What ✨everyone ✨ gets wrong about ‘product-led’ growth

Some product-led growth sounds sooo good right now, but wait, what is it?

Have you ever talked to someone who kind of works in your world, and the whole time you're like—wait, you too? That was my entire convo with Tanesha Smith-Wattley. We quickly aligned on how to make way for growth and all the common pitfalls that get in the way.

Before we get into this edition of Human Scale, I must talk about Tanesha. I originally met her as an embryo (ahem, a newly minted 25-year-old) working at a fashion e-commerce site called Bluefly during the heady days of the aughts/early 2010s (remember the golden age of Gilt Groupe, Rue La La, etc.?).

She was the coolest—a stylist and true fashion editorial girlie I was totally in awe of (credits including Italian Vogue, i-D, Vibe—like, hello??). But what I’ve admired even more over the years is her ability to pivot: into marketing, merchandising, and then ultimately product and UX, with roles at high-growth companies like FreshDirect and Clear. Today, she’s the Head of Product & Delivery at Very Good Ventures, a consultancy that helps global brands design, build, and scale successful apps. Like all phenomenal product people, her varied experience is her moat.

So when I wanted to talk about product-led growth, the only person I wanted to talk to was Tanesha.

To start us off, here’s her definition of product-led growth:  “Any time that the organic and intended usage of your product inherently leads to its growth.” (← Write this down!)

Product-led growth isn’t just about referrals—it’s driven by tangible value, identity-based utility, or even status signaling.

Let’s dive in.

Understanding “tricks” vs. true growth

“Your growth can’t be rooted in tricks. You need a good, valuable, needed product.” Tanesha Smith-Wattley

Founders hate hearing this, but really, you do have to create something people genuinely want (even better if they need it). Sorry! Of course, if it were easy, everyone would do it. So let’s break it down:

The “tricks” – Consumer startups often fixate on manufactured virality: tons of intro incentives, referral gimmicks, finding the “right” influencers, and artificial scarcity. We’ve been there. We get it. We’ve done all these things. No shade! As systemized activations, these make real sense. But these tactics are often mistaken for actual engines of growth.

The true growth – Your product delivers real value—something users seek out and stick with. Build around utility, not just incentives, or you risk building something that can’t last.

Tanesha’s favorite examples of product-led growth:

• Venmo/Zelle: Network-based functionality; the product’s utility increases as more users join.

• Clear: Creates visible value for users (faster airport access), making others want in. Product spreads socially because of experiential envy and convenience.

Quick questions to ask yourself to see where you’re leaning (“trick” detectors, if you will)—if most are a YES ✅, you’re probably on the right track:

• ✅ Are most new customers converting at full price (not from promo incentives)?

• ✅ Are most new customers coming from “organic” sources

• ✅ Is your repeat customer rate 40% or higher?

So, with that out of the way, how do we avoid falling down the rabbit hole of “tricks”? First, let’s look at what founders often get wrong—and the simple, low-cost way to find a better path.

What founders get wrong (Talk to your users!)

“Every idea isn’t a business.” Tanesha Smith-Wattley 👀🫰

As much as we love an overconfident queen (← “queen” used here in the gender-neutral sense), you need to fact-check your conviction. This doesn’t have to be done in a super sophisticated way: you can simply talk to current users and customers. User feedback is gold, and simply reaching out to them via email or phone is the perfect way to start. No need for fancy tools—just talk to them. It’s particularly beneficial for founders to reach out directly to hear the feedback without it being filtered through anyone else.

🕵️ What to listen for in your user conversations:

• Misaligned expectations (what users thought the product would do vs. what it actually does)

• Language confusion (“clever” UX/copy can lead to confusion)

• Friction points in your onboarding or conversion flows

💡 Putting it all together: Don’t just collect feedback—synthesize it. Look for patterns and themes.

Handy UX & product strategy filters 

OK, so you know what product-led growth is, and you have some user calls lined up. What are some ways to start stringing all these things together?

Tanesha distilled some classic product tools you can use to clarify your product and UX approach:

• Comparative/competitive analysis: Define what’s “normal” in your category vs. what makes your experience distinct. This can be as simple as going through other sites and apps in your category as though you are a new customer.

• Two-by-two frameworks: Rank feature ideas by value vs. effort, or differentiation vs. familiarity. Instead of simply making a wishlist of things you’d like to try, scrutinize them through the filter of labor required, and whether they’ll be unique in a way that benefits your user or obstructs them.

Thou dost (test) too much:

It’s very tempting to A/B test every idea that comes to mind. Folks often over-inflate the importance of this testing as a way to ease decision-making, but we need to be mindful of the drag on overall productivity (it can slow us down unnecessarily!)—and that, frankly, you may not learn much (i.e., testing button colors or tiny copy changes won’t drive real growth).

🧑‍🔬 Here are some testing areas that tend to be most impactful:

• Testing user flows (distinct steps/UX differences)

• Testing personalization by segment vs. a standard experience

• Testing distinct conceptual differences (in messaging, creative, etc.)

Cross-disciplinary systems thinking

“As a non-engineer, I can't decipher code quality at a glance but there is an operational flow when quality coding is happening. It's my job to harness that and direct it.” Tanesha Smith-Wattley

Tanesha navigates dev, marketing, design thinking, and systems—all day long. Thinking across systems and disciplines is at the core of product work, and it’s something we can all adopt. Her key is to approach with curiosity and a lot of EQ: understanding how systems affect humans (our forever end users) is as valuable as knowing how the systems work.

Conclusions & Takeaways ✍️

Turns out that old expression, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door”, was really about product-led growth. Who knew?

A final Tanesha nugget: Not every product moment needs to ‘win’ daily—give strategies time to take hold. Sometimes it’s also just timing—that’s why the user isn’t doing that thing right this second.