About the Book
A Next Big Idea Club "Must Read" for August 2025!
Competing in tech today requires an understanding of "product-led growth"
Companies like Dropbox, Zoom, Slack, Atlassian, and DocuSign grew into multibillion-dollar companies using the 3-step "Freemium" product strategy: (1) instead of hiring an expensive sales force, give away software for free; (2) let happy users tell others; (3) offer a premium subscription version, producing a recurring revenue stream. Over the last three decades, Freemium strategy has evolved into a practice known to tech industry insiders as "product-led growth," which Harvard Business School Lecturer Frank Cespedes calls, "probably the fastest-growing go-to-market model for businesses globally."
Freemium is the authoritative guide to product-led growth, written by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Harvard MBA Dave Boyce, who teaches the first MBA-level course on the topic. Freemium explains how to develop a product that can sell itself, how to ward off competitors, and how to seamlessly move upmarket, selling to larger customers. It details how the product itself (instead of expensive employees) can be used for customer onboarding, customer service, and customer retention. Freemium also details how non-software companies and enterprise sales-led companies are combining product-led growth tactics with more traditional go-to-market initiatives.
Competing in nearly every tech-related industry today requires an understanding of the principles of product-led growth. Freemium is the comprehensive, practical handbook for this unicorn-building strategy.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: How "Freemium" Became "Product-led Growth"
I. How Billion-Dollar Companies are Built Using Product-Led Growth (PLG)
1. Why Freemium is a Powerful Strategy for Every Company with Digital Products
2. The Paradigm-Shifting Cost Savings and Customer Experience of Product-Led Growth
3. First Principles of Product-Led Growth: Empathy, Generosity, and Metrics
4. Product-Led Growth is a Long-Term Growth Strategy, Not a Short-Term Sales Tactic
II. Product-Led Growth Implementation and Tactics
5. Creating and Managing Growth Teams
6. Building a Minimum Viable Product for Freemium Adoption
7. Filling the Marketing Funnel: How to Acquire Self-Service Customers
8. Building Self-Service Onboarding into Your Freemium Product
9. How to Convert Free Users into Large, Paying Contracts
10. Pricing Strategy for Enterprise-Level PLG
11. Customer Success Without a Customer Success Department
12. Shifting From Marketing Funnels to Product Loops
III. Product-Led Growth Within Large Enterprises
13. The Enterprise Sales Inflection Point
14. Crossing the Chasm from Pure PLG to PLG-Plus-Sales
15. Selling Tactics for Product-Generated Leads and Product-Led Sales
16. Lessons from Building PLG Within Large, Established Companies
IV. The Next Generation of Product-Led Growth
17. Can PLG Work at a Company Like Mine?
18. Product-Led Growth Beyond Software
19. The Role of Humans and Artificial Intelligence in Product-Led Growth
About the Author :
Dave Boyce is a 5-time software entrepreneur, having helped build and sell companies to Oracle, Amazon, and others. He teaches the world's first MBA-level course on Freemium/Product-Led Growth, leads the product-Led growth practice at the consulting firm Winning by Design, serves on the board of Forrester (NASDAQ: FORR), and is an active startup advisor and board member.
Review :
"Freemium is a smart, timely book about what is probably the fastest-growing go-to-market model in businesses globally." - Frank Cespedes, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School and author of Aligning Strategy and Sales
"It's rare for a book to capture a Silicon Valley strategy as cleanly as Freemium does. If you want to build a product that sells itself, Dave Boyce clearly lays out the journey." - Neil Hoyne, Chief Strategist, Google
"As a venture capitalist, I work with founders every day who want to program growth into their businesses. Freemium is the growth manual I recommend. It lays out the principles of success for hundreds of companies that are now household names." - Mark Roberge, Co-Founder of Stage 2 Capital, Founding CRO at HubSpot, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School
"Having built a career at some of the leading Product-Led Growth companies, HubSpot, Adobe, DocuSign and Canva, I can confidently recommend Freemium as a shortcut to my learnings from the last decade." - Rob Giglio, Chief Customer Officer, Canva
"Boyce's understanding of go-to-market strategy and the pull toward self-service and AI-driven models of buying and selling has been visionary for me and my operating team." - George Colony, CEO of Forrester
"...Beautifully distills the core concepts of Product-Led Growth so that anyone can apply them." - Kyle Poyar, Co-Founder & Operating Partner at Tremont Ventures
"...Explains how executives can think about growth in a multi-channel, go-to-market world." - Alex Bilmes, CEO of Endgame
"The timing is right for a balanced approach to sustainable growth, which includes Product-Led Growth. Freemium lays out the roadmap for PLG as a part of a sustainable revenue architecture." - Jacco van der Kooij, Founder of Winning by Design
"Dave Boyce's deep understanding of Product-Led Growth and exceptional ability to translate complex concepts into practical advice sets this book apart." - Yvonne Wassenaar, SaaS CEO and Board Member
"Only a small percentage of executives truly understand Product Led-Growth principles, how PLG fits into an overall go-to-market strategy, and how to pursue a balanced approach. Freemium provides the answer and bridges PLG theory with practice in a respectful and easy-to-understand way." - Jesus Requena, Growth Executive (Figma, Hex, Unity)
"Today's companies face sky-high expectations from users, decision-makers, and investors. The playbook Boyce lays out is an extraordinary guide to not just meeting but exceeding expectations. This book changes the game for any product team seeking to scale their business while delighting users." - Tim Chaves, Co-Founder & COO of Jump, Former Co-Founder and CEO, ZipBooks
