isn't about adding more tools to your stack. It's about rebuilding how UX works when AI-powered devs are shipping code faster than traditional research cycles allow.

This is her framework:

1. Gather insights in hours (async video + AI synthesis)
2. Build working prototypes the same day (tools that compress design-to-dev)
3. Lead product direction at AI speed (process over perfection)

We kick off the workshop tomorrow (Wednesday, January 21) at 9 AM ET

Bring your PMs, designers, and developers. This is for teams trying to stay user-led when everything moves faster.

Register: https://luma.com/9bwpea6x

What's your biggest challenge in keeping UX involved when dev cycles get compressed?

Kate Syuma

Kate Syuma is a Growth Advisor, ex-Miro Head of Growth Design, where she started as a founding member in a Growth Team, and passed through hypergrowth from Startup (50 people) to Series C Unicorn (≈2000 people, $17.5B valuation). 

Currently, as a Founder at Growthmates, Kate creates a platform for learning from industry leaders and an advising practice that guides companies in growing meaningful products by leveraging PLG and enhancing UX quality, together.

Learn more on growthmates.club

Product Design Manager, Growth

Duolingo’s onboarding is a masterclass in activation & retention.

In 60 seconds, it makes you feel - “I’ve started and I can do this.”

Here’s what they do (step-by-step):

1. Remove the blank page instantly

- The first decision is easy: pick a language.
- No account friction or long forms. You’re in motion within seconds.

2. Ask questions that feel supportive

- “Why are you learning?”
- “How much do you know?”
- It doesn’t feel like they’re collecting data, it feels like they’re trying to meet you where you’re at.

3. Sell the payoff before the effort

- Before lesson one, they show you what you’ll gain from signing up to keep the user motivated.

4. Micro-commitments = macro retention

- 5 mins/day. 10 mins/day. 15 mins/day.
- It feels so tiny that it works.

5. Reduce fear of “doing it wrong”

- “Start from scratch” vs “Find my level”
- It’s a small choice, but it gives users control and confidence.

If your onboarding is struggling, don’t add more screens.

Show people what’s possible, not what’s required.

I pulled these Duolingo screens from Mobbin - the best UX library if you're building onboarding right now.

📌 Save this post.
💬 What’s the most effortless onboarding you’ve experienced lately?

#duolingo #growth

Growth Advisor, ex-Miro | Founder at Growthmates | Speaker · Creator | PLG · Activation · UX

The Onboarding Playbook from Duolingo

Figma Make has closed the biggest gap in prototyping.

You can now test product prototypes with REAL DATA.

With AI everywhere, people keep saying “The future is here.”

And after seeing what’s being built with Figma Make, it’s hard to disagree.

Here are 6 no-code prototypes that show where product testing is heading ⚡️

1. A full research report site (🔗 links to all in comments)
Not lorem ipsum. Real backend data powering real content.

2. A trip prototype with live travel data 
Actual itineraries flowing through the UI. Not a static concept, a testable journey.

3. A working AI assistant 
This isn’t a fake chat screen. It processes inputs and responds like a real product.

4. A complete e-commerce checkout
Real cart logic and decisions.

5. A dynamic pricing page
Numbers update based on user input. Perfect for testing value perception before you ship.

6. A full canvas image editor
An entire functional image editor - inside a prototype

What makes this possible?

Figma Make + Supabase.

📌Try yourself and check more examples here: https://lnkd.in/etMYbG4Q  

You can now give prototypes a real backend:
- Store and load real content (text, images)
- Add working authentication flows
- Collect form inputs
- Call external APIs (with stored secrets)
- Maintain app state across sessions

For anyone working on PLG, activation, or UX - this changes how we test ideas.

Being data-informed is no longer a post-launch luxury.
Save this for next time 🔖

P.S. If this is prototyping in early 2026, what does “testing” mean next?

#Figma #PLG #UX #Startups

If your growth is slowing, it’s probably not your product.

It’s your positioning. Here’s how the best teams evolve and rebrand.

