Product-led growth (PLG) makes the product the primary engine of acquisition and expansion: users experience value directly, often before talking to sales, through free trials, freemium tiers or self-serve onboarding. Companies like Slack and Figma popularized the model.

PLG lowers customer acquisition cost and shortens sales cycles, but demands a product that delivers value fast and a pricing model that converts free users to paid over time.

Newer related concepts: Time-to-Value (TTV), Community-Led Growth.