Motion Decision Tree

The most reliable predictor of motion fit is ACV, not product type. Use these thresholds as starting points, then adjust for complexity: ACV under $5k/year almost always requires PLG or low-touch inside sales — the economics of an enterprise sales motion do not work below this threshold. ACV $5k-$25k/year is the hybrid zone — PLG for self-serve land, inside sales for expansion and enterprise. ACV $25k-$150k/year requires inside sales with SDR+AE structure. ACV over $150k/year requires field sales or enterprise AE model. These are starting points, not rules. The adjustment factors: If your buyer is a developer or technical practitioner, move the ACV threshold for PLG up by 2x (developers self-serve at higher ACVs). If your product requires more than one team to adopt, move threshold for PLG down — multi-team adoption requires coordination that PLG rarely achieves without a sales assist. If your market has a dominant incumbent, PLG is harder because the incumbent controls the comparison environment.

PLG requires three product conditions that sales-led does not: (1) Time-to-value under 30 minutes — the user must experience the core value without a human in the loop. If onboarding takes more than 30 minutes to feel value, PLG churn is high and your CAC payback extends beyond 24 months. (2) Network effects or collaboration surface — PLG products that get better with more users or that naturally create invitation flows compound; those that do not require marketing spend to sustain trial volume. (3) Bottom-up discovery path — PLG requires that individual users can find and adopt the product without corporate approval. If your product requires SSO or IT provisioning to even install, individual discovery is blocked. On competitive dynamics: if a well-funded competitor is already doing PLG in your category and you are entering, PLG is harder because the comparison environment is set. Sales-led lets you control the narrative and close before the prospect has tried the competitor's free tier.

Most successful PLG companies eventually add a sales layer. The question is when. Wait too long and you leave enterprise revenue on the table. Add it too early and you add cost before you have PLG efficiency to fund it. The four triggers for adding a sales layer to a PLG motion: (1) You have accounts with 10+ active users but no contract — these are expansion opportunities the product is not capturing. (2) Your average contract value for self-serve converted accounts is below $5k but you see deals in your pipeline over $25k that stalled. (3) Your fastest-growing free-to-paid accounts belong to a recognizable enterprise segment (Fortune 1000, specific verticals). (4) Your NPS from power users is above 50 but enterprise procurement is blocking expansion. At this point, a small sales team (2-3 AEs) focused exclusively on PQL-qualified enterprise accounts will typically pay back within 6 months. The mistake: hiring SDRs for outbound before you have strong PQL signal from the product. The right order is PQL scoring first, then sales headcount to work the queue.

Motion Decision Tree Worksheet: a single-page flowchart with all decision gates, numeric thresholds, and upgrade triggers. Includes a 10-question diagnostic that outputs a recommended motion and a 90-day implementation plan for that motion.