Growth Insights
Lessons from 247 conversations with growth leaders
Synthesized from 125 hours of podcast interviews across 40 shows in 4 languages. Every article quotes the people who actually built it.
Lucas Vargas on Building Nomad: Why a VIP Lounge Beats a Business Model
Most fintechs in 2021 were obsessing over CAC and LTV. Lucas Vargas built a VIP lounge at Guarulhos Airport in the middle of a pandemic when no one was traveling.
Lucas Vargas · CEO & Founder
Casey Winters on Why Marketplace Founders Play the Wrong Game Early On
The former CPO at Eventbrite and growth leader at Pinterest and Grubhub explains why most marketplace founders obsess over the wrong metrics, how to spot sustainable acquisition loops before launch, and why your software doesn't matter as much as you think.
Casey Winters · Fmr CPO / Growth Advisor
Growth Leaders from Meta, Twitter, and Instacart on What Actually Moves the Needle
The operators who scaled Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Uber, and Instacart share their most counterintuitive lessons: why retention trumps acquisition, when to ship without data, and how a single word change unlocked Japan.
Multiple · Co-founder
Jalay Bisharat on Why Your Product Experience Is Your Brand
The former CMO of Eventbrite, Upwork, and OpenTable breaks down why marketing can't save a mediocre product, how to find the single most important lever in your business, and what makes people say "I did the best work of my career."
Multiple · Co-founder
Sean Ellis on Why Your Growth Team Is Probably Just Rebranded Marketing
The man who coined "growth hacking" spent the last six years fixing a problem: teams read Hacking Growth, get excited, then fail at execution. Here's what actually works.
Sean Ellis · Founder
Shruti Khatod on Why Growth Channels Are Now Brand Amplifiers
Nutrafol's VP of Growth Marketing explains how she connects brand favorability to cost per acquisition, cracked linear TV creative, and tracks brand impact through retargeting pools and search volume.
Shruti Khatod · VP of Growth Marketing
Vaibhav Sahgal on Why Growth Teams Should Be Renamed Value Connection
Reddit's former Head of Growth explains why push notifications need a 10% CTR threshold, why your first growth hire should ship in week two, and what Mark Pincus taught him about testing ideas before building them.
Vaibhav Sahgal · VP Consumer Product
Roman Hughes: Por qué Growth No Importa Si Tu Marketplace No Funciona
El VP de Marketing de Rappi desmonta la obsesión por growth a toda costa y explica cómo pasó de regalar 30% todos los viernes a cambiar hábitos sostenibles con menos incentivos y más propensión.
Roman Hughes · VP Marketing
Ketty Slonimsky on How Palta Scales Apps to $100M+ Without SEO
Ketty Slonimsky runs growth for Flo, Simple, and Zing—apps doing $550M combined revenue. Here's how she uses web onboardings, second subscriptions, and 1,000 creatives per week to beat bigger competitors.
Ketty Slonimsky · Chief Growth Officer
Mayur Gupta on Why 80% of Kraken's Growth Is Still Organic
Kraken's CMO reveals how they maintain 80%+ organic growth while scaling paid from $10M to nine figures, and why the hardest growth levers matter most.
Mayur Gupta · CMO
Cem Kansu on Why Duolingo Leaves Money on the Table with Free Users
Duolingo's Chief Product Officer reveals how prioritizing free user experience over conversion rates built a growth flywheel that generates over a million downloads per day—mostly organic.
Cem Kansu · CPO
Sean Collins on Why Lifecycle Marketing Isn't Just Email and SMS
The Lifecycle Marketing Lead at Bilt Rewards explains why lifecycle isn't about channels, how to know when not to make a decision, and why some e-commerce brands should just embrace billboard marketing.
Sean Collins · Lifecycle Marketing Lead
Gina Gotthilf on Why Duolingo Grew Without a Budget and Scrappy Beats Rich
The former Duolingo VP of Marketing and Growth explains why having no budget forced better decisions, how she became employee #20, and why her new $13 million startup operates like it's broke.
