Lomit Patel returns to the Apptivate podcast to share his experiences marketing Tynker, an Edtech product that teaches kids how to code. The platform reaches 60 million users in over 150 countries. In his new role as Chief Growth officer, Lomit discusses how the team got kids excited about coding and engaged teachers and parents to use the app.

Lomit Patel has worked in growth at startups for over 20 years. He is the author of Lean AI and a Forbes Business Development Council Member. He’s worked at a number of startups that have gone on to become an IPO, like Roku, or that have been acquired by other companies, like Texture.

Questions Lomit Answered in this Episode:

• How is Tynker and what do you do there?
• How did Tynker acquire its 60 million users?
• Does your approach to growth stay consistent from company to company?
• Do you see investing in branding initiatives as a more valuable medium when remarketing isn’t possible?
• Where do you see AI going in the near future, specifically as it relates to growth marketing?

Timestamp:

• 1:37 Lomit’s background
• 4:00 Tynker & Lomit’s role
• 7:00 How Tynker reached 60 million users
• 10:50 Genesis of their Mindcraft angle
• 14:15 Changing the growth playbook for kid-oriented products
• 19:29 Marketing to mass audiences
• 23:40 How we’re evolving with AI

Quotes:

(2:16-2:26) “As I’ve spent more and more time learning about growth, you really come to realize the value of data and how important that is to make different decisions.”

(11:12-11:19) “It’s really hard to market directly to kids, so you have to figure out how you can influence kids to really learn about your product?”

(17:04-17:18) “You can’t really remarket to kids. So the big part comes down to how do you use your data and how do you create better personalized experiences, how do you use in-app messaging to really be contextually relevant to what the user’s looking for?”

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Lomit Patel’s LinkedIn
• Tynker
• Lean AI by Lomit Patel