EP 7 - From $9M to $100M ARR: What Typeform Taught About Product Led Sales

UK-born, Spain-based David Jones went from guitarist and litigator to Founding AE. In this episode, David unpacks seven years riding Typeform’s PLG rocket (from ~$9M to ~$100M ARR), why he left to get “uncomfortable” again at Invopop, and the playbooks for layering sales on top of PLG—across Europe’s wildly different cultures and compliance regimes.What you’ll learnHow a legal + music background becomes a superpower in early-stage salesPLG → Sales-Assist: activating an installed base without heavy outboundBuilding enterprise structure inside a PLG-first org (pricing, forecasting, handoffs)Selling across Europe: trust, culture, and navigating country-by-country regsChoosing founders who trust sales—and how to document as you buildTraits of great Founding AEs: comfort with ambiguity, bias to build, crisp opsChapters00:00 Intro00:38 David’s path: musician → lawyer → sales05:37 Typeform hypergrowth & the PLG-to-enterprise shift08:54 Sales-assist motion: expanding use cases, feeding back to PMM12:25 Why leave a rocket ship to be a Founding AE14:44 Spain’s startup scene (Madrid/Barcelona), capital & talent16:56 Selling across Europe: culture, proof, and compliance21:28 InvoPop: developer-first, regulation-driven opportunities25:52 Advice for aspiring Founding AEs (pick your founders, document everything)27:41 Where to find DavidGuestDavid Jones — Founding AE at InvopopConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-jones-031571127/HostJustin Dorfman — The Founding AE Podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justindorfman87/LinksInvopop: https://www.invopop.com/Typeform: https://www.typeform.com/Key Takeaways / Quotes“I wanted to be uncomfortable again.”“PLG + sales-assist turns brand trust into multi-team expansion.”“In Europe, the product is the same problem—but how you earn trust changes.”For Founding AEs & BuildersIf you’re moving from scale-up to 0→1 (or from a non-sales background into sales), this is your playbook for process, mindset, and cross-continental selling.💪 Try FollowUp for FreeBack-to-back demos and follow-ups piling up? FollowUp by AssetMule instantly generates personalized Digital Sales Rooms from your sales calls—built for Founding AEs to move deals forward and enable champions to sell internally. Try it for free: https://www.gofollowup.ai/#foundingAE #startups #PLG #salesassist #Typeform #InvoPop #SaaS #salestips #EuropeanStartups #GTM