Gina Gotthilf · Co-founder & CMO
Juliana Aldana: Cómo lanzar 19 ciudades en 60 días con Uber Eats
Juliana Aldana pasó por Uber, Rappi y Mercado Pago. Aquí cuenta cómo adaptó playbooks gringos a Latinoamérica, lanzó 19 ciudades en dos meses, y por qué los restaurantes mexicanos no le creían a alguien que nunca probó sus tacos.
Juliana Aldana · Head of Product
Ron Schneidermann on How AllTrails Accelerated Growth Post-COVID
AllTrails CEO Ron Schneidermann reveals how the outdoor recreation platform leveraged early platform advantages, community building, and product market fit to sustain explosive pandemic growth.
Ron Schneidermann · CEO
Emma Robinson & Kristine Segrist on How Canva Kills B2B vs. B2C Silos
The B2B and consumer marketing leaders at Canva explain why strict business unit boundaries kill growth, how they use data science without playing smaller, and what happens when you stop arm wrestling over MQLs.
Emma Robinson / Kristine Segrist · Head of B2B Marketing
Ed Baker on the Five Functions Every Growth Team Needs to Scale
The former VP of Growth at Uber and Facebook reveals how to structure cross-functional growth teams, avoid the trap of growing too early, and identify the 1–2 experiments that matter more than everything else combined.
Ed Baker · Angel Investor and Growth Advisor
Georgia Vidler on Why Canva Rejects Silicon Valley's MVP Obsession
Georgia Vidler built Canva into a product so intuitive that high schoolers teach their parents to use it. Here's how she kept it simple while adding 1,500 employees.
Georgia Vidler · Former Head of Product
Antoine Le Nel on Why Revolut Killed CAC Targets and Runs No A/B Tests
The Chief Growth Officer at one of the fastest-growing fintechs explains why his team never discusses CAC, why A/B tests kill speed, and how measurement frameworks create unfair advantages.
Antoine Le Nel · Chief Growth & Marketing Officer
Belén Gavilán: Cómo Tempo Creció de 600K a 3.5M de Usuarios en Chile
La Chief Growth Officer de Tempo revela cómo construyó un modelo de crecimiento que multiplicó por 6 la base de usuarios del neobanco chileno, pasando de marketing digital a orquestar squads multidisciplinarios enfocados en misiones.
Belen Gavilan · Chief Growth Officer
Raman Malik on Why Perplexity Spends Almost Nothing on Paid Acquisition
Raman Malik ran a paid acquisition team at Lyft before joining Perplexity. Now he barely touches it. Here's why retention beats channel optimization, what good activation rates actually look like, and how to know when CAC:LTV even matters.
Raman Malik · Head of Growth
Andrés Bilbao de Rappi: "Hay gente que emprende y gente que juega a startup"
El co-fundador de Rappi explica cómo diferenciar entre founders que están construyendo de verdad y los que están "fucking around", y por qué necesitas 20 locos para hacer algo irracional.
Andres Bilbao · Co-founder
João Gonçalves: Como Crescer 10x em 2 Anos no QuintoAndar e OLX Brasil
João Gonçalves liderou growth no OLX e QuintoAndar quando ninguém falava de growth no Brasil. Aqui, ele conta como escalou o QuintoAndar 10x em 2 anos, sobreviveu à fusão OLX-Bom Negócio e por que demitir rápido é mais humano que arrastar.
Joao Goncalves · Founder
Thiago Goularte sobre Monetização Retail Media e a Makers Community
Thiago Goularte construiu a Makers, comunidade dos principais CMOs do Brasil, enquanto escalava monetização no Rappi. Como projetos paralelos criam melhores decisões e por que ele nunca cobrou dos membros.
Thiago Goularte · Director de Monetizacion
Matt Lerner on Why 90% of Your Growth Work is Wasted Effort
Former PayPal growth leader Matt Lerner spent 11 years watching teams waste millions on preventable mistakes. Here's how to find the 10% of work that actually drives 90% of growth.
Matt Lerner · Growth Leader
David Velez on Why Nubank Treats Everyone Like a Sequoia Partner
The Nubank founder reveals how Doug Leone's people radar shaped his hiring philosophy, why half of Brazil trusts a purple credit card, and the non-obvious bet beyond banking.