📌 2019: RealtimeBoard became Miro - a cleaner name that made the product easier to remember, repeat, and share

📌 2025: Grammarly rebranded to Superhuman - expanding beyond writing into a broader AI-native platform

📌 2026: Magic Patterns evolved its brand and positioning - moving from an “AI UI generator” to a complete product thinking + flow-building tool. Kudos to Alexander Danilowicz, Teddy Ni, and their fantastic team

And what I love the most is that they rebranded WITH PURPOSE.

I saw the impact firsthand during my days at Miro.

The name change helped Miro travel through word-of-mouth in a way RealtimeBoard never could. When Covid hit, the product exploded - going from ~3M users to ~10M in months.

That didn’t happen because people suddenly “needed the product.”

It happened because the product was already great…
and the rebrand finally made it easy to spread.

When you make your product:

- easier to explain
- easier to remember
- easier to trust
- and easier to recommend in one sentence

Growth compounds.

When do you know you need a rebrand?
Listen closely to your customers. They have all the answers.

So when I see moves like Superhuman, MagicPatterns, or Miro…

I read them as a signal:
“We’ve evolved and we’re building our new identity to match it.”

What’s the best product rebrand you’ve seen recently?

Let me know in the comments 👇
♻️ Share this with someone building in B2B right now

Big news 🔔 I’ve joined Dealfront as a PLG Advisor.
(and we’re hiring!)

This collaboration feels very intentional to me.

From building Growth at Miro to working hands-on with activation and onboarding across 30+ SaaS companies, this work naturally led me here.

At Dealfront, we’re shaping a unified, user-centric product experience as the scalable approach to Product-Led Growth — rethinking activation, onboarding, UX maturity, and how product, design, and GTM operate as one system.

I’m grateful for the trust and the opportunity to work together at a global scale.
Especially thankful to Ines Lourenço, Erik Oliva Werner, and Simone Schiavo — I’m excited to learn, challenge assumptions, and build alongside you.

Now the important part: we’re growing the Product team.

→ We’re hiring a Product Experience PM:
https://lnkd.in/e_Wh6qSg

This is a hands-on role at the intersection of product and design: owning mental models, navigation, and end-to-end user flows, leading discovery, and turning product intent into high-quality UX.

If working on PLG at scale together sounds exciting, this is a great moment to join!

#plg #careers #hiring

ANNOUNCEMENT 📢

The new season of the Growthmates podcast is officially live!!

The first conversation with Nad Chishtie from Lovable, recorded live at Hatch Conference.

This season is called The Creator’s Path. It’s about people who didn’t follow a single predefined role and learned by building instead. That’s exactly why Nad had to be the first guest.

🎧 Full episode here:
YouTube: https://lnkd.in/efB37NGU 
Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eMN57Fza 
Apple: https://lnkd.in/evkYSZSj 

✍️ My key takeaways from this episode:

1. Early careers need support before freedom: Total freedom sounds exciting but without guidance, most people stall. The right support system compounds learning much faster.

2. Silicon Valley gets ambition right but people wrong: Speed and ownership are powerful. But burnout, pressure, and narrow definitions of success often get ignored.

3. AI is expanding the definition of “creator”: You don’t need permission, a role, or a perfect background anymore. You need curiosity and the courage to build.

4. Generalists may have the edge going forward: The ability to connect dots across product, design, and tech is becoming a serious advantage in an AI-native world.

New conversations will be dropping every 2 weeks - with builders, creators, and product leaders who are shaping their own paths.

🏆 Special thanks to our partners: Obi by Cor and Mobbin.

#creators #growthmates

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In 2026, there are zero excuses left NOT to act on your ideas.

And I say that as someone who made excuses for a long time. 😅

2 years ago, I had ideas (so many ideas). But I kept telling myself:

- “I’m not ready.”
- “I don’t have enough experience.”
- “Someone else has already done it better.”

But instead of letting it take over, I started talking to people who were a step ahead - building things alongside their full-time jobs and figuring it out as they went.

