Adam Grenier
Founder & Applied AI Researcher, AIMatey. On 2 shows, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
operatorexecutiveinvestorfounder@akgrenier ↗LinkedIn ↗adamgrenier.com ↗
Adam Grenier is best known for helping build Uber’s early acquisition and growth infrastructure as Head of Growth Marketing and Innovation, as well as serving as VP of Marketing at MasterClass. Today, he focuses on applied AI research at AIMatey, teaches at Reforge, and advises high-growth startups.
2shows
2appearances
42statements
9resolved
7supported
0contradicted
78%fully supported
Everything Adam Grenier said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Didi and the Chinese Government Had Full Access to Uber's Data
“It became very clear that everyone had all our data. Didi knew everything we were doing whereas, like, Lyft and Uber always knew what each other were doing, because we were watching each other, we're friends, things like that, but, like, we never had each othe…”
Full Marketing Channel Attribution and Consistent CAC Metrics Are Impossible
“I agree. I think it's bullshit. I think it's a really, as, like, a, the expectation that it's going to be a consistent metric across channels, and having, like, a full view of everything that could be included in that is, is impossible. Like, it's not, Unlikel…”
Founders Should Hire Growth Teams Only After Achieving Organic Growth
“I think it's hiring because they need growth, rather than hiring because they have growth.”
Grenier: Do not test new channels before scaling Google and Facebook
“There's very few companies that I recommend saying like, Yes, go put energy on this brand new channel that you don't know how to scale yet before you've figured out some type of like volume on Google and Facebook.”
Grenier: During economic downturns, startups must assume they lost PMF
“Even right now, like, one of the biggest pieces of advice I'm giving to people that are like, how should we adjust our marketing with the economic changes and things like that, is like, start by assuming you no longer have product market fit. Because you had p…”
Most Companies Do Not Need a Standalone Growth Team
“Generally speaking, I actually don't think most companies need a growth team. Like, growth, again, should be infused throughout the business.”
Uber Dissolved Its Centralized Growth Team Prior to Grenier's Departure
“So like we actually, all of those functions within the growth team eventually actually merged back into the core business to where by the time I left, we actually didn't have a centralized growth team anymore.”
Uber Built Its Growth Team by Hiring Cross-Functional Leaders Simultaneously
“When we built growth at Uber, like we infused an entire team In one fell swoop, right? Like, and Ed was hired, and he hired myself, a head of product, a head of engineering, a head of design head of analytics.”
Uber Never Solved How to Allocate LTV Between Drivers and Riders
“And there's like, this is one of those challenges that like we've had, we had like dozens of data scientists working with it and we never got a great answer to it.”
Uber Burned Budget Shifting Driver Ads From Earnings to Flexibility
“We're like, great, we need to, like, shift all of our messaging away from dollars to flexibility, and we spent a ton of money on that type of messaging, and then it just burnt, right? Like, it was just, like, no one clicked, right?”
Paid Acquisition Drove 40% to 50% of Uber's Global Growth
“When we were doing a billion dollars, that included China, and that was more than 50%, like paid drove a ton of our growth in China. And so, and it was like, it was nonsense. It was just wild. And so, like, let's say six, seven hundred million dollars on, like…”
Most Growth Struggles Stem From Product-Market Fit, Not Missing Channels
“More often than not, I find that like most of the company's problems aren't That they haven't found the channel that's gonna work for them. It's actually that they don't have product market fit, or that they're pointing the wrong direction, or they're too narr…”
TikTok Will Not Be Banned Due to Deep Youth Adoption
“Oh, I mean, I don't know. I don't think so. I think that there's too much of a single generation that uses that app that would go crazy if it disappeared.”
Most Masterclass Customers Come From Brand Marketing, Not Talent Channels
“It was pretty mixed. I would say the majority still comes from Masterclass first.”
Benchmark Growth Role Compensation Against Product Management, Not Marketing
“Yeah I mean, I think your product bands are usually a really good place to start. They, unlike the performance growth marketing side of things, you tend to have, like, the good people in that market have a lot more leverage and so I think product bands tend to…”
Uber Spent $1 Billion Per Year on Growth Marketing
“I mean, we were spending a billion dollars a year at one point.”
Lambda School Chat Launch Triggered Backlash After Bypassing Customer Service
“At Lambda School, we implemented a new, like, chat opportunity for our students, and we didn't loop in customer service, and customer service had, like, an entirely different chat element. And so it just, like, caused a ton of backlash, like, across the compan…”
Local Uber Teams Ran Facebook Ads on 200 Personal Credit Cards
“At any given time, there were probably, like, 200 personal credit cards buying ads on Facebook, and it used to drive me mad, and, like, initially I went out with, like, a very, like, firm grip on, like, you can't do that, like, stop doing that, like, we have i…”
Paid Channels Should Target 30% of Customer Acquisition Mix
“I usually tell people 30% tells me that you're not dependent on paid, and it tells me that you're doing it enough To have like a need to keep refining and improving it, being relevant in the moment and those types of things.”
Grenier: Aligning with an ad platform's monetization model unlocks custom partnerships
“If you as a business can match or support their monetization strategy, it actually gives you like a really interesting leg up with that channel because the likelihood of you being able to like call them up and like go do custom stuff with them or partner with …”
Grenier: Keep staffing minimal when testing new acquisition channels
“Rarely ever is it like, Hey, this should be your entire team's focus for the next Three sprints or five sprints. Like I think that, you know, if you've got that half person working on it for a while and there starts to be some magic happening, sure. Put a spri…”
Grenier: Acquisition channel tests should not run past one quarter
“Generally, like I wouldn't let anything Bleed past a quarter. Like you can probably get some good signal in a month or less, like what I would call fishing. Like it wouldn't be like, you're just, you know, putting bait in the water to figure out where the fish…”
Grenier: Influencer marketing tools replicate the hyper-targeting of early Facebook
“Influencer is probably the one that I'm most intrigued by because similar to OTT, like the scale and services and the ability to go do it is still there. It's also got that hyper granularity. That, like, when I get into influencer tools, it feels to me like ea…”
Grenier: VR is uninteresting as an acquisition channel without a native app
“I think VR is really interesting in the way that mobile was interesting before like iPhone three, right? Where it was like, if you've got a VR app, like it's a really interesting space, but if you don't, I, it's not that interesting to me yet.”
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Adam's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 20VCLEDGER | Founder & Applied AI Researcher, AIMatey | 1 | 22 | 71% 5/7 | full record on 20VC → |
 LENNY'S PODCASTLEDGER | Founder & Applied AI Researcher, AIMatey | 1 | 20 | 100% 2/2 | full record on Lenny's Podcast → |