Growth Panel with Gustaf Alströmer and Ed Baker, moderated by Josh Elman | The Scaleup Offsite 2017

TL;DR

Scaling growth teams and strategies for organizations to achieve continuous user growth.

Transcript

what's pretty cool is if two guys who've been living the centre of building up these growth teams kind of for the past you know seven or eight years Edie joined uber to start the growth team when it was five people and then however the three and a half years became kind of VP of of both product and growth for kind of Olive uber and Gustav joined an... Read More

Key Insights

• 😤 Growth teams should focus on metrics that align with their company's goals and contribute to the growth of their products or services.
• 😤 Experimentation is a crucial aspect of growth, and teams should embrace counterintuitive findings and constantly challenge their assumptions.
• ❓ Product-market fit, data analytics, and engineering are essential for successful growth strategies.
• 🖐️ Localization and adaptation to different markets play a significant role in scaling growth organizations.
• ⚖️ Paid acquisition can accelerate growth in competitive markets, but it should be balanced with organic growth strategies.
• 👥 The integration of growth and marketing teams can be beneficial, as both are focused on driving growth and optimizing user acquisition.
• 🤩 Continuous learning, adaptation, and investing in long-term growth strategies are key to achieving sustained growth.
• 👥 Scaling growth organizations require aligning product teams, growth teams, and data teams to maximize the use of experimentation and analytics.

Questions & Answers

Q: How did Edie and Gustav start their journey in growth teams?

Edie joined Uber when it was a small team and later became the VP of product and growth. Gustav joined Airbnb when it was still a small team and played a key role in scaling its growth team.

Q: What were some early tricks they learned during the era of social viral growth?

Gustav created a viral Facebook app called Zodiac Photo Album, which used tags and notifications to drive high user engagement. Edie utilized the Facebook platform and ran numerous experiments to learn what worked and what didn't.

Q: How did their mindset shift when they transitioned to more mature growth teams?

Edie found that retention and engagement became more important metrics at Facebook, while Gustav focused on optimizing the onboarding process at Boxer. Both companies had established user bases, so their growth teams focused on enhancing the user experience and minimizing churn.

Q: How did the growth teams at Uber and Airbnb evolve over time?

They started with small teams and gradually scaled up. They followed a multidisciplinary approach, including product, engineering, analytics, design, and marketing, within the growth organization. They emphasized the need for close collaboration between these functions.

Summary

In this video, Ed and Gustav, who have extensive experience in building and scaling growth teams at companies like Uber and Airbnb, discuss their experiences in the early days of growth hacking and the challenges they faced. They talk about the importance of experimentation, the role of paid acquisition, and the unique dynamics of growth in different markets. They also touch on the importance of having a Northstar metric and the need for a well-structured growth team.

Questions & Answers

Q: Can you discuss the early days of growth hacking and the key lessons learned from that time?

In the early days, there was a lot of experimentation and learning involved. Gustav mentions that in the summer of 2007, when Facebook launched their platform, there was an explosion of viral growth with spammy apps. He built apps that reached millions of users within months and learned the art and science of growth through experimentation. Ed talks about the early tricks they found at Facebook, like the viral "Zodiac Photo Album" app, which had a high response rate and led to millions of people being tagged in photos.

Q: How did you adjust to working in more mature growth teams after the early days of experimentation?

Ed mentions that when he joined Facebook, he finally had the opportunity to work with a company that had an amazing product and had to shift his focus from new user acquisition to retention and engagement. He highlights the importance of having a Northstar metric, which is the number the growth team aims to grow. At Facebook, it was monthly active users, whereas at Uber, it was weekly trips. The focus shifted towards keeping users engaged and minimizing churn instead of acquiring new users.

Q: Can you discuss the structure of a growth team and how it has evolved over time?

Ed mentions that at Facebook, the growth team was structured with all functions — product, engineering, analytics, design, and marketing. He carried those learnings to Uber when he started the growth team there. Gustav adds that most successful companies today have everyone carrying metrics and making data-driven decisions. He emphasizes the importance of engineering and data science for successful growth. He also mentions the role of integration with product and engineering teams to achieve long-term growth.

Q: How did you approach growth in the real-world marketplaces of Uber and Airbnb?

Ed and Gustav explain that real-world marketplaces have unique challenges compared to online-only companies. Ed mentions that at Uber, they focused on a Northstar metric that accounted for both riders and drivers, and they had to consider real-world factors like driver onboarding and retention. Gustav talks about the need to customize growth strategies for different cities and markets, while also adopting a centralized playbook where possible. They also highlight the importance of translation and addressing product gaps for global growth.

Q: How do you balance organic growth with paid acquisition, and what are the challenges involved?

Ed mentions that if a company has a great product, all channels will allow people to share it with their friends. They focus on building great products and believe that everything else will follow. Gustav mentions that most successful companies invest in paid marketing for faster growth. He advises looking at the product and identifying the platforms that align with it, whether it's SEO, social media, or other channels. They emphasize the importance of investing in engineering and data science for successful growth.

Q: What are some examples of counterintuitive experiments that yielded unexpected results?

Ed mentions that at Facebook, they noticed that the viral growth in Japan was low because people there thought sending invites was rude. By changing the language from "invites" to "announcements" and reframing the sharing experience, they saw a significant increase in viral growth in Japan. Gustav talks about a culture of experimentation and how disagreement among team members often leads to finding the right questions and making data-driven decisions.

Q: How did you approach growth in different markets, especially those with cultural differences?

Ed and Gustav mention the importance of understanding cultural nuances and adapting strategies accordingly. They highlight the need for translation and identifying product gaps across different countries. They also mention the value of local teams and city-specific approaches to growth.

Q: Is it better to have all teams focused on growth or have a separate growth team within the organization?

Ed and Gustav agree that the entire organization should be growth-oriented and data-driven. They advocate for using experimentation and data analysis to make decisions. Ed mentions that at Uber, they merged the product and growth teams to ensure alignment and leverage the expertise of both teams. They believe that all teams should be using data and experimentation frameworks for decision-making.

Q: Where do you see the growth opportunities in marketing and advertising channels currently?

Ed and Gustav mention that there are no short-term solutions for sustainable growth. They advise investing in channels that have the potential for long-term scalability, such as SEO, paid marketing, and emerging platforms like video ads. They also highlight the importance of engineering, data science, and product optimization for long-term growth.

Q: Did you discover any unique growth hacks or strategies while expanding in China?

Ed mentions that they had different strategies for the Chinese market, such as using WeChat bots to simplify driver onboarding due to the unique challenges posed by the Great Firewall. Both Ed and Gustav mentioned that they couldn't share specific growth hacks due to ongoing strategies and competition in the market.

Takeaways

The key takeaways from this video are the importance of experimentation, a data-driven approach to decision-making, and the need to build great products with a focus on retention and engagement. The structure of a growth team should consist of all necessary functions, including product, engineering, analytics, design, and marketing, to ensure effective collaboration and growth. Additionally, companies should invest in paid marketing channels based on the suitability of the product and focus on long-term growth through engineering and data science. The success of growth teams lies in integrating growth practices into the entire organization, aligning teams towards growth goals, and fostering a culture of experimentation and data-driven decision-making.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Edie and Gustav, who have both been part of growth teams for years, share their experiences in scaling growth organizations in companies like Uber and Airbnb.

• They discuss the challenges and strategies involved in scaling organizations that continue to scale their user base.

• They reflect on the early days of social viral growth and the key learnings that have helped them in their current roles.

• They highlight the importance of product market fit, experimentation, data analytics, and engineering in driving growth.