korrents

Elena Verna

@elena-verna · 26 positions · 0 changes of mind

Growth advisor and operator who has led growth at Miro, Amplitude, Dropbox and SurveyMonkey.

Elena Verna did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

  1. Our reading

    A startup does not need a growth team to start growing, because the first wave of growth has to be founder-led.

    Their wordsI really believe that the founder led growth is not being popularized enough that you do not need growth teams until you actually can start running experiments on your user base
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:10:11 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 1st of 26 in this recording

    startups

    Interesting

  3. Our reading

    A company with ten customers has no data, and a growth team cannot function without data.

    Their wordsif you have 10 users or 10 customers, that's not data. That's a G sheet with your customers and you don't need a growth team for that.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:11:13 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 2nd of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  5. Our reading

    Whether a company hires sales or growth first is decided by how it collects money, not by how big it is.

    Their wordsIt depends on how you're actually going to collect the money. If your money collection is going to happen through sales team primarily, then you absolutely should be hiring sales way before growth.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:12:41 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 3rd of 26 in this recording

    hiring

    Interesting

  7. Our reading

    Hiring a head of growth to reverse a declining business is destined to fail, because the cause of the decline is deeper than the missing team.

    Their wordsIf you have the overall business slowing down, your head of growth is destined to fail because the reason business is slowing down is much deeper than not having a growth team.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:15:53 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 4th of 26 in this recording

    hiring

    Interesting

  9. Our reading

    A growth team's ceiling is a ten to fifteen percent lift, which is never enough to reverse a company that is already sliding.

    Their wordsGrowth team can optimize. Growth can maybe lift it by 10, 15% maybe that's enough for you even that like is on the upper end of what growth team would be able to do if there is a slow down trajectory
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:16:02 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 5th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  11. Our reading

    A rebrand or marketing-site redesign has never once produced good performance results.

    Their wordsnever ever once have I seen a rebrand or redesign, especially of your key marketing site produce good performance results.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:19:40 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 6th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  13. Our reading

    Promising that a homepage or marketing-site redesign will drive acquisition is a failed promise, and usually a million-dollar one.

    Their wordsBut to ever promise a homepage redesign or marketing site redesign in order to drive more acquisition is a failed promise that is going to be led by lots of agency money spending, uh often a million dollars plus
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:21:25 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 7th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  15. Our reading

    Copying a competitor's flows is the fastest route to mediocrity, because nobody who copied somebody else ever led a market.

    Their wordsbecause copying competition is like the fastest way to mediocrity because you'll never be a leader if you copied somebody else.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:28:10 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 8th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  17. Our reading

    Industry benchmarks are a dangerous target because every company defines the underlying metric differently.

    Their wordsSo, taking also any benchmark that is derived from competition and saying this is where we should be is also so dangerous because it might not even be applicable depending on how you define the metric.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:29:22 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 9th of 26 in this recording

    benchmarks

    Interesting

  19. Our reading

    There are no shortcuts in growth; there are only patterns and frameworks.

    Their wordsI mean, I've been doing this for over 15 years. If there were any shortcuts, I'd be all over them. There are patterns and there are frameworks, but there's no shortcuts.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:30:08 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 10th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  21. Our reading

    Your growth problem is not unique, and treating it as unique is a pure opportunity cost.

    Their wordsbut I'm very sorry to break it to all of you, but your problem is not unique. I'm 99% sure of that. Your problem has been felt by somebody somewhere and probably many, many places
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:34:25 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 11th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  23. Our reading

    No growth initiative should ever be started from scratch.

    Their wordsAnd number one thing that whenever you have an initiative or whenever you have a metric that you need to go and move, do not start from scratch ever. Do not start from scratch.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:35:16 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 12th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  25. Our reading

    Success in growth is the output of a lot of failures, so the real constraint is how much time you have left to fail in.

