Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)
· Summarized
Key takeaways
- Founders should aim for product-market fit and a solid user base before hiring a growth team.
- Rebranding does not guarantee growth; it can often lead to setbacks.
- Using competitors' strategies is not effective; companies should innovate based on their unique offerings.
- Many growth challenges have common solutions; avoid feeling that problems are unique.
- Focus on building earned channels through user-generated content instead of relying solely on paid channels.
- Evolving growth strategies is critical; don’t become complacent with successful tactics.
- Hiring advisors can provide valuable perspective; always assess their fit through preliminary workshops.
- Avoid excessive experimentation; sometimes intuitive decision-making based on user behavior is necessary.
- Watch out for additional tactics such as color optimizations and streamlined onboarding that don't necessarily lead to growth.
- Utilize effective growth frameworks like growth loops and the racecar model to enhance growth strategies.
Summary
Introduction to Growth Tactics
In the beginning of the episode, Elena Verna, a well-respected growth advisor with experience at companies like Amplitude, Miro, and Dropbox, shares insights on the growth field and how certain tactics are misbelieved to work. The discussion revolves around various growth strategies and highlights the common mistakes people make while attempting to enhance product growth.
Mistakes in Hiring for Growth
Elena emphasizes the misconception that companies need a dedicated growth team right from the start. She argues that founders should initially focus on achieving product-market fit and generating data before hiring growth roles. Hiring for growth too soon can lead to failure and wasted resources.
The Myth of Rebranding for Growth
Elena reveals her frustration with companies believing that a rebranding or website redesign will lead to increased growth. She argues that these efforts often result in setbacks, and companies rarely experience meaningful acquisition boosts post-rebranding. Full awareness of the workload required to optimize after a redesign is crucial.
Focusing on Competition
In this section, Elena discusses the danger of obsessively focusing on competitors' growth strategies. Instead of copying tactics that worked for others, companies should leverage inspiration to innovate and differentiate themselves in their market.
Believing in Unique Problems
Elena combats the notion that specific growth challenges are unique to individual companies. She encourages businesses to learn from the experiences of others to avoid reinventing the wheel, highlighting that many have faced similar issues and found solutions.
Understanding Channels of Growth
She observes that growth teams often prioritize acquisition channels like SEO and social media while neglecting earned channels. Elena encourages the creation of user-generated content and the cultivation of brand communities to build channels that competitors cannot easily replicate.
The Importance of Evolving Growth Models
Elena highlights the necessity for companies to evolve their growth models. Depending too heavily on a single growth strategy can lead to stagnation, and businesses should experiment with different models to sustain growth over the long term.
Hiring Advisors for Guidance
In discussions about hiring advisors, Elena stresses their importance in guiding growth strategies. She suggests companies should initially workshop with potential advisors to assess their capability and fit, rather than hiring based on reputation alone.
Avoiding Over-Experimentation
Elena warns against the paralysis that can occur when every initiative is treated as an experiment. While experimentation is crucial, it must be balanced with intuitive decision-making based on existing knowledge and user behavior.
A Quickfire Round of Additional Tactics
In a rapid-fire section, Elena discusses additional growth tactics that often don't yield results. She advises against over-focusing on color optimizations, reliance on third-party sign-ups, stressing the importance of consistent marketing approaches, and cautions against losing product identity by seeking to simplify excessively.
Favorite Growth Frameworks
To conclude the discussion, Elena highlights her favorite growth frameworks, emphasizing the importance of growth loops, the racecar growth framework for structuring growth initiatives, and adjacent user theory to optimize existing products.
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Show notes
Elena Verna is one of Silicon Valley’s most sought-after growth advisors and operators. She previously led growth at companies like Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, and SurveyMonkey and is currently doing full-time advising for high-growth tech companies. In our conversation, Elena and I discuss:
• 10 growth tactics that never work
• Her 3 favorite growth frameworks
• How to increase your career optionality
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Brought to you by:
• Sinch—Build messaging, email, and calling into your product
• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security
• OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/10-growth-tactics-that-never-work-elena-verna
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Where to find Elena Verna:
• Newsletter: https://www.elenaverna.com/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaverna
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Welcome back, Elena!
(06:02) Common mistakes growth teams make
(08:31) #1: Hiring for growth roles too soon
(15:09) #2: Hiring a head of growth to fix your problems
(19:20) #3: Doing a rebrand to drive growth
(25:11) #4: Obsessing over your competition
(34:00) #5: Believing that your problems are unique
(42:32) #6: Prioritizing other growth channels above earned channels
(50:55) #7: Failing to evolve your growth model
(01:01:06) #8: Not hiring advisors
(01:05:55) #9: Over-experimenting
(01:10:44) #10: Color optimizations, third-party signups, one-email wonders, and removing friction
(01:15:00) Elena’s favorite growth frameworks
(01:18:50) Contrarian corner: full-time jobs
(01:26:05) Lightning round and final thoughts
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Referenced:
• Elena Verna on how B2B growth is changing, product-led growth, product-led sales, why you should go freemium not trial, what features to make free, and much more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/elena-verna-on-why-every-company
• The ultimate guide to product-led sales | Elena Verna: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-product-led
• Six rules of hiring for growth: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/hiring-growth
• Figma: https://www.figma.com/
• Miro: https://www.figma.com/
• Notion: https://www.figma.com/
• Carol Wong on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-wong-14133927/
• Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/
• The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs: https://andrewchen.com/the-law-of-shitty-clickthroughs/
• Miroverse: https://miro.com/miroverse/
• GitHub: https://github.com/
• My 9 Favorite Growth Frameworks: https://www.elenaverna.com/p/my-9-favorite-growth-frameworks
• Growth Loops are the New Funnels: https://www.reforge.com/blog/growth-loops
• Racecar Growth Framework: https://www.reforge.com/blog/racecar-growth-framework
• The Adjacent User: https://andrewchen.com/the-adjacent-user-theory/
• Unorthodox frameworks for growing your product, career, and impact | Bangaly Kaba (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Instacart): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/frameworks-for-growing-your-career-bangaly-kaba
• Why I’m Unquitting Full-Time Roles: https://www.elenaverna.com/p/why-im-unquitting-full-time-roles
• Noah Smith’s newsletter: https://www.noahpinion.blog/
• Beef on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81447461
• Veep on Max: https://www.max.com/shows/veep/37cb4217-c710-4166-8e9f-352a61f2cd3a
• The Last of Us on Max: https://www.max.com/shows/last-of-us/93ba22b1-833e-47ba-ae94-8ee7b9eefa9a
• Heated boots: https://www.amazon.com/heated-boots/s?k=heated+boots
• Airpods Max: https://www.apple.com/airpods-max/
• Memes by Elena: https://www.elenaverna.com/p/ten-funniest-growth-memes
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Recommended books:
• Project Hail Mary: https://www.amazon.com/Project-Hail-Mary-Andy-Weir/dp/0593135229/
• The Martian: https://www.amazon.com/Martian-Andy-Weir/dp/0553418025
• We Are Legion (Bobiverse #1): https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse/dp/1680680587
• Fire Upon the Deep: https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Upon-Deep-Zones-Thought/dp/0812515285
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
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