#101 — Sanity's dual PLG to Enterprise Sales motion
August 4, 2025•7 min read
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The big picture: Most B2B SaaS companies force a false choice between product-led growth and enterprise sales. Sanity CEO Magnus Hillestad reveals the complete playbook for building both from day one — generating tens of millions in ARR with 80% coming from enterprise deals that started as inbound PLG leads.
Foundation: Setting the Stage for the Dual-Motion
Product Architecture for PLG-Enterprise Hybrid
- Make core components open source — Open source your primary interface while keeping critical backend components proprietary
- Developer-first entry point — Use package managers (NPM, PyPI, etc.) as primary product trial mechanism
- Rich customization affordances — Build your product as an "engineering tool," not marketing software, to attract product-minded buyers
- Generous free tier — Allow meaningful usage without payment to drive adoption and word-of-mouth
Early Market Positioning Strategy
- Target practitioners, sell to committees — Position for end users while understanding enterprise buying committees exist
- Focus on cross-platform use cases — Frame solutions for multi-channel applications rather than single-use scenarios
- Prepare for enterprise from day one — Include SSO and core enterprise features in initial offering, before enterprise demand
The PLG Motion: Building Your Inbound Engine
Community-Driven Growth Strategy
- Personal outreach at scale — Contact every signup asking for feedback, regardless of company size
- Build vibrant communities — Create active communities (Slack, Discord) with thousands of engaged members
- Position as open source-adjacent — Benefit from open source perception while maintaining business model flexibility
Content and Developer Relations
- Hire DevRel early — Make developer relations one of your first strategic hires to build community
- Focus on practical learning — Create training materials for building "real applications" rather than hobby projects
- Authentic engagement — Avoid "cringey" marketing by being transparent about commercial motives while providing genuine value
Product Distribution Strategy
- Plugin ecosystem — Enable easy extension creation and sharing through exchange platforms
- Conference presence — Attend practitioner-focused events and build relationships with complementary platforms
- Documentation ownership — Make DevRel responsible for world-class documentation
The Enterprise Sales Motion: Converting PLG
Timeline and Scaling Approach
- Expect enterprise calls within 6-12 months — Be prepared for large companies to reach out earlier than anticipated
- Founders handle sales initially — Leadership should personally manage sales for 12-24 months to understand the motion
- Hire in pairs for A/B testing — When scaling sales, hire multiple account executives to compare approaches
Sales Team Structure and Growth
- Start with 1 salesperson + 1 solution engineer — Both should shadow founders extensively before taking ownership
- Geographic expansion strategy — Begin in home market, then expand with experienced personnel
- Strategic outbound timing — While some companies succeed with pure inbound for years, most need early outbound for product-market fit validation, especially products without inherent viral characteristics
Deal Structure and Pricing
- Segmentation over journey — Price for immediate enterprise entry rather than expecting upgrade paths
- Grandfather existing pricing — Never change pricing for existing customers during plan revisions
- Contract growth structure — Design initial contracts to expand as customer usage grows
Revenue Mix and Business Model
The Enterprise Reality
- Majority enterprise revenue — Despite PLG motion, expect 70-90% of revenue from enterprise sales in B2B markets
- Inbound-driven enterprise — Enterprise revenue can be driven entirely by product-led acquisition
- Higher contract values — Enterprise deals typically 10-100x larger than self-serve plans
Customer Segmentation Strategy
- Enterprise starts enterprise — Large organizations bypass self-serve and expect full sales apparatus from day one
- Respect free users — Maintain generous free tiers as they drive community growth and word-of-mouth
- Professional services boundary — Consider avoiding professional services while providing strong solution engineering support
Operational Excellence and Team Building
Hiring Philosophy for Founders
- Do the job yourself first — Personally handle each function before hiring to truly understand requirements
- Avoid interim leaders — When someone leaves, step into that role personally rather than hiring temporary leadership
- Learn stage-appropriate roles — Understand what leadership roles mean at your current stage, not enterprise scale
Team Structure Considerations
- Solution engineering emphasis — Strong technical support team for complex implementation discussions
- Developer experience focus — Evolution from DevRel to Developer Experience as company matures
- Sales-to-engineering ratio — Maintain appropriate balance between technical and commercial teams
Key Success Metrics and Milestones
Growth Trajectory Indicators
- Project/implementation volume — Track total applications built on your platform
- API usage growth — Monitor billions of API requests as usage indicator
- Community engagement — Measure active community members and participation rates
- Content creation metrics — Track documents, records, or assets created through your platform
Customer Diversity Goals
- Enterprise customer breadth — Aim for Fortune 500 customers across multiple industries
- Use case expansion — Target applications beyond original intended use cases
- Cross-platform adoption — Success across web, mobile, IoT, and specialized systems
Critical Success Factors
What Makes the Difference
- Early enterprise readiness — Have security and compliance features before first enterprise prospect
- Maintained practitioner focus — Never compromise technical credibility for enterprise feature demands
- Authentic community building — Genuine care for free users and community members, not just prospects
- Founder-led learning — Deep personal understanding before delegation
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
- Don't abandon free users — Enterprise success doesn't mean squeezing self-serve customers
- Avoid feature creep — Stay focused on core user experience rather than chasing every enterprise request
- Don't universally delay outbound — While some succeed with pure inbound, most products need early outbound for market validation
- Resist interim leadership — Take on roles personally to understand them before hiring
When Early Outbound Is Essential
💡 The Agency Advantage: Building Product-Market Fit Before Launch
Critical context: Sanity's PLG success wasn't built from scratch. The product originated from co-founder's agency work, where they developed the CMS to solve a specific client problem — helping architect Rem Koolhaas move from WordPress to a more flexible system. By 2016, they had already achieved product-market fit through three bootstrap cases within their agency, using the MVP for everything from websites to corporate databases to printing books. When they spun out as a software company in 2018, they weren't searching for product-market fit — they were scaling a proven solution.