David Velez · CEO & Founder
Tati Gracia: De Cupido do Par Perfeito a Diretora de Growth na Era Digital
Antes de ChatGPT e IA generativa, Tati Gracia atendia 40 e-mails por dia como cupido humanizado do Par Perfeito. Suas lições sobre tecnologia, comportamento e crescimento seguem atuais 20 anos depois.
Tati Gracia · Diretora de Growth
Daniel Undurraga sobre por qué Cornershop venció en groceries on-demand
El CTO que vendió dos startups comparte cómo crecer de 20 a 1.200 personas con Rocket Internet, por qué las empresas se compran más que se venden, y el arma secreta que llevó a Cornershop de Chile a 8 países.
Daniel Undurraga · Co-founder and CTO
Joshua Castaño de Laika: Cómo Crecer y Rentabilizar sin Renunciar a Ninguno
Joshua Castaño pasó de construir un venture builder en 2012 a dirigir growth y data en el e-commerce de mascotas más grande de Colombia. Su apuesta: no renunciar ni al crecimiento ni a la rentabilidad.
Joshua Castano · Chief Growth & Data Officer
José Vélez de Bold: cómo capturar el 6% de pagos con tarjeta en Colombia
El fundador que vendió Pagos Online a Naspers no creía en los MVPs. Armó Bold con 700 comerciales tocando puertas, terminales subsidiadas y una regla: vender hamburguesas perfectas, no menús complejos.
Jose Velez · Founder & CEO
Tomás Piuzzi: cómo Mercado Libre pasó de 2.500 a 100.000 empleados sin perder el ADN startup
El Head of Growth de Mercado Pago cuenta cómo la empresa creció 25x en 10 años sin perder la mentalidad emprendedora, y por qué las mejores decisiones vienen de mentorías con founders.
Tomas Piuzzi · Head of Growth
Alex Schultz on Why Your North Star Isn't a Metric—and Growth Teams Are Overrated
Meta's CMO breaks down why retention is the only metric that matters pre-PMF, why you shouldn't hire a growth team at 50 employees, and how AI will create entire companies run by one person.
Alex Schultz · CMO and VP of Analytics
Luke Harries on Why ElevenLabs Doesn't Use Product Managers for Growth
The Head of Growth at ElevenLabs explains why horizontal products can work, how to hire your first growth marketer, and why your launch video needs to hook in 30 seconds.
Luke Harries · Head of Growth
Paulo Rebolledo de Rappi: cómo escalar con 1000 experimentos paralelos
Paulo Rebolledo pasó de gestionar 3 ciudades a liderar la vertical más grande de Rappi. Aquí explica el framework de experimentación que corre más de 1000 tests simultáneos y el mindset que separa a los que crecen de los que se estancan.
Paulo Rebolledo · Senior Vice President of Restaurants
Iván Canales de Nubank: cómo llevó product obsession a 10M de clientes
Iván Canales lideró producto en la expansión de Nubank a México. Esto es lo que aprendió sobre no asumir propuestas de valor, construir marca de empleador desde cero y convertir "customer obsession" en un proceso repetible.
Lluis Canadell · Co-founder & CEO
Jose Madera de Lulo Bank: cómo Nubank conquistó México sin copiar Brasil
Jose Madera lideró producto en la primera expansión de Nubank fuera de Brasil. Aquí cuenta por qué ignoraron la tentación de copiar, cómo Product Reviews entrenó equipos desde cero y qué aprendió contratando en un mercado que no los conocía.
Jose Madera · Chief Growth & Marketing Officer
Iván Canales sobre cómo expandir Nubank a un mercado nuevo sin asumir nada
El ex country manager de Nubank México comparte el playbook real de expansión: focus groups, rituales de producto y la disciplina de no asumir que lo que funcionó en Brasil funcionará en tu mercado.
Alexander Torrenegra · Founder
Felipe Restrepo: Cómo Nubank construyó producto en México sin copiar Brasil
El ex VP de Producto de Nubank México revela por qué no asumieron que la propuesta de valor de Brasil funcionaría igual, cómo construyeron equipo cuando nadie los conocía, y el ritual que usaron para escalar cultura de producto.
