Apollo co-founder and CEO Tim Zheng reveals the pivot that rescued his company from a 2:1 CAC payback ratio. This episode breaks down how Apollo transformed from a struggling $10K ACV sales-led model to $150M+ ARR by reducing prices to $99/mo and going all in on PLG.
Tim dives into why over 50% of Apollo's code is now written by AI, the challenge of finding executives who can scale across multiple growth stages, and how Apollo plans to break through the billion-dollar barrier that has proven elusive for many B2B tech companies.
Key chapters:
(00:00) - Introduction to Topline Podcast and Guest Tim Zheng
(04:06) - Market Dynamics and Sales Funnel Insights
(09:47) - Transitioning from Sales-Led to Product-Led Growth
(12:34) - Re-architecting Business Models for Efficiency
(15:20) - Integrating Sales-Led and Product-Led Strategies