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Lerner: 95% of PayPal's Growth Came From Just Five Initiatives

Matt Lerner · How to find & pull startup growth levers | Matt Lerner (Founder of SYSTM, Author of Growth Levers) · Sep 26, 2024 · at 3:53

Matt Lerner, founder of SYSTM and former growth leader at PayPal, discusses the concentration of startup growth drivers.

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“When I look back on it, all of our growth, all of like, 95% of it came from like five things.”

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