Felipe Restrepo · VP of Growth
Pablo Moretti de Mercado Libre: Stickers, Asia y el fin de la demanda planificada
Pablo Moretti, VP de Tecnología en Mercado Libre, explica cómo una apuesta de un mes con stickers multiplicó las reseñas por 3.5, por qué ahora compiten por Daily Active Users y qué aprendieron de las plataformas asiáticas.
Pablo Moretti · VP of Technology
Phil Carter on Why Most Consumer Subscription Apps Die Before $10M ARR
Most consumer subscription apps launch fast, hit $1-10M ARR, then slam into a ceiling. Phil Carter breaks down the unit economics trap and the input metrics that actually matter.
Phil Carter · Growth Advisor
Cem Kansu on How Duolingo Ships 10x Faster by Killing the Product Spec
Duolingo's CPO on why the traditional spec-to-code assembly line is dead, how a PM vibe-coded an entire course with no engineers, and why consumer products live and die in the pixels.
Cem Kansu · CPO
Laura Schaffer on Why Cameo Was a Growth Loop, Not a Business
Amplitude's VP of Growth breaks down how Cameo mistook a pandemic tailwind for product-market fit—and why understanding attribution matters more than chasing hockey sticks.
Laura Schaffer · VP of Growth
Naomi Gleit on Meta's Early Growth Playbook and the Power of Disagreeability
Employee #29 at Facebook reveals how the legendary growth team shifted from marketing to product, why "7 friends in 10 days" worked, and what makes Mark Zuckerberg's small group so effective.
Naomi Gleit · Head of Product
Bangaly Kaba on Why Most Teams Skip the Work That Actually Matters
Bangaly Kaba helped scale Instagram to over 1 billion users. His secret wasn't shipping faster—it was the intentional work most PMs skip entirely.
Bangaly Kaba · Director of Product Management
Vaibhav Sahgal on Value Connection, Not Growth Hacking
The Reddit VP thinks growth teams have a branding problem. They don't create value—they connect it. And that distinction explains everything from when to hire to why push notifications need a 10% CTR minimum.
Vaibhav Sahgal · VP Consumer Product
Tomas Piuzzi: Cómo crecer 25x sin perder el ADN de startup
Cuando Tomas Piuzzi se unió a Mercado Libre en 2015, sus compañeros de Techint se rieron de la oferta. Diez años después, vivió el crecimiento de una empresa que pasó de valer 5 billones a 130 billones de dólares.
Tomas Piuzzi · Head of Growth
Thiago Goularte e a Reinvenção do Marketing Brasileiro através de Comunidade
O mercado de comunicação brasileiro movimenta bilhões, mas seus principais tomadores de decisão estavam isolados, cercados por agências tradicionais que não sabiam mais inovar — até que alguém decidiu trancá-los numa sala.
Thiago Goularte · Director de Monetizacion
Teresa Torres on Why Customer-Centricity Without Business Value Is a Disservice
The Product Talk founder believes most teams wait too long to learn they've built the wrong thing—and that customer-centricity without profit is just charity work in disguise.
Teresa Torres · Product Discovery Coach
Tati Gracia: quando o cupido vira analista de comportamento
A executiva que casou milhares de brasileiros antes do Tinder existir não confia em fórmulas de crescimento — ela aposta que entender fobia social vale mais que qualquer dashboard de métricas.
Tati Gracia · Diretora de Growth
Shruti Khatod on Brand as a Growth Lever, Not a Side Hustle
Most growth marketers still treat brand as something that happens on the side. Shruti Khatod spent 15 years learning why that's exactly backward—and how to fix it.
Shruti Khatod · VP of Growth Marketing
Sean Collins on Why Lifecycle Marketing Isn't What You Think It Is
Most marketers confuse email marketing with lifecycle marketing. Sean Collins, VP of Growth Marketing at Bilt Rewards, has spent years learning the difference—and when it actually matters.
Sean Collins · Lifecycle Marketing Lead
Ron Schneidermann on Building Growth in Emerging Platforms
Most founders chase crowded channels where experts compete. Ron Schneidermann built a fitness empire by betting on VR before anyone knew how to grow there.
