20Growth: Revolut's Chief Growth Officer on The Growth Playbook Revolut Used to Scale to $2.2BN in Revenue | How Revolut Launch and Grow Products | Why the Best PMs Don't Need A/B Tests & Why CAC is a BS Metric with Antoine Le Nel
Antoine Le Nel, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer at Revolut and former VP of Growth at King, shares his insights on growth strategies in fintech. He argues that top product and growth teams succeed without A/B testing and emphasizes the importance of high-quality customer acquisition over CAC. Antoine discusses effective tactics that propelled Revolut to a $2.2 billion revenue milestone, highlights localisation as overrated, and stresses the significance of small, incremental improvements in driving sustained growth.
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Quick takeaways
Successful product managers prioritize intuition over A/B testing for quick, confident decision-making in product launches, emphasizing rapid execution.
Growth strategies require constant adaptation and innovation in performance marketing to compete effectively in a complex customer acquisition landscape.
A growth engine is a comprehensive system of interconnected strategies, where product penetration fosters brand awareness as the business matures.
Deep dives
The Value of Intuition Over A/B Testing
Successful product managers should rely on their intuition to identify the right product instead of solely depending on A/B testing. The emphasis on rapid execution and decisiveness in product launches is highlighted, with a focus on getting products to market quickly. A/B testing is seen as a potential hindrance to growth, as it can extend the time required to launch and may not yield the desired 10x improvements that product managers aspire to achieve. This approach promotes a mindset of confidence in decision-making, trusting that good product managers can successfully identify the optimal solution through experience.
Performance Marketing and the Competitive Landscape
Performance marketing remains a critical component of growth strategy but is increasingly seen as a complex battlefield filled with competition. The essential nature of the performance marketing game has not changed; it still revolves around bidding for higher visibility to attract customers. The acknowledgment of challenges such as losing attribution and adapting measurement frameworks signifies that marketers must continually evolve their strategies. Ultimately, the competitive landscape necessitates constant innovation and adaptation to maintain effectiveness within performance marketing.
The Importance of Rapid Decision-Making
In growth-focused organizations, quick decision-making is emphasized, particularly in assessing whether to continue or cut failing initiatives. This agile approach allows teams to pivot swiftly when a strategy is underperforming, preventing wasted resources on unfruitful campaigns. The practice of not waiting for an entire campaign to conclude before evaluating its effectiveness is critical for maintaining momentum and efficiency. This strategy underlines the significance of agility within teams, enabling them to continually refine their methods based on immediate feedback.
Building an Effective Growth Engine
A growth engine consists of multiple interconnected components that work in harmony to drive customer acquisition and satisfaction. This engine is described as an organism that evolves over time, necessitating ongoing optimization to keep up with market demands. Integrating upper, mid, and lower funnel strategies ensures that all levels of customer engagement are considered, fostering an environment conducive to sustained growth. The insight that a successful growth engine is not a singular tactic but rather a comprehensive system underscores the necessity of diverse, well-managed strategies in achieving business objectives.
Balancing Brand Marketing with Product Development
The philosophy that product penetration drives brand awareness rather than the reverse is a key insight discussed. Emphasizing robust product development in the early stages allows for organic brand growth, while attempting to build brand recognition before ensuring product quality is often counterproductive. As a business matures, however, and product penetration increases, targeted brand marketing can leverage existing customer bases to further expand reach. This approach stresses the importance of finding the correct balance in efforts between establishing a strong product foundation and gradually amplifying brand presence.
Antoine Le Nel is the Chief Growth and Marketing Officer at Revolut, one of the fastest growing fintechs on the planet. Prior to Revolut, Antoine spent an incredible 7 years at King (Makers of Candy Crush) overseeing continuous expansion of the world's most famous mobile game as VP of Growth.
10 Questions with Revolut’s Chief Growth Officer:
Why does Antoine believe that the best product and growth teams do not need to do A/B tests?
Why does Antoine believe the best growth teams do not believe in anything?
What growth tactics have worked best for Revolut? What did they learn?
What have been the biggest growth flops? How did that change their approach?
Why does Antoine believe localisation in product is BS and overrated?
Why does CAC never come up at Revolut? Why do they not believe it is a metric to focus on? What metrics do they focus on instead?
What does Antoine mean when he says “growth is a bidding war”? How does one win the “bidding war” today?
Why does Antoine believe the best growth teams focus on optimisations and 1% gains not moving the needle for a company?
What are the single biggest mistakes growth teams make today? What used to work that no longer works?
What growth tactic is most effective but also most under-utilised? How can startups take advantage of this?
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