The Breakout Growth Podcast

Listen now on Apple, Spotify and YouTube

Episode Overview:

In this episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast, Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr engage with Pablo Srugo, a Partner at Mistral VC and Host of The Product Market Fit Show Podcast. Pablo delves into the essentials of finding and leveraging product/market fit from a venture capitalist's perspective, sharing unique insights shaped by his dual role as a VC and podcast host.

What You’ll Learn:

* Venture Insights: Pablo shares why he started his podcast and how it serves as a strategic tool for content marketing and enhancing deal flow.

* Deep Dive into Product/Market Fit: Discover the nuances and strategies for achieving and maintaining product/market fit, as Pablo explains through vivid examples from his interactions with successful founders.

* Engagement with Startups: Learn about the criteria and metrics Pablo considers when engaging with early-stage startups and how these factors influence his investment decisions.

* Sustainable Growth: Discussion on how sustainable growth is driven by a deep understanding of product/market fit and the importance of continuously adapting to market needs.

Key Takeaways:

* "Product/market fit is not a one-time achievement but a continuous pursuit." — Pablo Srugo

* "Understanding and adapting to your customer's needs is crucial for long-term success." — Sean Ellis

Timestamps:

* [00:00] - Introduction: Sean and Ethan welcome Pablo Srugo.

* [03:15] - Why Pablo started a podcast and its impact on his VC activities.

* [10:30] - Strategies for identifying and investing in startups with potential for product/market fit.

* [22:45] - Examples of successful product/market fit strategies from Pablo’s podcast interviews.

* [35:00] - How product/market fit drives sustainable growth.

* [47:50] - Q&A with Pablo: Insights into common pitfalls and success stories in venture capital.

Why Listen:

This episode is a goldmine for entrepreneurs, startup enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the intersections of venture capital and startup growth strategies. Pablo’s experiences and insights offer a rare glimpse into the mind of a VC who actively shapes the growth trajectories of innovative startups.

Links & Resources:

* Follow Pablo on LinkedIn here

* Subscribe to The Product Market Fit Show Podcast here

* Subscribe to The Breakout Growth Podcast here

Join the Conversation:

If you enjoyed this episode, share your thoughts on social media and tag us! Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review—it helps more people find the show.

Listen now on Apple, Spotify and YouTube

Episode Overview:

In this episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast, Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr sit down with Tom Smith, CEO and Founder of GWI, a London-based consumer research software company. Tom shares the 15-year journey of GWI, from its bootstrapped beginnings to its current position as a global leader in consumer insights. The conversation explores how GWI has scaled by leveraging technology, particularly the recent integration of AI, to make consumer data more accessible and actionable for companies worldwide.

What You’ll Learn:

* From Bootstrapping to Scale: Discover how GWI transitioned from a scrappy startup to a 600-person global company by evolving its product and staying ahead of market trends.

* The Power of AI: Learn why Tom believes AI is the most exciting development in market research in the last decade and how GWI is integrating AI to democratize access to consumer insights.

* Customer Insights at Scale: How GWI helps organizations, from TikTok to Chelsea FC, make data-driven decisions using a vast dataset of over 20 million consumers across 55 countries.

* Navigating the SaaS Transition: Hear about the pivotal moment when GWI transitioned from selling research services to building a SaaS platform and the impact it had on the company's growth.

* Building for the Future: The challenges and opportunities of integrating AI into GWI's product and how it aligns with their long-term mission to make consumer insights accessible to all professionals, not just researchers.

Key Takeaways:

* "AI is the most exciting thing that's happened to market research. It’s going to transform how people access and use data." — Tom Smith

* "Our success came when we focused not just on selling data, but on making that data useful and easy to access for everyone, not just researchers." — Tom Smith

Timestamps:

* [00:00] – Introduction: Sean and Ethan kick off the conversation with Tom Smith.

* [04:00] – Tom shares GWI’s backstory and early struggles bootstrapping during the 2009 financial crisis.

* [09:00] – The turning point: GWI’s transition to a SaaS model and how it changed their business trajectory.

* [15:00] – Real-world examples: How companies like TikTok and Chelsea FC use GWI data to drive decision-making.

* [20:00] – AI integration: How GWI is using AI to simplify consumer research and enhance user experience.

* [29:00] – The challenges of scaling a 600-person company and staying agile in the face of rapid technological change.

* [40:00] – Reflections on growth: Tom discusses the power of subscription-based growth and how his understanding of growth has evolved over time.

Why Listen:

If you’re curious about how AI is reshaping industries, particularly market research, or want to hear the story of a company that bootstrapped its way to international success, this episode is for you. Tom Smith’s journey with GWI offers valuable lessons for both startup founders and established businesses looking to scale.