Ron Schneidermann · CEO
Regina Moreno: Por qué el volumen en marketing ya no importa
Prefiere traer un cliente que cueste $100 pero deje $5,000, a uno que cueste $1 y deje $5. En una industria obsesionada con el volumen, Regina Moreno redefinió las reglas del juego.
Regina Moreno · Directora de Growth
Phil Carter on Why Your Best Growth Wins Hide Inside Failed A/B Tests
The former Quizlet and Faire growth leader believes your roadmap should prioritize what you learned from tests that bombed—because that's where the non-obvious breakthroughs live.
Phil Carter · Growth Advisor
Pablo Srugo on Finding Product-Market Fit Without the Hype
Most founders obsess over building the perfect product. Pablo Srugo, partner at Mistral VC, argues they're solving the wrong half of the equation—and missing the market entirely.
Pablo Srugo · Partner
Pablo Moretti y la batalla por el tiempo del usuario en Mercado Libre
Después de 18 años construyendo el marketplace más grande de Latinoamérica, Moretti descubrió que la verdadera amenaza no viene de Amazon sino de las apps que entretienen.
Pablo Moretti · VP of Technology
Naomi Gleit on Clarity, Canonical Docs, and Disagreeable Givers
Employee number 29 didn't get lucky. She showed up at the office 10 times, volunteered for PM work unpaid, and built a 19-year career on refusing to quit.
Naomi Gleit · Head of Product
The Anti-Data Playbook: What Growth Leaders at Meta, Twitter, and Instacart Know About When to Ignore the Numbers
The operators who scaled Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Instacart share a surprising confession: their best growth wins came from strategic shifts, not A/B tests—and every time they trusted their gut alone, they failed.
Multiple · Co-founder
Mayur Gupta on Why Brand Versus Performance Is a False Choice
The Kraken CMO who led growth at Spotify believes the greatest mistake in marketing was splitting brand from performance. His framework for product-led growth engines starts with data, not campaigns.
Mayur Gupta · CMO
Matt Lerner on Why Growth Is Figuring Stuff Out, Not Running Playbooks
After 11 years running growth at PayPal and coaching hundreds of startups at 500 Startups, Matt Lerner knows the best growth hires have zero marketing experience—and the best funnels add friction.
Matt Lerner · Growth Leader
Luke Harries on Building Growth Teams That Don't Need Product Managers
Most growth leaders preach focus. Luke Harries built one of the fastest-growing AI companies by ignoring that advice—serving developers, creators, and consumers simultaneously with discrete growth teams for each.
Luke Harries · Head of Growth
Lluis Canadell y la expansión de Nubank: cuando México enseñó a Brasil
La primera expansión de Nubank fuera de Brasil no fue replicar Brasil. Fue construir un producto distinto, desde cero, para un mercado que usaba crédito de forma radicalmente diferente.
Lluis Canadell · Co-founder & CEO
Ketty Slonimsky on Building Unfair Advantages in Red Ocean Markets
Most growth leaders chase uncrowded markets. Ketty Slonimsky does the opposite: she hunts red oceans where competitors already make $100 million, then outbuilds them with unfair advantages most startups will never have.
Ketty Slonimsky · Chief Growth Officer
Joshua Castano: rentabilizar y crecer no son mandatos incompatibles
En Laika no renunciaron al crecimiento cuando llegó el momento de rentabilizar. Joshua Castano fusionó growth y data para resolver el dilema que está quebrando startups en América Latina.
Joshua Castano · Chief Growth & Data Officer
Jose Madera y la disciplina de no asumir: cómo Nubank conquistó México
La expansión internacional más exitosa de fintech en América Latina comenzó con una premisa radical: asumir que lo que funcionó en Brasil no funcionaría en México.
Jose Madera · Chief Growth & Marketing Officer
João Gonçalves e a arte de fazer o desconhecido parecer familiar
O físico teórico português que virou um dos executivos de growth mais pragmáticos do Brasil tem uma obsessão: fazer o desconhecido parecer reconhecível. E isso mudou como QuintoAndar e OLX cresceram.
