> Sam Awezec: founding team on HubSpot's freemium product, led product growth at GitLab through IPO, now Head of Product Growth at DigiCert. > > Canonical: https://samawezec.com/about ABOUT SAM # I've spent 12+ years on the revenue side of the product. I was on the founding team of HubSpot's freemium product, led product growth at GitLab through its IPO and at Astronomer, and now lead product growth at DigiCert. The through-line: turning people who use a product into people who pay for it, and building the systems that make that repeatable. Now the people using a product include AI agents, and the seat is no longer the unit of value. These are the problems I work on with a few B2B SaaS teams at a time. [Book a 30-minute call](https://meetings.hubspot.com/sam-awezec/advisory-call) [Connect on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/samawezec/) $0 to $100M+ ARR on HubSpot's freemium product 3 exits 2 IPOs and 1 acquisition +200% / +300% Activation and free-to-paid at Astronomer 300% Trial volume lift at GitLab WHERE I'VE DONE THIS ## Operator first. Advisor second. ### HubSpot Founding team, freemium product PLG FROM ZERO Joined the internal startup that became HubSpot's freemium product, now Sales Hub and the free CRM. Built the original PQL motion connecting product usage to sales, launched the community platform, and managed a 10-person team across support and onboarding. Part of the freemium incubation team from zero to $100M+ in ARR. ### GitLab Director of Product, Growth PLG AT IPO SCALE Led a 10-person growth squad across acquisition, activation, conversion and expansion. Built the company-wide experimentation framework, designed the PQL motion from usage signals to sales, and partnered with the C-suite on a new free-user go-to-market model. 300% trial volume lift. Led growth through IPO, featured on the Nasdaq billboard. ### Astronomer Senior Director of Product, Growth PLG + AI PRODUCT Owned the PLG roadmap, redesigned onboarding and the paywall experiences, stood up product analytics, and a cross-functional initiative to build new AI products. +200% activation, +300% free-to-paid conversion ### DigiCert Head of Product Growth GROWTH + MONETIZATION Head of Product Growth, leading the unification of DigiCert's products onto a single platform. One account, one experience and one bill made it natural for customers to adopt more of the portfolio and expand on their own. ### Reforge & OnScale Growth advisor ADVISING At Reforge, designed a PLG system linking product engagement signals to sales and marketing workflows. At OnScale, built the self-serve acquisition funnel and PLG playbook. OnScale was acquired by Ansys. HOW I THINK ABOUT THE WORK ## What you can expect from me ### Decisions, not decks I've owned these numbers. I'll tell you what I'd do in your seat, and the mistakes I'd skip. ### One revenue path Signup, activation, the paywall and pricing are one system. I won't fix one and break another. ### Honest about what's unknown No invented revenue forecasts. If the data can't answer it, I'll say so and design the test that can. ### Still shipping I build AI-native B2B products of my own. It keeps my advice grounded in what building for agents actually takes. ## RECOGNITION GitLab IPO, Nasdaq billboard Featured as part of the growth team at IPO U.S. Department of Defense ESGR Patriot Award ## OUTSIDE WORK Based in New Hampshire Working with teams across US time zones Outside of work you'll find me spending time with family and our dog ## Let's talk about what you're working on. Thirty minutes, no deck. Or see your funnel and pricing first with a free Growth X-ray. [Book a 30-minute call](https://meetings.hubspot.com/sam-awezec/advisory-call) [ Run a free X-ray ](https://samawezec.com/xray)