ThirdEye, PLG & MRR Strategy
Designing a practical growth system that allowed users to experience the product while protecting infrastructure costs.
Role
Product Strategy, Growth Strategy
Type
PLG System
Year
2026
Context
Once the ThirdEye MVP was ready, the next challenge was growth. The product was functional but monetization was unclear and most sales were happening manually through demo calls.
During November and December 2025 we ran early campaigns, generated leads, and spoke with nearly 300 potential users. These conversations helped us understand what parts of the product created the most interest and how users expected to experience the platform before committing to a purchase.
During this period we closed 1 white-label client and 3 brand owners, but the product still lacked a repeatable revenue model.
The Challenge
Users wanted to test the product before committing to a demo. But letting users freely explore the platform was expensive because every research query consumed tokens on our backend infrastructure.
Since the company was bootstrapped and had no external funding, we had to find a way to let users experience the product without allowing infrastructure costs to spiral.
Main problems
- No clear activation trigger for new users
- Free try for product was expensive due to token usage
- Monetization model not defined
- MRR growth was inconsistent
Approach
To solve this I designed a strategy I called Shadow Scaling.
The idea was to split growth into two parallel paths. One path targets high-quality enterprise leads through focused demo campaigns. The second path allowed users to experience a simplified version of the product through a free web tool.
For enterprise clients we ran Meta lead campaigns with precise targeting including interest segments, lookalike audiences from lead databases, and retargeting based on website behaviour.
Solution
I come up with 2 strategies to solve the issues, like quick cash flow for the company and product value outcome at low cost.
Free web tool - shared backend
We built a lightweight free tool using the same backend infrastructure as the main product. This tool worked as a lead magnet and allowed users to experience the product without heavy infrastructure usage.
Enterprise & Strategic Partnership (quick cashflow)
The enterprise product remained gated behind pricing tiers and demo conversations, while the free tool helped attract users who wanted to explore the concept before committing to a purchase.
Key Decisions
Several strategic decisions shaped the final product direction and made it meaningfully different from what was originally conceived.
Lead Magnet Tool
Built a simplified free product using the same backend to allow quick value propositon like
1. Free visibility audits
2. Prompt research toolkit
3. Content optimiser for AEO
Enterprise Lead Ads
Ran highly targeted campaigns focused on demo bookings for high ticket plans.
Feature Gating
Introduced feature limits and pricing tiers to control infrastructure usage.
Outcome
4 Enterprise Clients
Closed 3–4 enterprise clients within two weeks through highly targeted demo campaigns.
100 + users in 2 weeks
The free lead-magnet tool attracted more than fifty early users who tested the product and generated real usage data.
Databank spin-up
Within two weeks, the strategy produced meaningful results. We closed three to four enterprise clients and saw a significant spike in website traffic.
The free tool also helped build a base of more than a hundred early users while quietly building a database of prompts and brand queries that could later be used to create deeper product insights.
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