Gabinete RP #41: Founder Led Growth vs Product Led Growth

There's a temptation in the discourse surrounding company growth to turn Founder-Led Growth and Product-Led Growth into a binary choice, as if every business had to choose a camp and champion its flag. The discussion makes sense in the context in which it originated (tech startups with self-distributed products), but the problem is that most businesses don't operate in that context, and even those that do rarely have a product autonomous enough to dispense with the human element. What the founder's personal brand does at the top of the funnel is reach people who don't yet know they have the problem their product solves (something the product, by definition, cannot do alone). But there's another effect that happens in a less discussed place: at the bottom of the funnel, when someone is already considering a decision, the founder's presence helps with conversion, because those who buy in a context of high value or ongoing relationship want to know who is behind what they are about to acquire. Which of the two is your business neglecting?