Adam Fishman: Takeaways from Lyft and Patreon; How to Build Viral Loops | 20VC #897
4CORRECTION: Adam's Twitter handle is @fishmanaf
Adam Fishman is one of the leading growth practitioners of the last decade. Most recently, Adam was the Chief Product and Growth Offer @ Imperfect Foods, where Adam built a 40-person product and growth organization, responsible for 70% of overall company metrics and growing revenue by 400% in one year to $600M annually. Before Imperfect, Adam spent 4 years as VP of Product and Growth @ Patreon, driving the company pivot and rebrand and helping the company scale to $1BN GMV and $100M in revenue. Finally, before Patreon, Adam was the Head of Growth @ Lyft, Adam was the first growth and marketing employee hired, grew the team to 18 people, and reported directly to the founders.
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Timestamps:
00:00 What was your entry into growth?
02:58 Key takeaways from Lyft and Patreon
04:59 Learning from failure in growth
06:25 Data or intuition in Growth?
08:02 How do you define growth today?
10:02 Do you hire experienced or junior growth leaders?
12:36 Should a growth team be a standalone team?
15:47 What is a growth loop?
21:12 How do companies go wrong with growth loops?
25:21 Hiring process for growth
31:41 Questions to ask in interview process
34:47 Doing due diligence on the Lyft CEO
36:19 How to onboard smoothly
39:05 How to communicate effectively
40:40 How long to give a hire before it’s not working out
42:55 How to be a world-class cross-functional communicator
48:02 The Patreon Rebrand
52:30 Parallels between managing and parenting
53:35 What growth tactics have not changed?
54:05 What growth tactics have died?
55:10 Biggest mistake companies make when hiring growth
55:58 What would you like to change about Growth?
56:47 Worst growth experiment
58:37 Most impressive growth strategy
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In Today’s Episode with Adam You Will Learn:
1.) Entry into Growth:
How Adam first made his way into the world of growth when “growth” did not exist as a function?
What were Adam’s biggest lessons from leading Lyft’s growth team? How did that impact his mindset?
What are some of Adam’s biggest takeaways from his time at Patreon? What are some of the biggest mistakes he made at Patreon?
2.) The Basics: Growth 101: What and When:
How does Adam define “growth” today? What is it? What is it not?
When is the right time to hire your first growth hires?
Should this first hire be a seasoned growth leader or a more junior growth rep?
What characteristics and skill sets should this growth hire have?
3.) The Hiring Process:
How should founders structure the hiring process for their first growth hire?
What 3 questions should all founders ask in the hiring process for growth?
How can founders use data and case studies to really test the skillsets of growth candidates?
Why does Adam believe that the hiring process for growth and product is so broken?
4.) The Onboarding Process:
What is the right way to structure the onboarding process for new growth hires?
How should growth hires create cross-functional relationships and communication with the rest of the team? What has worked for Adam in the past? What has not?
What are the signs that are new growth hire is not working? How long should they be given?
What are the signs that are a new growth hire is working? What is the sign of “exceptional”?
5.) Adam Fishman: AMA:
What growth decision has Adam made without data? How did it go?
How does Adam define “viral loops”? What makes one better than another? Where do so many make mistakes with viral loops?
Adam led the rebrand for Patreon, what is the secret to a successful rebrand? What are some of the most common pitfalls to avoid?
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