I watched a PMM present their launch plan to the CEO. "We're going to do some content marketing, run some LinkedIn ads, enable the sales team, and launch in Q2."

The CEO paused. "That's a list of activities. What's the strategy?"

The PMM looked confused. "Well, we'll promote the product and sales will sell it."

The CEO tried again. "But HOW are we going to market? Are buyers discovering us or are we prospecting them? Can they buy without talking to sales? What's the motion here?"

Silence. The PMM genuinely didn't understand the question.

This conversation happens constantly because most product marketers think GTM strategy means "doing marketing and sales." They know tactics—webinars, ads, sales decks, launch emails. But they haven't chosen the fundamental model that determines how customers discover, evaluate, and buy.

That model is your GTM framework. It's the difference between throwing tactics at the wall and executing a coherent strategy.

Here are the five frameworks that actually work, and how to choose the right one.

Why The Framework Matters More Than The Tactics

Your GTM framework determines everything else: pricing model, sales team structure, what you build in the product, where you spend marketing budget, how you measure success.

Pick product-led growth when you should be sales-led, and you'll waste months building self-serve onboarding for a product that requires implementation help. Pick sales-led when you should be product-led, and you'll force prospects through unnecessary friction when they just want to try the damn product.

The five frameworks below aren't arbitrary categories. They're patterns that successful companies have validated across thousands of go-to-markets. Your job is to match your product reality to the right pattern.

Framework 1: Product-Led Growth (The Product Sells Itself)

Product-led growth means the product is your primary sales and marketing channel. Users discover you, try you, and upgrade—all without talking to a human. Think Slack, Notion, Calendly, Zoom.

The magic of PLG is that every user can become a distribution channel. Someone shares a Calendly link, the recipient clicks it, sees how easy it is, and signs up themselves. Someone invites a teammate to Slack, that person invites their team, and suddenly you've grown from 5 users to 500 without a single sales call.

But PLG only works under specific conditions. And most products that try it fail because they force a self-serve model onto something that fundamentally requires human help.

PLG works when you can get someone to meaningful value in under an hour, by themselves, without help.

That's the test. Can someone sign up, complete a real workflow, and say "oh, this is useful" before they lose patience? If yes, PLG is viable. If they need configuration help, data migration, or training, you'll bleed trial users who sign up excitedly and churn confused.

I once advised a company building PLG into an enterprise analytics platform. They spent six months building self-serve onboarding. Users would sign up, stare at an empty dashboard, realize they needed to connect data sources, get stuck on OAuth permissions, and leave. Time to value: never. They should have been sales-led from day one.

When PLG fits:

Your product is simple enough that users can understand what it does within minutes. Think collaboration tools, scheduling apps, simple design tools. Not enterprise resource planning systems.

Your price point is low enough that users can buy without approval. Generally under $100/month. If prospects need procurement approval, credit card self-serve won't work.

You have viral mechanics built in. The product gets better when more people use it. Calendly only works if you share links. Figma only makes sense for teams. Notion becomes powerful when teams collaborate.

You can get to value fast. Under an hour is the gold standard. Users won't tolerate multi-day onboarding in a self-serve model.

The metrics that matter in PLG:

Free signups per month (top of funnel) Activation rate—the percentage who reach that first moment of value Free-to-paid conversion—10-20% is good for freemium Viral coefficient—how many new users each user brings in

If your activation rate is below 30%, your time-to-value is too long for PLG. If free-to-paid is under 5%, your freemium tier gives away too much. If viral coefficient is under 0.5, you don't have true viral loops.

Framework 2: Sales-Led Growth (Humans Sell To Humans)

Sales-led growth means sales reps are the primary engine for acquiring and closing customers. Marketing generates leads, but sales closes deals through discovery calls, custom demos, and negotiations. Think traditional enterprise software: Salesforce, Workday, SAP.

This model exists because some products are fundamentally too complex, too expensive, or too customized for self-serve. Buyers need human guidance to understand fit, configure the solution, and justify the investment to stakeholders.

The tell that you need sales-led: Your prospects can't evaluate your product meaningfully without help. They need someone to explain how it works for their specific use case, show them configuration options, walk them through implementation, and build an ROI case they can present to their CFO.

I worked with a company that tried to PLG a product requiring deep integration with legacy enterprise systems. Prospects would sign up, realize they needed API documentation and custom configuration, and email "can someone help me?" They needed sales from day one—not as a failure, but as the right model for the product reality.

When sales-led fits:

Your product is complex enough that buyers need demos and explanation. Not because your UX is bad—because the problem space is inherently sophisticated. Enterprise resource planning, data infrastructure, security platforms. These aren't self-explanatory.

Your price point demands human justification. Once you cross $25-50K annually, buyers need to build a business case and get approvals. They want a salesperson to help them make that case. At $100K+, it's basically required.

Your sales cycle involves multiple stakeholders. When the economic buyer (VP) is different from the end users (ICs), you need sales to navigate that org chart and build consensus.