Learning from them changed everything for me.

As a small tribute to those role models - and for anyone in the same place I was, the new season of Growthmates podcast - The Creator’s Path 🎙️ came to life.

Featuring:

1. Michael Riddering - from creating courses to building companies
2. Nad Chishtie (Lovable) - why self-made generalists will shape the future
3. Ioana Teleanu 🪩 Teleanu - how to become a creator and pivot your career
4. Felix Haas (Lovable) - choosing a creator mindset over job titles and pitching roles that didn’t exist
5. 🐱 Catt Small 👩🏾‍💻  (Dropbox) - creating courses, books, and advising while working full-time

…and more to come ✨

This is what I needed 2 years ago.

The world feels wide open right now.

You don’t need permission. You just need to begin.

P.S. If you’re sitting on an idea, what’s been holding you back?

I had a severe burnout that took me 4 months to recover from.
it changed my life completely.

this week, I spoke with a woman leader (my advisory client) who’s going through the same thing right now. it brought me straight back to where I was 2 years ago.

burnout doesn’t arrive suddenly.
it builds quietly - until your body forces you to stop.

this is what I had to change to never get there again:

1. no “full-meeting” days
before, I had up to 10 calls a day. now my max is ~90 minutes of Zoom.

2. clear capacity boundaries
each client gets 2-3 hours of focused time per week. insights per hour became my KPI.

3. movement every day
at least 30 minutes of pilates, yoga, or walking.

4. walking as part of work
2–3 walks a day. in summer, parks became my office.

5. diversified income
advising, trainings, sponsorships, and a course. no single point of failure.

6. slower mornings
starting around 11 is okay. reading and easing into the day matters.

7. two retreats per year
sometimes silent yoga, sometimes active. they reset me before exhaustion creeps in.

I wish more of this was possible in corporate environments.
it wasn’t for me, so I had to change the environment instead.

my choice was radical. but it saved me.

what do you need to feel better at work right now?
share below, I want to hear your story 💜

The most damaging PLG myth? 

“Chasing more experiments is the path to growth”

For a long time, that was true. Teams could test their way to better activation, conversion, and retention. Small wins stacked up, and the system worked.

But that playbook doesn’t work the same way anymore.

What’s driving PLG now isn’t how many experiments you run.

It’s the quality of the CORE EXPERIENCE.

I’ve seen this firsthand. Across my clients, I’m seeing fewer wins from funnel tweaks or A/B tests, and more from small, meaningful improvements to the product experience, like:

- removing friction in the first few steps
- clearing up moments of confusion
- shortening the time it takes to see value

When the core experience clicks, multiple things improve together:

- retention gets stronger
- users explore more on their own
- word of mouth starts happening naturally

Experiments usually move one metric at a time. Experience moves the whole system.

The market has changed. User behaviour has changed. Expectations have changed. And PLG has to change with it.

If we keep applying the same approaches that worked a few years ago, we’ll keep missing where the real leverage is today.

PS. what’s your take on this? 

#plg #growth

Building a mobile app just got… weirdly easy.

I just tested Replit’s new mobile app builder, and in under 10 minutes, I had a real, working app running on my phone.

It made me completely rethink what “shipping an app” even means in 2026.

Here’s how fast it happened:

- I described what I wanted in chat (a "Deep Work" app)
- Replit generated the screens and app logic
- I watched the flow update in real time
- I scanned a QR code to preview it on my phone
- The same app opened and actually worked 

Not a prototype. A WORKING APP.
Now I can actually use it for my focus time blocks.

What’s interesting here isn’t speed alone. It’s how little friction there was.

For a long time, mobile development was gated by frameworks, setup, and long build pipelines. Now the bottleneck is mostly the idea itself.

If you’ve ever had an app idea you didn’t pursue because mobile felt “too much,” that tradeoff is changing.

The gap between idea and App Store is collapsing fast.

