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20Growth: Five Signs of Top Growth Talent and How to Detect Them, How to Structure and Conduct the Most Efficient Customer Discovery Process & The Framework to Determine Your North Star and When To Change it with Darius Contractor, Former VP Growth @ Airt

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May 18, 2022

Darius Contractor, a growth leader from Airtable, Facebook Messenger, and Dropbox, dives into the essentials of scaling startups. He discusses recognizing top growth talent and the pitfalls many make when hiring. Darius shares how vital it is to harmonize data analysis with user psychology for effective growth strategies. He also emphasizes crafting a strong customer discovery process and determining the right North Star metrics while ensuring teams collaborate effectively. His insights are invaluable for anyone looking to navigate the growth landscape!

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ANECDOTE

Tickle.com and Early Growth

Darius Contractor's first growth role was at Tickle.com, an early viral marketing platform.
They created viral tests and learned about virality, combining psychology, technology, and business goals.

INSIGHT

Hidden Growth Potential

Growth opportunities are often hidden in plain sight; there's almost always more to optimize.
Deeper analysis, data scrutiny, and nuanced adjustments can dramatically improve conversion rates.

INSIGHT

Growth: Art and Science

Growth is a blend of art and science, with science providing structure and art driving creative exploration.
Intuition helps generate experiment ideas, while data analysis validates their effectiveness.

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Darius Contractor is one of the pre-eminent growth leaders of the last decade. As a growth OG, he has been VP Growth @ Airtable, where he led the growth, engineering, and product teams. Before Airtable, Darius was Head of Product Growth @ Facebook Messenger and finally, before Facebook, Darius spent 4 years as Head of Growth Engineering at Dropbox; here, Darius helped drive Dropbox to $100M in net new revenue through Dropbox Business. If that was not enough, Darius is also an active angel and fund investor with a portfolio including Calm, Airtable, Clubhouse, Census and LP checks in Maven Ventures and Long Journey Ventures.

In Today’s Episode with Darius Contractor You Will Learn:

1.) Darius Contractor: Entry into Growth:

How did Darius make his way into the world of growth? What was that first entry position?
What are 1-2 of the biggest takeaways for Darius from his time at Airtable, Dropbox and Facebook?
What 1-2 pieces of advice would Darius give to a growth leader starting a new role today?

2.) When is the Right Time:

What does the term"growth" really mean to Darius? How do so many confuse it?
When is the right time to make your first growth hire as a startup?
Should this hire be a junior growth person or a growth leader?
Should this initial growth team be placed inside an existing team or as a standalone team?
Where do so many startups make mistakes when making this first hire?

3.) Who To Hire:

How does one structure the process for your first growth hire? What are the stages?
What are the qualities that we are looking to uncover in these first hires?
What are the 4 interview stages to go through to test for these qualities?
How should founders use case studies and practicals as a way to test for these qualities?

4.) Onboarding and Integration:

What does the optimal onboarding process for new growth hires look like?
What do the best growth hires do in the first 30/60/90 days?
What are some early red flags that a new hire is a mis-hire?
How can leaders encourage cross-functional communication between growth and the rest of the org?