    Their wordsMy big motto like life motto in growth is that you have to fail to learn. You can't just constantly succeed. Success is an output of a lot of failures.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:40:14 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 13th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  27. Our reading

    Acquisition built on somebody else's algorithm can be taken away at any moment, which is why it must sit below earned channels on a growth roadmap.

    Their wordsAn algorithm can give it, but algorithm can also take it away at any point and you have no control because you don't own those channels.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:45:12 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 14th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  29. Our reading

    As search turns into an AI interface, a company with no earned acquisition channel on its roadmap is in serious trouble within one to two years.

    Their wordsFocusing on these earned channels that you own becomes the utmost priority. And if you don't have them on your growth road map, you're going to be in some really big trouble over the next year to two years because your cost of acquisition is only going to go up.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:47:03 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 15th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  31. Our reading

    Half of Dropbox's acquisition comes from people sharing files, an earned channel no competitor can buy their way into.

    Their wordsAnd the percentage of those recipients sign up to become Dropbox users, and that accounts for 50% of acquisition. That is a stable, earned channel that nobody can compete with.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:50:14 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 16th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  33. Our reading

    A growth model that works today still has to be evolved by overlaying other growth models on top of it.

    Their wordsIf you have a growth model that works for you, that's wonderful. Good for you. Optimize it, grow it, scale it, create a team that will be nurturing it and that will be amplifying it. But you're going to need to evolve it. And that evolution needs to come through overlaying other growth models on top of it.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:52:16 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 17th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  35. Our reading

    A growth team should spend a fifth to a quarter of its year, measured annually rather than by sprint, introducing a new growth loop.

    Their wordsI try to focus 20% 20 to 25% of growth team's time annually, not every given sprint, not every given quarter, but annually, to introduce a new growth loop.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 0:56:23 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 18th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  37. Our reading

    A growth team without an advisor is a growth team that is underperforming.

    Their wordsSo, I think any growth team that does not have an advisor is a growth team that is underperforming
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:02:35 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 19th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  39. Our reading

    Nobody should be hired as an advisor before being paid for a workshop on the actual problem and watched at work.

    Their wordsI think that you should not hire an advisor until you do some sort of workshop with them on the problem that you're experiencing. See them in action.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:04:11 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 20th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  41. Our reading

    If every growth initiative is an experiment, the team has a paralysing disease rather than a process.

    Their wordsIf every single one of your initiatives that you're doing on growth is an experiment, uh that's a problem.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:06:17 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 21st of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  43. Our reading

    If a test cannot collect its sample size within a month, it should not be run at all.

    Their wordsMy rule of thumb, if we cannot collect the sample size in a month, we shouldn't test it. Period.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:08:11 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 22nd of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  45. Our reading

    Testing shades of a colour is an early-2000s tactic that no longer drives anything.

    Their wordsFor the love of God, a blue is a blue is a blue. As long as it's accessible and as long as it's bright enough, off you go. You do not need to test the shades of blue, but test it against green or so on.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:11:05 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 23rd of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  47. Our reading

    A single one-off email never moves a metric; email only works as a series.

    Their wordsOne email will never do anything. If you're going to go into email, please think about it as a series, about communication, about how it interacts with product communication.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:12:38 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 24th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  49. Our reading

    "Simplify onboarding" is an action, not a problem, and a roadmap line written that way will not work.

    Their wordsBut, if you ever have a line item on your roadmap that says simplify onboarding, please please cross it out. It's not going to work because simplifying onboarding is an action.
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:13:53 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 25th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting

  51. Our reading

    A full-time job is not the best way to monetise a skill; it is one package among several, and defaulting to it is a faulty plan.

    Their wordsAnd my contrarian opinion is that full-time jobs are not the best way to monetize the skill that you have. It's one of the packages that everybody should evaluate and take advantage of, but too many people blindly default to that package
    spoken · machine transcript hear it at 1:19:16 · all korrents from this recording

    ↗10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey)youtube.com 26th of 26 in this recording

    Interesting