This explains why no early outbound was necessary for product-market fit — they had already validated the product, refined the user experience, and understood their ideal customer profile through years of agency work. Most startups don't have this luxury and require early outbound to discover what Sanity already knew.
Products That Need Early Outbound
- Non-viral products — Solutions without natural sharing mechanisms or peer-to-peer recommendations
- Niche markets — Specialized products serving specific industries requiring targeted outreach
- Complex implementation — Products requiring consultative selling or significant customer education
- Market validation needs — Early-stage companies still discovering ideal customer profiles
The Outbound-First Approach
Unlike pure PLG success stories, most B2B startups should use early outbound to:
- Validate product-market fit through direct customer conversations
- Understand buyer pain points before building extensive PLG infrastructure
- Refine messaging and positioning based on real customer feedback
- Identify decision-makers and buying committee dynamics
The bottom line: This playbook works because it treats PLG and enterprise as complementary motions rather than competing strategies. The key is building practitioner love that scales into enterprise credibility, then maintaining both audiences through authentic engagement and technical excellence. However, don't assume every product can replicate pure inbound success — most startups need early outbound efforts to achieve product-market fit before scaling inbound channels.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to see enterprise customers from a PLG motion?
Sanity received calls from Fortune 500 companies like Bosch, Electrolux, and Burger King within 7 months of launch. However, this assumes you have enterprise-ready features (SSO, security) from day one and target developers who influence buying committees. Timeline varies by product complexity and market size.
What percentage of PLG companies actually succeed with enterprise sales?
While most PLG companies start with self-serve expectations, Sanity's revenue mix is 80% enterprise sales and 20% self-serve - all inbound. Companies like Amplitude have seen similar patterns where enterprise deals drive the majority of revenue despite bottom-up adoption starting the relationship.
Should founders handle sales themselves before hiring a sales team?
Yes - Sanity's CEO personally handled sales for 18 months before hiring account executives. This allowed him to understand the exact motion that worked and teach it to new hires. Magnus recommends founders 'try to do it yourself and really understand what is the purpose of that job' before delegating.
How do you price for enterprise vs PLG users without alienating either?
Use segmentation over journey pricing. Sanity prices for immediate enterprise entry ($100K+ contracts) rather than expecting upgrade paths. They never change pricing for existing customers, even free users, and maintain generous free tiers. AT&T doesn't start self-serve - they expect full sales apparatus from day one.
What's the ideal sales team structure when scaling from PLG to enterprise?
Start with 1 salesperson + 1 solution engineer who shadow founders extensively. Sanity grew to a 30-person sales team (growing to 60) at 160 total employees. They hired account executives in pairs to A/B test approaches and didn't start outbound until Q3 2024, post-Series B with tens of millions in ARR.
How important is open source for developer-first PLG companies?
Critical for credibility. Sanity made half their product (Sanity Studio) open source with MIT licensing while keeping the database closed source. This gave them open source perception benefits while maintaining business model flexibility. They now pledge $2,000 annually per full-time developer to open source projects.
What community size indicates readiness for enterprise sales motion?
Sanity built a 30,000-person Slack community and personally emailed every signup for 'unvarnished feedback' regardless of company size. Their approach: encourage all employees to participate in community, answer questions, and genuinely care about free users - not just potential customers.
How do you maintain developer focus while pursuing enterprise deals?
Never compromise technical credibility for enterprise feature demands. Sanity positions as an 'engineering tool,' not marketing software, sells to product people and engineering teams, and maintains that 'the moment we don't focus on developers to really love the product... our biggest edge is done'.
When should PLG companies start building outbound sales capabilities?
