Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)

Jan 19, 2025

Elena Verna, a sought-after growth advisor with leadership experience at Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, and SurveyMonkey, shares her insights on ineffective growth strategies. She highlights common mistakes, such as hiring growth roles prematurely and relying too heavily on competition. Elena emphasizes the significance of earned media in marketing, encourages embracing failure, and discusses innovative growth frameworks. Listeners are reminded to balance intuition with data-driven decisions and to explore varied career options beyond traditional paths.

01:35:10

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Elena Verna

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Quick takeaways

Successful growth necessitates a founder-led approach until significant metrics, like one million in ARR, are achieved.

Hiring a head of growth often misleads companies if deeper product or market issues are unaddressed, wasting resources.

Embracing freelance and advisory roles can enhance career options, enabling professionals to align better with their skills and goals.

Deep dives

Misconceptions in Growth Hiring

Many startups mistakenly believe that hiring a dedicated growth team is essential for driving growth from the outset. In reality, successful growth often requires a founder-led approach until a company reaches significant metrics, like one million in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). Founders should focus on establishing product-market fit and gathering data before attempting to bring in growth specialists. Once a foundation of solid performance and user engagement is in place, then considering a growth team becomes appropriate.

Intro

6min

Misconceptions in Growth Strategies

25min

Originality in Competitor Analysis

10min

Embracing Failure for Growth

6min

Harnessing Earned Media for Growth

18min

Effective Strategies for Vetting Startup Advisors

2min

Balancing Intuition and Data in Growth Strategies

9min

Exploring Growth Strategies and Career Flexibility

12min

Favorite Sci-Fi Picks and Gadgets

4min

10.

Embracing Progress: Humor in Growth

5min

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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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/

• X: https://x.com/elenaverna

• 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