Links & Resources:

* GWI Website: Visit here

* Follow Tom Smith on LinkedIn: Connect here

* Subscribe to The Breakout Growth Podcast: Subscribe here

Join the Conversation:

If you enjoyed this episode, share your thoughts on social media and tag us! Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review—it helps more people find the show.

Listen now on Apple, Spotify and YouTube

Episode Overview: 

The Breakout Growth Podcast took a break while Sean Ellis was on an epic three-month world tour, where he connected with startups and growth teams across the globe. So, to kick things back into gear, Ethan Garr takes the interviewer’s microphone in this episode to find out what Sean discovered, shared, and learned on his journey.

From the bustling streets of São Paulo to the tech hubs of Singapore, Sean shares the insights, challenges, and surprises he encountered along the way. Whether you're curious about global growth strategies, fascinated by cultural impacts on business, or just love a good travel story, this episode has something for you.

What You’ll Learn:

* The Spark Behind the Tour: Discover the unexpected catalyst that led Sean to embark on his global journey and how a surprising report from China inspired a push toward a million sales of Hacking Growth, the book Sean Ellis co-authored with Morgan Brown.

* Cultural Insights: Hear about the unique growth challenges and opportunities in markets like Brazil, Japan, and India. Sean breaks down how cultural differences shape the way companies approach growth and innovation.

* The Workshop Advantage: Sean explains why his workshops have become a pivotal tool for companies looking to align their teams and supercharge growth. Learn how this hands-on approach is making a real impact for companies worldwide.

* On-the-Road Realities: Get a candid look at the highs and lows of Sean’s journey, including near-burnout moments, unexpected successes, and a crazy story form one of his many flights.

Key Takeaways:

* "Workshops are the missing link that help companies go from knowledge to execution." — Sean Ellis

* "I’ve learned more about what makes a good partner and how to effectively run workshops in diverse markets." — Sean Ellis

Timestamps:

* [00:00] - Intro: Ethan Garr kicks off the episode, explaining the hiatus and Sean's world tour.

* [04:10] - Why the Tour? Sean discusses the unexpected book sales report from China that motivated the tour.

* [12:02] - The Power of Workshops: Sean dives into why workshops are crucial for companies looking to implement effective growth strategies.

* [19:02] - Cultural Surprises: Sean shares insights from different markets, including the impact of cultural nuances on growth.

* [31:04] - Challenges on the Road: Sean recounts the realities of managing a global tour, from exhaustion to logistical challenges.

* [39:02] - Funny Anecdote: Sean shares a humorous and crazy air travel story.

Why Listen: If you're looking to understand how growth strategies play out across different cultures, this episode offers a firsthand look from one of the industry’s top experts. Plus, if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to travel the world while spreading growth hacking’s best practices, Sean’s stories are not to be missed.

Links & Resources:

* Follow Sean on LinkedIn

* Check out Sean's book, Hacking Growth, here

* Subscribe to the podcast here

Join the Conversation: If you enjoyed this episode, share your thoughts on social media and tag us! Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review—it helps more people find the show.

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast, Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with positioning expert, April Dunford, author of the best-selling books, “Obviously Awesome” and “Sales Pitch.”

April had a successful career as a marketing and operations executive at companies including IBM and Nortel and it was in these roles that she developed her passion and approach to building effective positioning. Today she shares this passion and her knowledge as a consultant, speaker, and writer with companies around the world. 

In “Sales Pitch”, April lays out her hypothesis that marketers have been taught storytelling that doesn’t work for sales. She says 60% of deals that are started are never finished so it’s often indecisiveness and the status quo that sales teams must work to overcome. Even if you are not focused on sales, you will find a lot of value in this discussion.

Messaging and positioning are fundamental to growth and what we get to in this conversation is a deeper look into how businesses can differentiate themselves, help their audiences discover value, and ultimately break through the noise.

What makes this especially fun and useful is that April isn’t afraid to take contrary and non-obvious positions. As an example, she doesn’t like the concept of Product/Market Fit, and since we do, it made for some good back-and-forth!

So jump into this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast as we learn more about the art of effective positioning with April Dunford.

And thanks for listening to the Breakout Growth Podcast. Don’t forget, to watch us and subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K_CY4-IrZ_auEIs0j97zA/featured

We discussed:

* April's story from executive to “Positioning is my jam!”(06:46)

* The problem with most sales pitches (09:44)

* Why it matters that 60% of started deals are never finished (22:04)

* Building and validating your sales Pitch (27:02)

* Positioning isn’t static; how to keep it fresh (52:44)

And much, much, more . . . 

If you want to know just how awesome AllTrails is, just ask Apple! Out of over 2 million apps in the App Store, AllTrails is one of just three finalists waiting to hear if they have been selected as Apple’s 2023 App of the Year. So, of course, we are delighted to welcome back to the podcast, Ron Schneidermann, AllTrails’s CEO. 

