Brian Balfour

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It has been exactly one year since we launched the "Product-Led Growth" initiative. I'll be sharing the full retrospective at the upcoming Growth Summit in NYC (it's invite-only, but I have a few passes). What we learned about the intersection of AI and user retention might surprise you...

Sarah Chen (VP of Product at Scale) will also be joining me to discuss the "Intelligence Layer" and how it's changing the way we think about the user lifecycle.

Chapter 1 — The Early Days

The initial team. Mark Stevens, Julia Wu, and David Miller. They took a vague idea and turned it into a functioning prototype in less than three months. We spent late nights in the office debating the nuances of "value exchange" and it's those conversations that laid the foundation for everything that followed.

Chapter 2 — Scaling Through Uncertainty

As we moved into the second half of the year, the market shifted. But thanks to the resilience of Maria Garcia, Sam Rivers, and the entire GTM crew, we didn't just survive—we thrived. They built a system that allowed us to scale our outreach without losing the personal touch that our customers love.

Chapter 3 — The Future with AI

We are now entering a phase where AI isn't just a feature; it's the core. I'm incredibly grateful to the engineering team—specifically Alex Thorne and his group—for pushing the boundaries of what's possible.

While the work continues, I want to say a personal thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey. Reforge and this initiative wouldn't be where they are today without your tireless effort and belief in the vision.

If you've been following our progress, I'd love to hear which part of the journey resonated most with you.

P.S. Here is a photo of the team from our first offsite. Look how young we were!

More info on the summit: https://lnkd.in/example

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