YC
Advice on Organizing and Running Growth Teams from Dan Hockenmaier and Gustaf Alströmer
@ Y Combinator
06/27/19
Takeaways
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Nine times out of ten, I talk startups out of doing things they want to try because most growth gains come from one channel or a handful of tactics, and early teams often have diminishing returns on their ideas.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
It's crucial to assess whether a company is ready for a traditional growth effort, particularly in terms of product-market fit, before implementing growth tactics.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Heavyweight acquisition strategies, especially if unsustainable, should be avoided until a company has established adequate retention metrics.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
When advising a Series B consumer company, I start by analyzing their acquisition channels, traffic conversion, retention cohorts, and how these elements interconnect.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
I look for smart analytical generalists who can move quickly, test ideas, and understand the business equation during interviews for growth hires.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
The best products are built to optimize for a specific acquisition channel, whether it's paid marketing or SEO, and should be designed with that in mind from the start.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
A great product naturally drives adoption, but the role of a growth team is to ensure that growth doesn't slow down by identifying new channels and optimizing conversion.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
In the early days of a product, the user experience during sign-up and login is critical, and optimizing these processes can significantly impact retention and revenue.
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Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
At Thumbtack, we focused on optimizing for real-world hires, which required us to look for upstream proxies to predict when a consumer would hire a professional.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
I think growth is increasingly less of a team or atomic unit and more about running a business using data and experimentation.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
The most successful way to implement growth strategies is through a bottoms-up and organic approach, often starting with small teams that optimize specific parts of the product.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
One of my favorite examples is how SurveyMonkey's growth team focused on optimizing a specific page that millions of users hit, leading to significant results and influence over time.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
When advising founders, I emphasize the importance of building a framework to figure out how to do more sales faster, working backwards from sales goals to understand the necessary actions.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
In B2B, many consumer growth tactics are now being adopted, but B2B companies often have higher lifetime value, allowing for more creative online marketing strategies.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
For pricing experiments, it's crucial to understand whether you're growing virally or need to fund growth through paid marketing, as this affects your pricing strategy.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Paid marketing has shifted from free channels to paid channels, making it more competitive, especially for subscription services and e-commerce.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
It's important to view paid marketing as an accelerant rather than the core growth strategy, focusing on organic growth as the sustainable foundation.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
When entering new markets, you may initially spend into negative ROI, but understanding the maturation curve of that market is essential for long-term success.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
I often see companies getting pressured to hire a VP of Marketing too soon, which can lead to misalignment in growth strategies if the foundational work isn't established first.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Most companies can go longer without a VP of Marketing than they think, as there are not many experienced team builders who fit the VP Marketing profile.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Hiring the perfect VP of Marketing is tough; it's often better to disaggregate the responsibilities and hire individual people for specific challenges instead.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Organizational friction occurs when multiple teams work on the same metric without accountability, leading to a disjointed consumer experience.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
It's healthier for retention efforts to be managed within the product team early on, rather than splitting responsibilities across different teams.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Every team member involved in growth should have a way to measure their ability to drive incremental growth for the company, regardless of their specific role.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Brand marketing is often just a small piece of the overall brand strategy; the best way to grow your brand is to get more people to use your product.
DH
Dan Hockenmaier
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Paid marketing should be measurable and tied to specific metrics, especially in the later stages of a startup's growth.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Airbnb's growth was driven by the viral nature of unique guest experiences, which people naturally share with friends.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
In the early days, Airbnb's growth was significantly supported by online marketing, particularly through strategic keyword purchases.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Airbnb divided international growth into product limitations and cultural impacts, finding that many perceived cultural differences were not as significant as expected.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
Referrals can be a powerful growth strategy, but they should be measured for incrementality to ensure they are effective and not just perceived as free growth.
GA
Gustaf Alströmer
06/27/19
@ Y Combinator
As a growth team, it's important to establish principles that guide decision-making, ensuring that user behavior changes are understood and ethically managed.