👉 Try it yourself and get an extra 10 of monthly credits: https://lnkd.in/e5bztk8P 
📌 Save this for later if you’re thinking about building something.

#ai #startups #apps

They rebuilt Lovable 3 times. From scratch. 

On the Growthmates podcast, we talked with Nad Chishtie about something that sounds almost too simple to be profound.

Not because the previous versions failed in some dramatic way, but because AI changes the cost of starting over. It doesn’t just make building faster. It makes deleting and rebuilding feel normal.

That shift matters more than we think.

If you’re working in tech today, especially building digitally with AI, the limits are no longer technical. They’re mostly psychological. Expectations we inherited from a time when rebuilding was expensive and risky.

- Now the loop looks different.
- You build. You delete. You rebuild.
- And suddenly the ceiling disappears.

Once rebuilding becomes a feature, not a failure, you stop holding on to broken plates. You just make better ones.

📌 More insights and notes from the episode: https://lnkd.in/e-UB5SNw

(All links to the episode in comments)

Steal the offers page template I use to pre-qualify clients (FREE ✨)

For the last 2+ years as a solopreneur, this is the exact page I’ve used to generate 5-figure months and long-term client partnerships - without awkward sales calls.

Solopreneurs, consultants, or product leaders, this might feel familiar 👇

You know what you do and your clients are happy. 
But your service page… doesn’t quite do its job.

People keep asking:

- “So what exactly do you help with?”
- “Is this for me?”
- “How does working together actually look?”

So you try to fix it.

- You add more text.
- You list everything you can do.
- You use buzzwords to sound more credible.

The page gets longer but clarity doesn’t improve.

What worked for me was a simple structure that lets the right people self-select - before a call ever happens.

I’ve turned that exact structure into a Template.

It helps you clearly communicate:
- what you help with
- who it’s for (and who it’s not)
- why someone should trust you
- what happens next

🎁 Want the template (FREE)?

Update: now you can get the template right here →
https://lnkd.in/ef4shwGh

Save it. Adapt it to your own style.
This is my small giveback to the solopreneur & product community - for 2026 and beyond.

Hope it helps you book more clients this year 💜

AI tools are changing how Growth teams work RIGHT now.

I tested dozens of AI tools this year. Some looked impressive on launch day and quietly disappeared a week later. Others are stuck.

Not because they were “more AI”. But because they removed friction exactly where teams and users usually get stuck.

Here are 3 shifts I keep seeing - with tools that actually made a difference 👇

1. Instead of onboarding as instructions:

I discovered Obi by Cor last year, and it completely changed how I think about onboarding. 

Obi shows up inside the product as a voice/video co-pilot - guiding users in real time, adapting to what they’re doing, and helping exactly at the moment of action. 

That’s where friction actually happens and where onboarding usually fails.

2. Instead of validating UI:

Teams are validating behavior with Figma Make.

Prototypes that “look good” rarely fail in reviews. 
They fail when real users meet real data. 

You can now integrate real backend data into prototypes - auth, forms, APIs, state - and test flows in conditions that feel surprisingly close to reality.

This is incredibly powerful for growth teams: you’re no longer guessing how users might behave - you’re watching what they actually do.

3. Instead of fixing activation later on production:

Teams are testing early prototypes with Magic Patterns. 

I built a multi-step B2B sign-up prototype in Magic Patterns in about 10 minutes - role-based questions, progressive profiling, real intent baked in.

If I can do that in minutes, growth teams can go much further: testing qualification logic early instead of “fixing onboarding” months later. Early testing beats endless tweaks.

—

📌 I unpack these AI products in much more depth in my Growthmates newsletter - subscribe to join 7k+ followers from Amplitude, Miro, Intercom, and more: https://lnkd.in/e392wGD7 

♻️ Share with your growth team - especially if you’re rethinking PLG workflows.

#productgrowth #industryexamples #plg

3 AI tools for your Growth team → 

PLG is often explained in a way that feels very un-human.

Companies think they need to:

→ acquire
→ activate
→ convert

And the story ends. But users don’t just “complete” a journey.