Unlike Sanity's ultra-late approach, most startups should consider early outbound for product-market fit validation. While Sanity waited until Q3 2024 post-Series B, this works only if you have strong developer-led viral adoption. For products without natural PLG motion, outbound is essential for early customer discovery and market validation.
What's the biggest mistake PLG companies make when adding enterprise sales?
Abandoning their core user base. Sanity's philosophy: 'We love their feedback. We love people using it for free'. They never squeeze self-serve users when making pricing revisions and grandfather all existing pricing. The key is treating PLG and enterprise as complementary motions, not competing strategies.
Should early-stage startups without PLG motion avoid outbound sales?
No - early outbound is essential for non-PLG products to achieve product-market fit. While Sanity succeeded with pure inbound due to developer virality, most B2B products need proactive customer discovery through outbound efforts. Use early outbound to validate assumptions, understand buyer personas, and refine messaging before scaling inbound channels.
How do you combine SEO with product-led growth for B2B companies?
Target keywords across the user journey - from awareness ('what is CRM') to consideration ('best CRM software for small business') to decision ('HubSpot CRM pricing'). Create content that showcases product features directly, use free tools optimized for relevant keywords, and ensure landing pages provide seamless onboarding experiences.
Should PLG companies hire DevRel or customer success first for enterprise sales?
DevRel early for community building, then customer success before sales leadership. Many companies hire customer success first to cherry-pick bigger accounts signing up for free and make them super successful. This creates a model of success that a sales team can later emulate, rather than jumping straight to sales.
What's the minimum ARR to justify adding enterprise sales to PLG motion?
Focus on signal strength over ARR thresholds. While Sanity waited until tens of millions in ARR before significant outbound investment, the key indicator is inbound enterprise demand. If Fortune 500 companies aren't calling within 7-12 months of launch, validate PLG motion effectiveness before adding expensive sales infrastructure.
How long should PLG enterprise sales cycles be compared to traditional enterprise sales?
Significantly shorter due to product familiarity. Sanity closed initial enterprise contracts in 3-4 months because prospects already understood the product through their PLG motion. Traditional enterprise sales can take 12-18 months, but PLG-driven enterprise sales average 6-9 months since users have already experienced value.
What enterprise features should PLG companies build before their first enterprise customer?
SSO and basic security features are essential from day one. Sanity had these ready before Burger King called, avoiding feature development delays. Don't wait for enterprise customers to request features - anticipate needs like audit logs, advanced permissions, and compliance certifications early in development.
When is outbound sales more important than PLG for early-stage companies?
When your product lacks natural viral coefficients or requires complex implementation. Early outbound is crucial for products serving niche markets, requiring consultative selling, or targeting specific buyer personas. Unlike developer tools with built-in sharing mechanisms, most B2B products need proactive outreach to identify and educate potential customers.
Can freemium models work for enterprise PLG companies?
Yes, but with caveats. Generous free tiers drive community growth and word-of-mouth, but enterprise customers typically bypass free plans entirely. Use freemium to attract developers who influence enterprise buying committees, not as a direct path to enterprise revenue. AT&T and similar companies expect full sales apparatus from first contact.
How do you prevent sales and product teams from conflicting in PLG-to-enterprise transitions?
Create cross-functional teams and shared KPIs. Avoid siloing sales and customer success teams - they need unified customer views. Never let enterprise feature requests compromise core developer experience. Use quarterly reviews to align go-to-market strategy across sales, marketing, product, and customer success.
What's the difference between product-led growth and product-led sales?
Product-led growth drives user acquisition through the product itself. Product-led sales uses the product to generate qualified leads that still require sales team engagement. Sanity exemplifies product-led sales - 80% enterprise revenue comes from sales teams, but all leads originate from their PLG motion.
Should PLG companies worry about churn when adding enterprise sales?
Monitor carefully during transition periods. Don't switch strategies overnight as sudden changes can cause confusion and decreased morale. Maintain PLG tactics that created organic adoption while adding enterprise capabilities. A/B test pricing changes and grandfather existing customers to prevent churn during the transition.
How do developer-focused PLG companies sell to non-technical enterprise buyers?
Sell to product people and engineering teams within enterprises, not traditional marketing buyers. Position as an 'engineering tool' that solves cross-channel content problems (web, mobile, kiosks, POS systems) rather than just marketing websites. Technical credibility with developers influences enterprise buying committees more than traditional marketing approaches.
Why is early outbound important for non-PLG startups seeking product-market fit?
Outbound provides crucial market validation and customer insights that inbound channels can't deliver early. Proactive outreach helps founders understand buyer pain points, validate pricing assumptions, and refine product positioning before investing in content marketing or PLG infrastructure. This is especially critical for complex B2B products requiring education and consultative selling.
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