Ron first joined Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr for a chat back in early 2022. At the time, the company was riding Covid-driven enthusiasm for socially distanced activities and had recently raised $150 million in private equity funding. Now, almost two years later, we wanted to hear how it has been going for this hyper-growth app that helps people have fun exploring the outdoors.

After the pandemic, Ron and his team were determined to continue accelerating growth and that meant pushing in new directions while at the same time building on what was already working well. To keep moving forward, they made big bets on international expansion, invested in new areas like e-commerce, and kept the focus on improving mindset and execution. And the growth has continued. 

“Momentum begets momentum,” says Ron, and while the flywheel has accelerated and many of the bets have worked out, it hasn’t all been easy. In this conversation, Ron shares not just the wins, but the struggles and challenges that come hand-in-hand with managing rocketship growth. 

There is a lot to this episode. From valuable learnings when looking to expand across borders to a really important discussion on leadership and vulnerability. And you will find out what it means when Ron says at AllTrails “Authenticity is our currency.”AllTrails. 

So jump into this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast. And thanks for listening to the Breakout Growth Podcast. Don’t forget, to watch us and subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K_CY4-IrZ_auEIs0j97zA/featured

We discussed:

* Obsessing on growth, not just maintaining the status quo (08:43)

* “Much harder than we expected;” pushing for international growth (14:40)

* Modern growth structure. Is “head of growth” obsolete? (35:43)

* Growth as a role of influence, not ownership (36:36)

* People challenges and hypergrowth; avoiding toxcity (44:55)

* Authenticity as a personal core value (52:16)

And much, much, more . . .

According to Todd Olson, Pendo’s founder and CEO, ‘the market isn’t just receptive to AI, it’s demanding it!’  So in this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr dive deep with Todd, to better understand what this and other changes in the world of product, marketing, and growth will mean for businesses.

Pendo helps companies accelerate how they build and launch products that customers actually want by combining the power of analytics tools with messaging and customer experience features. For Product-Led Growth companies, this can be quite powerful as it helps teams intelligently use analytics to understand and drive specific valuable behaviors. 

In this spirited and fun conversation, we get a sense of Todd’s approach and philosophy, and how that has helped drive Pendo’s international growth over the past 10 years.  From the outset, the company was focused on improving customer experiences in software, but in the past few years, they have been able to accelerate that mission by investing in machine learning.

Todd says it’s really important to understand that the “mindset drives the tech,” not the other way around, and he’s built a culture to support that. Just as with our last podcast episode with the VP of EMEA from Moloco, Todd is laser-focused on building enthusiasm around outcomes from technology, not on the technology itself.

He says teams have a tendency to celebrate when they ship software, but really the celebration should start when the desired outcome is achieved. It’s this kind of candid and thoughtful growt-minded thinking that made for a great discussion and undoubtedly has been foundational to Pendo’s success thus far.

So jump in! And thanks for listening to the Breakout Growth Podcast. Don’t forget, to watch us and subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K_CY4-IrZ_auEIs0j97zA/featured

We discussed:

* Building Pendo with a mission to improve experiences in software (06:10)

* Speed of innovation is important, but we have to balance change (13:22)

* What AI means for businesses and how to embrace it (18:14)

* Marketing and product’s relationship to data has changed at a different pace (22:00)

* In the future, every PM is thinking about growth (37:31)

* Smarter and more efficient: the impact of a down economy (47:58)

And much, much, more . . .

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat AI and growth with Ben Jeger, Moloco’s Vice President of EMEA. Moloco’s machine learning-based advertising solutions help marketers take advantage of advertising opportunities outside of the “walled gardens” of Google, Meta, and Amazon.

In the past year, AI has taken on a life of its own for good reason, but we wanted to dig beneath the hype cycle to understand how this technology will really impact the world of growth. With Ben, we got just that.

Moloco hasn’t changed its messaging to capitalize on the AI whirlwind, even though it’s fair to say they are an AI company.  They have simply continued their relentless focus on delivering customer outcomes.  In performance marketing, that is the only thing that matters, and as Ben says, “Fancy words don’t get us there.”

So in this discussion, we learn how these tools level the playing field for marketers and why they are so valuable for augmenting human capabilities. In addition, we get a picture of why Moloco has grown 5x in the past two years to a $2+ billion valuation, and how Ben is approaching his task of expanding the business throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Thanks for listening to the Breakout Growth Podcast, and don’t forget, to watch us and subscribe on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-K_CY4-IrZ_auEIs0j97zA/featured

We discussed:

* Moloco’s 10-year, overnight success story (07:50)

* Defining AI and Machine Learning (10:58)

* In performance marketing, sustainability is about long-term outcomes (14:41)

* “It’s not a lie to say we are an AI company,” but what matters is outcomes (17:51)

* Creating value outside of the “walled gardens” (27:43)

* Growing Moloco beyond gaming (33:52)

And much, much, more . . . 

