锐客网

  1. 首页 > 科技 > >

English|How a Chinese Investor Discovered China’s First PLG Unicorn Lanhu( 三 )


Then we entered 2020, a year in which we were hit by a global pandemic and saw new opportunities in the software industry. In 2020, the way we work and collaborate with each other had been completely reshaped. The infrastructure then became more important than ever.
In 2020, the success and fast growth of Zoom brought the PLG strategy to the Chinese market.
Users can now access software services online that follow the principle of PLG very easily. Users can now collaborate with their colleagues online by using online collaboration platforms without having to change tools frequently. The convenient use and useful features eventually lead to word-of-mouth and viral promotion that converts more people into users, and in the long run, paying users. Such growth strategy is associated with viral, freemium and bottom-up distribution.
The PLG strategy’s ability to help emerging software companies capture market share and build up their reputation is also reflected by its reception in the capital market. In July 2020, SaaS company Salesforce’s market valuation surpassed computer technology giant Oracle. Later in September, online conferencing platform Zoom, which went public in 2019, surpassed IBM in market valuation as well.
Over 50% of 300-something American companies with a PLG strategy are ranked high on website traffic analysis platform Alexa.com. This proves their ability to attract more traffic than platforms that focus on SLG.
“The industry believes that China’s SaaS industry is ten years behind its American counterpart. That’s why half of the opportunities here in China are compared to those in America,” Zhu explained. “GSR Ventures has done 100 case studies on American companies with a PLG strategy, ranging from sectors like CRM, online work collaboration, database to cybersecurity. This shows that there are plenty of PLG companies in the United States. The situation in America represents an important direction for the industry in China. We need to find similar companies here. Lanhu has a lot of potentials.”
“Lanhu’s core advantage is it understands users’ pain points.”
【English|How a Chinese Investor Discovered China’s First PLG Unicorn Lanhu】English|How a Chinese Investor Discovered China’s First PLG Unicorn Lanhu
文章图片

Zhu Xiaohu (left) and Lanhu’s founder and CEO Ren Yanghui (right). Photo courtesy of interviewee.
Customized software development was the main business for Chinese software companies in the past. These companies grew by utilizing the SLG strategy. Companies that followed the SLG principle would use sales reps to get orders from big clients, which might bring deals with large scale but low profit rate. The problem with this business model is that the products are not universal and not standardized.
 “If the account management team has some changes in the personnel, then the team won’t really have a full understanding of past software versions for the client. This is a very important pain point and a challenge to the SaaS industry,” Zhu told TMTPost.
The PLG model can fundamentally solve such pain points. The criteria to assess whether a firm is following the PLG strategy is very simple – just look at whether the company sends all the updates to one version of software or service.
An industry expert told TMTPost that there are four standards for a PLG product:

1.    The product should be ready-to-use.
2.    The product has complete features and allows its targeted users to complete a full workflow under certain scenarios.
3.    The product’s main functions should be easily accessed by users, especially value-added privileges.

推荐阅读


上一篇：虚拟世界|ALIENWARE x14诠释科幻与未来主义

下一篇：edition|凸显多种黑科技的新升级，HIFIMAN Edition XS让“退烧”成为理性