You need customization or professional services. If every customer needs configuration, training, or custom implementation, you need salespeople and solutions engineers who can scope and sell that work.

The metrics that matter in sales-led:

Marketing qualified leads per month (how many prospects enter the funnel) Demo-to-opportunity conversion (40-60% is good) Win rate (20-40% is typical for complex B2B) Average deal size (should be $50K+ to justify the sales cost) Sales cycle length (track to optimize, but complex sales take 3-12 months)

If your win rate is below 20%, your qualification is broken. If sales cycle exceeds 12 months consistently, you're selling to the wrong buyers. If ACV is under $25K, you probably can't afford the sales model.

GTM Model 3: Hybrid (PLG + SLG)

What it is: Product-led for SMB, sales-led for enterprise. "Land and expand."

Example companies: Atlassian, HubSpot, Datadog, Figma

How it works:

SMB motion (PLG):

• Free trial or freemium
• Self-serve signup
• Credit card purchase
• Product-led expansion

Enterprise motion (SLG):

• Sales outreach when usage signals enterprise fit
• AEs engage for >$50K deals
• Custom contracts and pricing

Hybrid strategy: Start PLG (land), add sales (expand)

When to use Hybrid:

Yes if:

• Product works for SMB and enterprise
• Can segment clearly (small self-serve, large sales-led)
• Want fast SMB growth + high-value enterprise deals

Example: Figma

• Free tier: Small teams self-serve
• Growth tier: $12/user/month (self-serve)
• Enterprise tier: Sales-led for 100+ seat deals
• Land with design team (PLG), expand to org (SLG)

Hybrid metrics:

• PLG: Activation rate, free → paid conversion
• SLG: Enterprise pipeline, deal size, win rate
• Expansion: Small → large account expansion rate

GTM Model 4: Channel/Partner-Led

What it is: Partners sell and implement your product. You enable, they sell.

Example companies: Cisco, Microsoft, Adobe (channel programs)

How it works:

Partner recruitment:

• Identify partners (resellers, agencies, consultants)
• Onboard and train partners
• Provide sales enablement

Partner enablement:

• Partner portal with resources
• Training and certification
• Marketing co-op funds
• Deal registration

Revenue sharing:

• Partners sell, you fulfill
• Revenue share (70/30 or 80/20 split)

When to use Channel/Partner:

Yes if:

• Partners have customer relationships
• Implementation/services needed (partners provide)
• Global reach (partners have local presence)
• Don't want to build direct sales team

No if:

• Simple product (no implementation needed)
• Partners don't add value
• Want direct customer relationship

Example: HubSpot Agency Partner Program

• Agencies sell and implement HubSpot
• HubSpot trains and certifies agencies
• Agencies get referral revenue + service fees

Channel metrics:

• of active partners

• Partner-sourced revenue (% of total)
• Partner satisfaction
• Revenue per partner

GTM Model 5: Community-Led Growth

What it is: Community drives awareness, adoption, and expansion. Users evangelize product.

Example companies: Product Hunt, Indie Hackers, Circle, DEV

How it works:

Community building:

• Create space for users to connect (Slack, Discord, Forum)
• User-generated content
• Peer support (community helps each other)

Evangelism:

• Power users advocate
• Word-of-mouth referrals
• User-created content and tutorials

Monetization:

• Community members convert organically
• Upsell through community engagement
• Community tiers (free vs. paid)

When to use Community-Led:

Yes if:

• Network effects strong (better with more users)
• Users passionate (want to engage)
• Peer learning valuable
• Can create user-to-user value

No if:

• Users transactional (don't want community)
• No network effects
• Can't dedicate resources to community building

Example: Circle (community platform)

• Free community platform
• Active Slack community
• User-created courses and templates
• Word-of-mouth drives 70% of growth

Community metrics:

• Active community members
• Engagement rate
• User-generated content volume
• Community-sourced revenue

Choosing Your GTM Model

Decision tree:

Q1: Is your product simple or complex?

Simple (easy to understand): → Go to Q2

Complex (needs demo/training): → Sales-Led or Channel/Partner

Q2: What's your price point?

<$100/month: → Product-Led

$100-$10K/month: → Hybrid (PLG for small, SLG for large)

>$10K+: → Sales-Led

Q3: Are there network effects?

Strong network effects: → Product-Led or Community-Led

No network effects: → Sales-Led

Q4: Do you have existing partners?

