Redesigned activation for a developer-facing analytics platform — turning a sales-led setup into self-serve in days.
Northwind's analytics product required a solutions engineer to connect every customer's data warehouse. Median time-to-value was 14 days, gating product-led growth and pinning CAC payback above 18 months.
Identified the 6 data sources representing 82% of new accounts. Shipped opinionated, one-click templates for each — with a clear escape hatch to a guided custom flow for the long tail.
Replaced a generic checklist with a weighted activation score driven by behavior. Customers, CSMs, and sales saw the same score, which became the org's shared definition of activation.
Partnered with finance and sales to introduce usage-based pricing tiers that matched the now-self-serve adoption curve, removing friction at the moment of upgrade.
Median time-to-first-insight fell from 14 days to 47 minutes. Trial-to-paid conversion rose 34% within two quarters and self-serve revenue grew from 11% to 30% of new ARR, materially improving CAC payback.