Kyle Poyar: Meet the Pricing and PLG Expert at Product Drive 2025

PLG is a household term in tech, the ultimate goal of most tech teams, and a focus of our Product Drive conference. That’s why we couldn’t run it without the person who coined the phrase: Kyle Poyar.

In this article, we’ll dive into Kyle’s background and highlight some of his top resources on SaaS growth to prepare you for his upcoming talk, “How to Monetize Your Product in the AI Era.”

Who is Kyle Poyar?

Kyle Poyar has spent the past 15 years helping software startups fuel growth, monetize their products, and become category leaders. His areas of expertise span pricing & packaging, AI monetization, product-led growth, GTM strategy, SaaS benchmarks, and value-add in VC.

As a creator of the Growth Unhinged newsletter with 75,000+ weekly readers, Kyle has become the go-to expert for understanding the hidden playbooks behind today’s fastest-growing startups.

Kyle’s journey as a SaaS growth expert

Kyle’s path to becoming a PLG guru began at Simon-Kucher & Partners, the leading consulting firm specializing in pricing and packaging, where he went from consultant to director. Between 2016-2024, Kyle was a part of Open View ($2.4B AUM), where he held the roles of Market Strategy Director, VP of Growth, and Operating Partner. He led marketing and partnered with portfolio founders on scaling revenue from $1 to $100M+ ARR.

Today, Kyle is Co-Founder and Operating Partner at Tremont, where he continues to help enterprise software and AI companies scale from product-market fit to category leadership.

Since 2021, Kyle has also been running his influential newsletter, Growth Unhinged. The newsletter was born from Kyle’s desire to engage with SaaS community members better and to pivot from posting on LinkedIn, where he was at the mercy of the algorithms and character limits.

The newsletter has gathered 2,000 subscribers within the first week and has now grown to over 77,000, rendering Kyle one of the top voices in his niche.

Best Growth Unhinged newsletter issues: Must-read insights

In his weekly newsletter, Kyle takes a look at the playbooks of top startups and shares case studies on pricing and packaging, practical applications of AI, PLG, SaaS benchmarks, and more. Here are some of the standout issues I recommend you read:

• The state of B2B monetization in 2025: Introducing new data from 240 software and AI companies, this recent issue provides crucial benchmarks for pricing and monetization strategies. It summarizes the six biggest takeaways from Kyle’s 35-page State of B2B Monetization report.
• How to build your GTM strategy from scratch: In one of the most popular issues of the newsletter, Kyle was joined by Maja Voje, a top GTM strategist (Maja will also be joining this year’s product drive. Make sure to catch her talk on AI Agents GTM). The article unpacks how to build the GTM strategy from scratch, and presents three frameworks to make the GTM journey faster and less failure-prone. Hint: You need an early customer profile before you can get to an ICP.
• ICP marketing done right: The newsletter explores how Mutiny built a scaled and cost-effective ABX approach that generates 45% of pipeline. Kyle shows how companies can move beyond traditional account-based marketing to create truly effective account-based experiences.
• Steal these brilliant growth tactics: Kyle’s favorite product growth examples from Canva, Figma, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Miro, Otter, and more. After signing up for 100+ self-serve products, Kyle shares the best onboarding flows, cancellation experiences, growth mechanisms, and… a cancellation email.
• From selling access to selling work (and what it means for you): Listed as one of the most popular issues, this piece explores fundamental shifts in SaaS business models (from charging for access to software toward charging for the work delivered) and the impact on ARR.
• The best growth advice of 2024: A comprehensive roundup featuring 24 actionable growth tactics based on real success stories from companies like Canva, Clay, Calendly, and more. This issue distilled the year’s most impactful learnings from leading B2B startups, shedding light on what may work best in 2025. I can’t wait to see what this year brings!

Kyle’s 2025 Media presence: Podcasts and other appearances

Kyle continues to be one of the most sought-after voices in the PLG and growth space. In 2025, he’s appeared on multiple conferences (including SaaStock, SaaStr Europe, SaaSiest, Monetize 2025, RD Summit, Traction, SaaS NORTH, Product Drive 2025, Point Nine Founder Summit 2025) and industry podcasts.

Here are a few talks you can listen to right away:

• Thrive Through Connection Podcast: “Using Benchmarks as a Diagnostic”. Kyle broke down his career supporting companies at OpenView, and shared how SaaS companies should think about benchmarks and the future of SaaS investing.

• Pocus 10x GTM Podcast: “How to Go Account-Based and Win”. Kyle talked about how to make the shift to ABX, from the key ABX success metrics to how AI fits into account-based strategies. He covered:
  • How he built an audience of over 50,000 newsletter subscribers
  • Why companies should make the switch from ABM to ABX
  • Ways to leverage data and AI to achieve growth

• GTM Podcast with Scott Barker: “5 Must-Try PLG Tactics to Accelerate Growth”. Kyle shared his insights on why PLG is inevitable in an AI-driven future, revealed must-try tactics to accelerate growth using a PLG approach, and provided advice for early-stage founders.

• The Revenue Formula Podcast: “From seats to outcomes: How AI is changing pricing”. Because of AI, pricing models are changing fast. They’re not just disruptive to incumbents, but also to how teams operate. Kyle discusses new pricing models influenced by AI, which are focused on outcomes and units of work. He shared challenges for incumbents, possible solutions, and predictions for the future of pricing.

• Maven Course: “Become a Full-Stack Growth Leader”. Joined by other top growth leaders, Kyle is exploring full-stack growth strategies that work in 2025. Topics include: Growth channels to bet on in 2025; Adapt outdated growth strategies; Build your AI growth stack.

Don’t miss Kyle Poyar at Product Drive 2025

Ready to learn from one of the industry’s most insightful growth experts? Kyle Poyar will be joining Product Drive with his talk “How to Monetize Your Product in the AI Era.”

Kyle will distill lessons on pricing and packaging from hundreds of B2B companies to cover the following:

• Value metrics that work,
• Guardrails for usage-based and seat-plus models,
• How to introduce AI add-ons without breaking trust or margin.

Whether you’re a founder looking to scale your startup, a product manager optimizing for growth, or a growth leader seeking new strategies, you’ll walk away with experiments to run now and a roadmap for leveling up monetization over the next two quarters.

Register for Product Drive here and join Kyle Poyar live for what promises to be an insightful session on the future of product-led growth. The participation is free, but the seats are limited. Save your spot fast!