Strong partner ecosystem: → Channel/Partner-Led

No partners: → Product-Led or Sales-Led

Example decision:

Product: GTM automation platform

• Complexity: Medium (needs some training)
• Price: $99-$999/month
• Network effects: Moderate (team collaboration)
• Partners: None initially

GTM choice: Hybrid

• Small teams (<10): Product-led (free trial, self-serve)
• Large teams (>25): Sales-led (demos, custom pricing)

Implementing Your Chosen GTM Model

If You Choose PLG:

Build:

• Free trial or freemium tier
• In-product onboarding
• Self-serve checkout
• Usage-based pricing

Metrics:

• Activation rate (target: 50%+)
• Time to value (target: <1 hour)
• Free → Paid conversion (target: 10-20%)
• Viral coefficient (target: >1.0)

Team:

• Product: Focus on in-product experience
• Marketing: Drive signups
• No sales (or sales-assist for expansions)

If You Choose SLG:

Build:

• Lead gen engine (content, ads, events)
• Sales team and processes
• Demo environments
• Custom proposal process

Metrics:

• MQLs per month
• Demo → Opp conversion (40-60%)
• Win rate (30-40%)
• Average deal size ($50K+)

Team:

• SDRs for qualification
• AEs for deal closing
• SEs for technical demos

If You Choose Hybrid:

Build:

• PLG motion for SMB
• Sales motion for enterprise
• Clear thresholds (when to engage sales)

Threshold example:

• <$10K/year: Self-serve only
• $10K-$50K: Sales-assist (light touch)

• $50K: Full sales engagement

Team:

• Product for self-serve experience
• Marketing for inbound
• Sales for high-value deals

Evolving Your GTM Model

Most companies start with one model, evolve:

Stage 1: Startup ($0-$5M ARR)

• Start PLG or SLG (pick one)
• Focus and execute

Stage 2: Growth ($5M-$50M ARR)

• Add hybrid if started PLG (add sales for large deals)
• Add PLG if started SLG (self-serve for SMB)

Stage 3: Scale ($50M+)

• Multi-model: PLG + SLG + Channels + Community
• Different models for different segments

Don't try to do everything at once. Master one model first.

Common GTM Mistakes

Mistake 1: Choosing wrong model

You build PLG for complex $100K enterprise product

Problem: Enterprise buyers need sales, not self-serve

Fix: Match GTM to product complexity and price

Mistake 2: Trying to do everything

You do PLG + SLG + Channels simultaneously

Problem: Diluted focus, execute none well

Fix: Pick one, master it, add others later

Mistake 3: Not committing

You say "PLG" but don't invest in product-led experience

Problem: Inconsistent execution

Fix: Commit resources to chosen model

Mistake 4: Ignoring metrics

You run PLG but don't track activation or conversion

Problem: Can't optimize

Fix: Track model-specific metrics rigorously

Mistake 5: Never evolving

You stick with PLG even as you move upmarket

Problem: Miss enterprise opportunity

Fix: Evolve GTM as you scale

Quick Start: Choose and Launch GTM Model in 1 Month

Week 1: Analysis

• Assess product (complexity, price, fit)
• Research competitors (what GTM do they use?)
• Interview customers (how do they want to buy?)

Week 2: Decision

• Choose GTM model (use decision tree)
• Define success metrics
• Outline required resources

Week 3: Build

• PLG: Free trial, onboarding, self-serve checkout
• SLG: Lead gen, sales process, demo script
• Hybrid: Both + threshold rules

Week 4: Launch

• Go live with chosen model
• Track metrics weekly
• Iterate based on data

Deliverable: Clear GTM model with execution plan

Impact: Focused strategy vs. scattered tactics

The Uncomfortable Truth About GTM Frameworks

Most companies don't actually choose a GTM framework. They copy what successful companies do without understanding why those models work.

They see Slack's success with PLG and decide "we should be PLG too," then build self-serve onboarding for a product that requires configuration help. Or they assume "enterprise software needs sales" and force prospects through unnecessary demos when they'd happily self-serve.

The result is scattered execution. They're running PLG tactics with sales-led economics, or trying to do hybrid without defining when sales should engage. Nothing works particularly well because the foundation—the GTM framework—was never deliberately chosen.

Here's what actually works: Match your framework to your product reality, not to what's trendy or what worked at your last company. PLG works for simple, low-price, viral products. Sales-led works for complex, high-price, multi-stakeholder products. Hybrid works when you can genuinely serve both SMB self-serve and enterprise sales-assisted.

Then commit to that model for at least 12 months. Master it before adding complexity. Don't try to be PLG and sales-led and community-led simultaneously unless you're at scale with the resources to execute all three well.

Track the metrics that matter for your chosen model. If you're PLG, obsess over activation rate and trial-to-paid conversion. If you're sales-led, track demo-to-opp conversion and win rate. If you're hybrid, instrument both funnels and know exactly when the handoff from product to sales should happen.

Then evolve deliberately as you grow. Most companies start with one model and add others as they scale. That's fine. But do it intentionally, not because you're desperate and throwing tactics at the wall.

If you can't explain your GTM framework in one sentence—"We're PLG for SMB and sales-assisted for enterprise with PQL handoff at $25K ARR"—you don't have a strategy. You have a collection of tactics hoping to become a strategy.

Choose your framework deliberately based on product reality. Commit to it fully. Execute it rigorously. Evolve it strategically. That's how GTM actually works.