A/B testing

also referred to as: a-b testing

9 statements across 8 episodes · 0 bullish · 4 bearish · 8 people on the record · first statement Aug 24, 2018 by Heather Fernandez · across every show →

Everything said about A/B testing, oldest first

Aug 24, 2018 negative
Insight
Fernandez: Early-stage startups lack the traffic required for effective A/B testing
“There's this narrative that a company should come in and beta test everything and AB test everything. Let me tell you something. It's a lot better. You are at millions of visits per month or fifty million per month versus when you only have five or 10 or 20 or…”
Heather Fernandez Aug 24, 2018 ▶ 12:28 20VC: Lessons From Scaling Trulia to IPO, How To Maximise Your Impact within Your Organisation and Why No One Is Ever 100% Ready For The Next Job with Heather Fernandez, Founder @ CEO @ Solv
Mar 23, 2022 neutral
Disclosure
Whatnot Rolled Out a Major Browse Feature Update Without A/B Testing
“We just, we rolled it out two days ago. We didn't maybe test. It was a huge, huge change.”
Grant LaFontaine Mar 23, 2022 ▶ 24:45 20VC: Startups Fail Because They Do Not Take Enough Risk, Why A/B Testing is Inefficient and Slows You Down, Why It is Impossible To Hire Good PMs so Stop Trying & 3 Key Signals The Best Engineers Present with Grant LaFontaine, Founder & CEO @ Whatnot
Mar 23, 2022 negative
Insight
A/B Testing Slows Product Execution and Encourages Incremental Thinking
“I think it just slows you down, encourages incremental thinking.”
Grant LaFontaine Mar 23, 2022 ▶ 23:59 20VC: Startups Fail Because They Do Not Take Enough Risk, Why A/B Testing is Inefficient and Slows You Down, Why It is Impossible To Hire Good PMs so Stop Trying & 3 Key Signals The Best Engineers Present with Grant LaFontaine, Founder & CEO @ Whatnot
May 18, 2022
Insight
High-volume A/B testing is becoming less effective for modern startups
“So I think this high volume A-B testing growth is a little less focal. Optimizing for the users on a lower volume basis is incredibly important for a lot of the successful startups today.”
Darius Contractor May 18, 2022 ▶ 44:40 20Growth: Five Signs of Top Growth Talent and How to Detect Them, How to Structure and Conduct the Most Efficient Customer Discovery Process & The Framework to Determine Your North Star and When To Change it with Darius Contractor, Former VP Growth @ Airt
Oct 7, 2022
Insight
Kevin Weil: A/B testing is orthogonal to product boldness
“Testing doesn't mean timidity. You can always use the fact that you're testing something and you can run an AB test to test something, 99% and have a one percent hold back. You don't have to test one percent in Australia, right? Testing gives you data. You can…”
Kevin Weil Oct 7, 2022 ▶ 10:58 Kevin Weil: Lessons from Leading Product at Instagram & Twitter | 20VC #934 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Jan 18, 2023
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hila Qu asserts that 60% of growth A/B tests fail
“60% of A-B testing fail.”
Hila Qu Jan 18, 2023 ▶ 37:50 Hila Qu: The Ultimate Guide to Product Growth at Your Startup | 20VC #967 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Feb 14, 2024
Insight
Gonto: B2B startups must test big swings, not small variations, for fast results
“For B to B, if you want to get results, you need to try something that is completely different because then you will get results a lot faster than if you do it in any other way.”
Martin Gontovnikas (Gonto) Feb 14, 2024 ▶ 9:33 Martin Gontovnikas (Gonto): The Biggest Mistakes Startups Make When Scaling into Enterprises | E1115 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Oct 18, 2024 negative
Insight
Le Nel: A/B testing increases time to market
“A-B testing increases your type to market. Because if you A-B test, you first need to do your A-B test, then you see which one wins, and then you launch.”
Antoine Le Nel Oct 18, 2024 ▶ 6:16 Antoine Le Nel, CGO @Revolut: How Revolut Launch and Grow Products & Why CAC is a BS Metric | E1216 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 29, 2025 negative
Insight
James: Major capabilities beat A/B testing at $30B-$40B transaction scale
“As much as A-B testing and like high velocity optimizations feel like progress, and to some extent they will be, when you're at a business of that scale where we're talking like 30 to forty billion in gross transaction volume, the only thing that really moves …”
Jason James Aug 29, 2025 ▶ 2:08 20Product: Why Most CPOs are Bad | Why You Do Not Need PMs in a World of AI | Why the Design Stage is Dead and How to Use Vibe Coding to Replace It | The Three Roles All Founders End Up Firing on Repeat with Jason James @ Tezi
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