Joao Goncalves · Founder
Growth Leader on Why "Seeking Truth" Beats Growth Hacking Every Time
The former SVP of Revenue at Tonal believes the growth industry's obsession with shortcuts is broken—and that real leverage comes from understanding why something worked, not just what worked.
Growth Leader · Head of Growth
Gina Gotthilf on Building Growth Without Budget at Duolingo
The former VP of Marketing & Growth at Duolingo would rather have no budget than unlimited resources—a forcing function that separates real growth from expensive theater.
Gina Gotthilf · Co-founder & CMO
Felipe Restrepo: Por qué copiar tu producto exitoso a otro país es un error
La mayoría de las empresas latinoamericanas asumen que su producto exitoso en un país se replicará tal cual en otro. Felipe Restrepo aprendió lo contrario liderando la expansión de Nubank a México.
Felipe Restrepo · VP of Growth
Emma Robinson and Kristine Segrist on Canva's B2B and Consumer Growth Engine
Most companies treat B2B and B2C as separate kingdoms with strict borders. At Canva, two marketing leaders run the business as "two parts of a whole"—and the result is a $3 billion revenue engine with zero attribution finger-pointing.
Emma Robinson / Kristine Segrist · Head of B2B Marketing
Ed Baker on Why Growth Leaders Should Do Less, Not More
At Uber, Ed Baker found that 1 or 2 initiatives each year drove more growth than hundreds of other experiments combined. His approach: obsessive focus on the North Star metric and the discipline to ignore everything else.
Ed Baker · Angel Investor and Growth Advisor
David Velez on Why Winners Think They're Still Losing
When half of Brazil uses your product, most founders would declare victory. David Velez sees the 50% who don't and calls it minute one of a decades-long match.
David Velez · CEO & Founder
Daniel Undurraga: El caos controlado y la vara imposible de Cornershop
Las empresas se compran, no se venden. Y el caos solo funciona si uno entiende dónde están los cuellos de botella y cómo resolverlos rápidamente.
Daniel Undurraga · Co-founder and CTO
Belen Gavilan: construir hábitos antes que adquirir usuarios
Crecer de 600.000 a 3,5 millones de usuarios no fue un problema de canales. Fue un problema de hábitos, propuesta de valor imperfecta y timing cultural.
Belen Gavilan · Chief Growth Officer
Bangaly Kaba's Theory of Impact: Why Your Manager Matters More Than Your Skills
The director of product at YouTube built a framework that forces brutal honesty: your manager is the most important variable in your career equation, and if you're not scoring the environment objectively, you're stuck.
Bangaly Kaba · Director of Product Management
The Archie Abrams Playbook for Building Growth Teams That Think in Decades
Most growth teams obsess over retention. Archie Abrams at Shopify does the opposite—he lowers barriers, welcomes churn, and waits years to measure what actually worked.
Archie Abrams · VP Product & Head of Growth
Antoine Le Nel on Why Belief Is the Enemy of Growth
The Chief Growth Officer at Revolut has no belief in brand, influencers, or A/B tests. His conviction? The moment you believe in anything, your growth engine breaks down.
Antoine Le Nel · Chief Growth & Marketing Officer
Andrew Chen on Growth in the AI Era: Why the MVP Is Dead Again
The a16z general partner sees AI products growing to millions of users with no growth strategy, random acronym names, and zero notifications—just like the early internet.
Andrew Chen · General Partner
Andrés Bilbao: La Filosofía del Emprendedor Loco y el Arte de Construir Equipos Imposibles
El cofundador de Rappi no busca gente razonable. Busca locos que te respondan "ya mismo", que consigan recursos de la nada y que crean en milagros imposibles.
Andres Bilbao · Co-founder
Iván Canales: el producto como disciplina cognitiva en fintech
La inteligencia artificial te dará respuestas trilladas. El verdadero trabajo cognitivo está en entender qué problema resuelves y para quién, antes de escribir una sola línea de código o propuesta.
Alexander Torrenegra · Founder
Alex Schultz: Why All Marketing Is Performance Marketing
The Meta CMO who runs analytics believes every company hires growth teams too early, most North Stars are actually broken, and the idea of one-person companies is less crazy than you think.
Alex Schultz · CMO and VP of Analytics