PLG only works when users come back and bring others with them.

That’s where user-centric growth loops matter. Here’s how the 3-step loop works:

1. Motivation

A new user arrives with a reason:
- to solve a problem
- to explore a solution
- or because someone recommended the product
Their first question is simple: “Does this help me?”

The goal here is to get them to an aha moment quickly, with minimal friction.

Result: They understand the core value of your product.

2. Actions

If the product keeps delivering on that value, users return.

They take actions that reinforce the core value:
- using key features
- creating content
- collaborating with others
Over time, this turns into a habit and a part of their workflow

3. Desired outcomes - Users reach what they came for.

They:
- pay for premium features or expanded access
- create valuable things others can use (e.g. shared workspaces)
- recommend the product through invites, referrals, and word of mouth

These actions bring in new users.

Result: Power users pay for the core value and recommend the product to others.

That feeds the loop back into motivation.

If you’re building with a PLG approach, the question isn’t: “how do we move users through the funnel?”

It’s: “why would someone come back and why would they tell others?”

P.S. what’s your #1 PLG focus this quarter - activation, habits, upgrades?

DEAR PLG LEADER

→ You don’t have to chase endless A/B-tests and quick wins. They won’t deliver meaningful revenue or metric uplifts anymore. Focus on the core product instead. Ship features that solve deep, real user needs. Do it fast, and do it with high quality. That’s the PLG leader mindset in 2026.

→ You’re constantly balancing speed and quality, even if no one explicitly calls it out. Speed can destroy quality when the team isn’t experienced enough, AI or not. You can deliver high quality at high speed, but only if quality is non-negotiable. If you compromise it early, the product will burn out faster than it can recover.

→ Leading a PLG team is an art, and you feel that every day. This is a high-pressure, fast-moving environment where people skills matter as much as strategy. Don’t underestimate that part of the job. Invest in yourself as a leader. Build a support system - a coach, a mentor, a therapist - because when you grow, your team sustains momentum and performs better over time.

→ In 2026, you’re not just a “growth leader”, you’re a core product leader. You need deep knowledge of growth across funnels and loops, strong product and UX judgment, solid marketing, distribution instincts, and a data-obsessed mindset.

It’s a heavier role than the title suggests. But it’s also more meaningful.

P.S. What’s the biggest misconception people have about your role?

#plg #growth

PLG breaks when you don’t expect it to.

Most teams look at onboarding, pricing, or activation metrics, but the real issue often sits one layer deeper: 

→ PRODUCT STRUCTURE ←

In the latest Growthmates newsletter, I’m joined by Kaysie Garza to unpack why unclear product taxonomy quietly undermines PLG - even in well-funded, fast-moving teams.

Here’s what happens when structure is undefined 👇

1. Users struggle to understand value

When everything sounds equally important, nothing stands out. Core value gets buried under advanced features, and new users don’t know where to start.

2. Onboarding becomes UI-driven, not value-driven

Teams end up explaining buttons instead of outcomes. Growth experiments run but they don’t move retention, because the product’s “why” isn’t clear yet.

3. Analytics stop telling a coherent story

Usage is tracked, but not at the right level. Different teams measure different “things” and none of them reliably connect to retention or revenue.

4. Pricing and packaging feel arbitrary

Plans reflect UI access, not value. Sales struggles to explain tiers, and discounts compensate for confusion even in PLG motions.

5. Brand and product language drift apart

What marketing promises doesn’t match what users see in the product. Trust erodes, and education costs quietly grow.

None of these issues appear overnight.
They compound - until PLG starts to feel harder than it should.

📌 Full deep dive in the Growthmates newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e-qPQzUH 

In the full piece, we break down:
- Why taxonomy comes before naming and growth tactics
- How structure shows up in pricing, onboarding, and analytics
- How to audit your product foundation before clarity debt sets in

Where have you seen structural issues surface first - onboarding, pricing, or analytics? 👇

#productgrowth #plg #ux

21 countries. 50+ cities. 3,000+ students reached.

