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Morning coffee thought: While everyone's scrambling to hire AI engineers at $300K salaries, the smartest growth teams are quietly using $30/month no-code tools and AI workflows to amplify their existing talent. The real advantage isn't replacing humans—it's making each team member 10x more productive than competitors still doing everything manually.
GROWTH INTEL
PLG companies hit $230B valuation milestone as enterprise adoption accelerates
Market size: PLG ecosystem in "hyper-growth mode" with VCs investing heavily across seven specialised startups tracking product-qualified leads
What happened: PLG strategies evolving beyond basic freemium models - companies like Calendly ($3B valuation) and Notion ($10B) demonstrating mature PLG at scale
Why it matters: Best-in-class PLG companies demonstrate 130–150% Net Dollar Retention while sales-led peers struggle with 110-120% rates
Enterprise shift: Traditional sales-led companies like ServiceNow now sprinting to adopt PLG models mid-stream
AI MOVES
QuickBooks launches AI marketing agents - Mailchimp integration goes live this week
What it does: AI marketing agent designed to assist with campaign creation, helping teams handle segmentation, content drafting, and message delivery while marketers focus on strategy
The tech: Powered by Intuit Assist - generative AI system spanning QuickBooks ecosystem with Customer Agent, Payments Agent, and Finance Agent working alongside human teams
Market response: Better Business Advice recognised QuickBooks as top AI marketing tool, signaling shift from accounting-only to full business operations platform that enhances human capabilities
Competition: Small business automation space heating up as accounting platforms add AI assistance - augmenting standalone tools like Mailchimp, ConvertKit rather than replacing them
NO-CODE NEWS
Gartner predicts 70% of enterprise apps built with no-code by 2025 - major platforms respond
The numbers: 70% of new applications developed by enterprises will utilize low-code or no-code technologies by end of 2025
Platform updates: FlutterFlow adds advanced API integrations and AI-driven personalisation, Softr evolves into "one-stop shop" with 800K+ users worldwide
What changed: Low-code development tools expected to account for 75% of new application development by 2026, driven by talent shortages and speed demands
Industry adoption: 66% of developers either using no-code already or planning to in coming year - mainstream adoption accelerating beyond early adopters
Market Pulse
No-code market: $15 billion valuation, expected to quadruple to $60B+ in next five years (ISG forecast)
Cost savings: 70% cost reduction vs full-scale IT modernization, setup times reduced from 1-2 years to 3 days
PLG efficiency: PLG companies demonstrate capital efficient growth through self-service - Zapier hit $230M ARR with minimal funding
Developer shortage: 75% acceleration in no-code adoption driven by talent scarcity and $300K+ AI engineer salaries
Enterprise adoption: ServiceNow, Salesforce adding no-code capabilities as Fortune 500 demand grows
Source: ISG Information Services Group, Gartner Research, OpenView Partners
The Money Trail
PLG Winners vs. Losers This Week:
Elite Performers (Rule of 40 Score >60):
Palantir: 94% (50% growth + 44% margin) - "obliterating" the benchmark according to Wall Street
Figma: 63% (46% growth + 17% margin) - proving PLG can deliver hyper-growth at scale
The PLG Reality Check:
Classic PLG companies hitting walls: Dropbox fell from 40% to 7% (2018), Slack dropped from 82% to 32% (2019-2021), Zoom declined from hyper-growth to 7% (2023)
Market pattern: Early PLG winners struggle to maintain growth as they mature
The Intelligence
Investors now demanding Rule of 40 scores above 40% as baseline - companies balancing 20% growth with 20% margins becoming the new "safe bet" while pure growth plays face margin pressure.. The "growth at all costs" PLG era is officially dead. 2025 is about profitable PLG or bust.
Tool Watch
🛠️ TRENDING NOW
Gumloop - AI automation tool that connects any LLM model (GPT-4, Claude, Grok) to internal tools without coding
Pricing Breakdown:
Free tier: Limited workflows, basic LLM access
Pro: $29/month for unlimited workflows + premium LLMs (they absorb API costs)
Team: $99/month for collaboration features + enterprise LLMs
Enterprise: Custom pricing with dedicated support
Key Benefits:
No API key management - Gumloop handles all LLM costs and connections, letting teams focus on workflows instead of infrastructure
200+ pre-built integrations vs. Zapier's limited AI capabilities
Visual workflow builder that's actually intuitive (unlike most automation tools) - empowers non-technical team members
Works with any LLM model, not locked into one provider - gives teams flexibility to choose best AI for each task
Potential Issues:
Newer platform = smaller community vs. Zapier's massive user base
Limited documentation compared to established automation tools
Pricing could get expensive if they change their "absorb API costs" model
Still in rapid development - features can change frequently
📈 Adoption Signal: Teams at Webflow, Instacart, Shopify using it over traditional automation tools - suggests enterprise readiness despite being only 1 year old
Stock Watch
Today's Pick: Veeva Systems (VEEV) - The Pharma PLG Machine
What They Do: Cloud software for pharmaceutical and life sciences companies - think Salesforce but for drug makers. 95% of top 20 pharma companies use their platform.
The Numbers:
Rule of 40 Score: 58% (28% growth + 30% margin)
Market Cap: $32.4B (quietly massive)
YTD Performance: +12% while most SaaS stocks are flat
Customer Stickiness: 99.5% retention rate (higher than Slack ever achieved)
Why It's Flying Under The Radar:
Boring industry (pharma) but massive TAM ($4.7B market growing 15% annually)
Product-led adoption within pharma companies - scientists love the UX
Zero churn risk - regulatory compliance makes switching nearly impossible
Trading at 45x earnings vs. Salesforce's 150x+ multiple
The Catalyst: FDA pushing digital clinical trials post-COVID, Veeva's platform becoming essential infrastructure. Q2 earnings beat estimates by 8% while guiding higher for rest of year.
Risk Factor: Single industry exposure - pharma slowdown would hurt, but unlikely given aging population trends.
Investment Thesis: A profitable, growing PLG company in a recession-proof industry, trading at a discount to sexier SaaS names.
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