Adam Fishman, former VP of Product and Growth at Patreon and Head of Growth at Lyft, discusses how growth teams should manage expectations around experimentation and failure.
“You're going to be wrong probably more often than you're right. Especially as you do more and more things it gets harder to be right over the long term.”
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Insight
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“And what we found is that the problem with a invite or sort of referral loop in the United States is that there's a huge stigma associated with needing a tutor. And so parents Don't want to tell other parents that their kid is seeing a tutor because it makes t…”
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Fishman: Solo practitioners should not hold the Head of Growth title
“Personally, I don't think you should be a head of growth as a solo practitioner. Cause like, yes, you're the head of growth, but like you're, A one person show, right? So I tend to think of the role more in the latter camp, which is like a manager of managers,…”
Adam FishmanJun 15, 2022▶ 9:35Adam Fishman: Takeaways from Lyft and Patreon; How to Build Viral Loops | 20VC #897 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Fishman: Traditional executive interviewing is broken; side-by-side work works best
“I think that the traditional interview process for leaders is broken and the best way to learn about someone is really working side by side with them.”
Adam FishmanJun 15, 2022▶ 26:02Adam Fishman: Takeaways from Lyft and Patreon; How to Build Viral Loops | 20VC #897 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
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“I also like failed entrepreneurs for this role because they have a really good appreciation for how important it is to acquire and retain customers.”
Adam FishmanJun 15, 2022▶ 27:45Adam Fishman: Takeaways from Lyft and Patreon; How to Build Viral Loops | 20VC #897 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
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“Two junior, and you just have a bunch of order takers that can't prioritize their way out of a wet paper bag and figure out what they should be doing. Or they've maybe only seen it done one way before. They just sort of like want to rubber stamp it and say, we…”
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