Inside Kumo Space’s Product-Led Growth: Building Virality into B2B Software

Getting B2B software to spread virally through organizations seems like magic. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Brett Martin revealed how Kumo Space turned their virtual office platform into a viral growth engine that helped them land clients from NASA to Harvard – without relying on traditional enterprise sales.

The Core of Viral Growth

Most B2B software requires extensive sales efforts to spread within organizations. But Kumo Space took a different approach. “It’s inherently viral. We’re turning video into content that people are sharing and people see someone else’s toast. They’re like, wow, that’s amazing,” Brett explained.

This virality wasn’t accidental – it was built into the product’s core experience. Rather than treating virtual offices as just another video conferencing tool, they created spaces that people wanted to show off and share.

Making Daily Use Viral

The key to their viral growth was making the product central to daily work. “Kumo space is a piece of software that much like slack you will turn on at the beginning of your day,” Brett noted. “You’ll see your whole team, trickle into your virtual office around 09:10 a.m.”

By becoming part of users’ daily routines, the product created natural opportunities for exposure. “You can tap people on the shoulder, get an instant answer to their question. You can know who’s available and who’s not,” Brett shared, describing how casual interactions became viral moments.

Enthusiasm as a Growth Engine

Rather than relying on feature comparisons or sales pitches, Kumo Space found that genuine user enthusiasm drove adoption. “If you’re really excited about your product and everyone else around you feels that… that’s how you get those early customers. It’s just like being so excited about what you’re selling that they feel like, okay, this is something I got to be a part of,” Brett explained.

This enthusiasm-driven growth had a compound effect in enterprise environments. When users were excited about their virtual office, they naturally wanted to bring more colleagues into the experience.

Building for Network Effects

The team recognized that virtual offices become more valuable as more people use them. “Whether you’re a small company and you’re working remotely or you’re a gigantic multinational with headquarters all over the world, your team is in multiple offices on multiple floors at the same time,” Brett observed. This network effect drove organic expansion within organizations.

Maintaining Growth Quality

Despite the viral growth potential, Kumo Space remained disciplined in their expansion. “Block and tackle, get one customer in the door, make them happy, get another one in, and kind of not get over your skis,” Brett shared about their approach.

This measured growth strategy helped ensure that viral adoption translated into lasting engagement. “We didn’t get over our skis and hire a trillion people and light a bunch of money on fire. We deliberate about the team,” Brett noted.

The Human Element

At the core of Kumo Space’s viral growth was their focus on human connection. “We are trying to create a more human world where you continue to be a person in the metaverse and distinct and have your humanity,” Brett explained. This mission resonated with users and made the product naturally shareable.

For B2B founders, Kumo Space’s approach offers valuable lessons about product-led growth. Rather than forcing virality through artificial mechanisms, they built it into the core user experience. By creating something people genuinely wanted to share and making that sharing process natural, they turned their product into its own growth engine.

The key wasn’t just building viral features – it was creating an experience so compelling that users naturally wanted to bring others into it. This organic, enthusiasm-driven growth proved particularly powerful in enterprise environments where traditional sales approaches often face resistance.