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast, Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Jonas Klink, Thrive Market’s Vice President of Product Management & Design. Thrive Market is a subscription-based online grocery delivery service that aims to make healthy living easy and affordable for everyone.  

And that is a perfect fit for Jonas, who has over 15 years of experience in eCommerce working at companies like eBay, Walmart, and WeightWatchers. As he thought about the next chapter in his career, Jonas wanted to find a mission-driven company where he could make a difference, and Thrive is proving to be the right place for him to have that impact.

So in this conversation, we dig deep into Jonas’ growth approach and his passion for building organizational learning velocity. Scientific rigor is at the heart of his process, but speed is key. He explains that to keep growth flowing, tests must focus on answering hypotheses, but they cannot get bogged down by everything else needed for broad distribution. 

If you have ever struggled to manage design in a high-tempo testing environment you will particularly enjoy this conversation. Jonas and his team have built a culture where UX and product are deeply connected so that design can flow into experimentation without encumbering it.

And that is just the beginning. From his use of the RICE prioritization framework to building alignment around a North Star Metric, Jonas is building the culture of experimentation most of us strive for as we look to accelerate growth.

So join us as we dive in with Jonas Klink and find out what’s driving breakout growth success at Thrive Market. 

We discussed:

* Sustainability, healthy living, and 18 million orders: (05:11)

* Bringing experience from Walmart, eBay, and Jet.com to Thrive Market  : (10:08)

* Organizing for rapid experimentation and great design: (14:54)

* Building a growth language where learnings replace failures: (30:58)

* The importance of lightweight process for teams: (39:11)

And much, much, more . . . 

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Arjun Mahadevan, Co-Founder and CEO of doola, a launchpad for your first or next business. Most founders want to spend their time finding Product/Market Fit, but unfortunately, the work of just running a business itself can often get in the way. 

Doola looks to help founders remove these distractions by offering a “business-in-a-box” solution.  The company helps you form your LLC, then manage everything from bookkeeping and banking, to taxes and compliance. 

Other companies, like LegalZoom, offer business formation services, and certainly, lawyers and accountants can help with these processes too. But doola’s approach is about customer success and building a community where founders can find the support they need.  Arjun says it’s both “high tech and high touch”.

Arjun says doola has helped founders in 175 countries form their LLCs in the US, and his team is all about finding the highest-leverage opportunities that will result in a great product suite and community for the business owners they serve.

So, if you are looking for some great inspiration and insights into how to optimize for sustainable growth, check out this episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast with Arjun Mahadevan, Co-Founder and CEO of doola.

We discussed:

* Business-in-a-Box; the doola backstory: (06:04)

* Meeting the needs of Covid-driven eCommerce acceleration: (15:45)

* Building for retention beyond LLC formation: (25:52)

* Just-in-time user acquisition: (30:38)

* White labeling doula via API: (34:55)

And much, much, more . . .

In this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast Sean Ellis and Ethan Garr chat with Brendan Candon, Co-Founder and CEO of SidelineSwap, an online marketplace for sporting goods.

“Recommerce” is becoming increasingly popular. Reusing, reselling, and recycling used items creates value for buyers and sellers, and the process of trading in and trading up can actually be kind of fun. Brendan and his team have leaned into this by making it easy for athletes, parents, and coaches to find new homes for gear that might otherwise languish in their closets or end up in landfills.

Recently Brendan and his co-founders raised money through DSG Ventures (Dick’s Sporting Goods’ venture fund), and we learn how this strategic partnership has unlocked a unique growth channel. By bringing used gear to Sideline Swap Trade-in events, held at Dick’s Sporting Goods stores across the US, consumers can get paid instantly with gift cards, which they can then use to buy new gear in the store.

Not only does this build inventory for the online marketplace, but it also introduces new audiences to the platform. It’s this kind of thinking that has helped SidelineSwap compete and grow in a world dominated by large incumbents like Craigslist and eBay.

Brendan tells the story from the very beginning when the idea was born after he bought used lacrosse gear from a friend. He describes the constant work to learn and grow, and the grind and discipline it has taken to build the business into a top-100 marketplace according to Andreessen Horowitz. 

So jump into this week’s episode of The Breakout Growth Podcast and learn about the amazing growth journey of SidelineSwap. 

We discussed:

* The SidelineSwap backstory: from personal pain point to top-100 marketplace (08:00)

* Focusing on one sport first to win the hard side (11:38)

* Trade-in events, a unique channel to power growth (27:03)

* New opportunities and a win-win with DSG Ventures’ investment (35:04)

*Re-commerce and the power of “being where the customers are” (45:53)

And much, much, more . . .