I didn't plan this. I just noticed it.

It started when my mentee from Loom joined my course. Then I saw names from Atlassian, Dropbox, GitHub showing up. Then the reviews came in — kind, thoughtful feedback from people I'd never met, in cities I'd never been to.

That's when it hit me: I'm building something international.

Looking back, I think it started at Miro. Working on a global product shaped how I think about reach. When I left to build Growthmates, I carried that mindset with me.

I never focused on local clients in the Netherlands.
I never built only for Russian speakers.
I decided to make it global from Day 1.

Two years later, that was the best decision I made.

Not because it was easy — but because it forced me to think bigger. To create content that resonates across cultures. To build something that doesn't depend on geography.

The Maven Impact Report made it real. 21 countries. 50 cities. 4.8 rating. A "Skill Stack Upgrade" award. And students from companies I deeply admire.

If you're building something — a course, a community, a product — don't limit yourself to what's nearby. The internet rewards those who think globally from the start.

—

My next cohort starts January 19 and is almost full. 
If this resonates, link is in comments ✨

#plg #growth #solopreneurship

90% of agency sites kill conversions with one mistake (here’s how to avoid it)

They confuse “beautiful” with “effective.”

But a pretty website means nothing if it confuses your next client.

If you want a high-converting site, you need aesthetics + strategy.

Here’s how the top 5% blend the two:

1. Fold strategy that prioritises hierarchy

Most agency sites clutter the hero with vague taglines.
Top agencies treat the first fold like a landing page.

→ A clear, confident POV headline
→ Subtext that filters for ideal clients
→ An immediate path to proof or portfolio

2. Scroll architecture that segments buyers

One universal scroll flow ≠ one-size-fits-all.
High-performing sites segment through scroll:

→ Founders jump to positioning and proof
→ Creatives browse the work
→ Ops dive into process and team

Every scroll should guide someone closer to trust.

3. Case studies that lead with thinking

→ Start with the problem
→ Show the outcome
→ Then reveal the process

Agencies doing this exceptionally well:

🔗 https://lnkd.in/epXK5rWk (Ebb Scandinavia)
🔗 https://lnkd.in/e82mUT79  (For The People)
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eKGgg6kW  (HAS.WORKS)
🔗 https://lnkd.in/epYiNdUv  (Eleveight Studio)
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eFes6RkS
🔗 https://lnkd.in/eSu4FMnZ

I built my website (growthmates.club) on Framer, and it consistently brings in qualified intro calls each week.

And if you want a platform that helps you get there faster
→ Start building in Framer.

It’s the fastest way to ship modern agency sites with full creative freedom, no dev bottlenecks, and strong performance.

PS: What’s a recent website you loved?

#agencywebsite #FramerPartner #UX

It’s time to start your content creator era.

This is what Elena Verna said in her recent newsletter, and Nad Chishtie confirmed on my podcast. 

I keep coming back to this thought about creators and who we actually allow to be one.
What’s happening right now reminds me a lot of the early days of YouTube.

Back then, almost everything that got uploaded had… three views. And honestly, that was fair. Most of it wasn’t great. None of it was trying to win an Oscar.

But something much more important happened.

People who had never created anything before suddenly started publishing.
Not perfectly. Not professionally. But consistently.

And once that door opened, expectations changed about what you can do, what you’re allowed to try, and whether you need permission to start.

This is what we talked about on the Growthmates podcast with Nad from Lovable.
When the barrier drops, quantity explodes first.

Quality always comes later —and that’s not a bug, it’s the process.
The real win isn’t great content. It’s the fact that the content exists at all. Before, it didn’t.

And once millions of people experience themselves as creators even briefly the definition of “creator” can’t stay the same anymore.

🎧 Full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/ecrFc3aK

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The Battle

Ramli "RJ" John

Kate Syuma

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The Battle

Ramli "RJ" John

Kate Syuma

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ramli "RJ" John's LinkedIn Performance

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