Here are the 34 Growth Mentors of July 2023

1. Angel Funes

Describe yourself

Hey, I’m Angel! A former actor/filmmaker who changed careers (to digital marketing) to be able to move continents and be with my loved one. I entered the marketing world as an in-house video producer for a tech company, and my love for human behavior/psychology motivated me to be more into analytics, and data-driven, and explore the whole realm of digital marketing. I finished a marketing associate degree in uni, a digital marketing boot camp, and an SEO specialization. I’m currently a marketing manager for PartnerHero, where I run performance marketing, CRO, tracking/analytics, overseeing SEO, marketing automation, and EB social.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I’m currently a mentee and plan on continuing to be one on this platform. However, yesterday I attended the networking event, met mentors, and got inspired to contribute to the community instead of only receiving help. I would like to also share knowledge.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Finding opportunities where to embed growth strategies into key parts of your product or services that drive value for your customers and translate into growth for you.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

CRO – I love experimentation and making data-driven decisions. I run the A/B tests in our company and enjoy the scientific approach that CRO conveys, plus the satisfaction of the results. Also, in order to suggest potential experiments, you first need to have observations and hypotheses and understand other aspects of marketing. E.g., if you want to suggest certain changes to an ad campaign or a landing page – it’s better if you have experience with performance marketing and content marketing.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

I was consulting for an NFT marketplace. They wanted to build a community that would back them up with the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) dynamic – investing before the coin has even launched. It was not an easy task to trust a company that wants your money but offers only a promise (a volatile one that they can’t really control). I created a whole system on how to build the community, keep them engaged every day, and most importantly, kept bringing friends (WOM referrals). I gamified their community participation and it worked out well. The coin launched, and then even their NFT sales were supported by the community (they sold thousands in $$$).

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2. Aniruddha Mishra

Describe yourself

I have more than 7+ years of experience in implementing and scaling digital user acquisition.

I have worked across various categories including Sports Media, Real Money Gaming (RMG), Dating, and FinTech.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

The more you share, the more you gain!

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

When you continuously find viral growth loops. This is a continuous process where a single-digit % change can bring a huge impact on the entire funnel.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Performance marketing: Since I have loads of personal learnings to share with real-life examples.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

The web version of a lending product was broken. We launched a video session recording platform and were able to fix the problem.

Problem: Users were manually scrolling through the years (for their date of birth). We replaced it with a simple dd-mm-yy format and were able to make a huge impact on the funnel.

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3. Annie Furlong

Describe yourself

I bring 15+ years of experience as a marketer and people manager within health tech and employer benefits organizations. I love startups and consider myself a strategic, creative, and energetic person with a passion for process creation & improvement, shaping customer and member experiences, leading teams, and business & account strategy. Personally, I’m also a proud parent of two little girls and an avid downhill and cross-country skier, and a lover of all things outdoors.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

Helping people grow and develop in their careers is a passion and I strive to make a positive impact on the lives and careers of fellow growth and marketing professionals!

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset is about always striving for improvement and working towards better. Having this mindset means embracing the fact that challenges and failures that arise are learning opportunities. You’re constantly seeking to learn new things and improve upon what was done before while seeking new perspectives and looking at things from different angles.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Startup marketing and building as you go. What I love most about startups is that there is no “this is the way we’ve always done it” mentality as you’re doing (most of) it for the first time – or looking to do it differently by design. It can feel chaotic and helping individuals wade through the chaos and uncertainty to provide a level of calm and a path forward while also helping to brainstorm and bounce ideas off of one another is fun!

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

I was brought into Cleo initially to build our enrollment marketing function. I was the first hire in that role for the organization and created a scalable solution from scratch that allowed us to not only have turnkey marketing materials that our customers could self-navigate and choose from, but also established monthly content kits of value-added member-focused content paired with a related virtual event to help not only drive enrollment and educate prospective members about what Cleo does and the breadth of its services (and how that comes to life), but dual purpose driving engagement and education within our existing member base. Within my first 12 months at the company, I drove our activation rate from 65% to 90+%. Through this as well, my responsibilities continued to expand to ultimately oversee not only our member engagement marketing and communications team but also our full B2B funnel and PR.

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4. Bram Kanstein

Describe yourself

I am a creative entrepreneur with 10 years of experience in validating and growing startup ideas. I have seen 1000s of startups launch and have worked with dozens of entrepreneurs and corporate innovation teams on the development of their business ideas. I love to apply my growth mindset and share my enthusiasm with the clients I work with. After failing at 25+ ideas and exiting 5, I know what it takes to pick the ideas that have merit and discard the ones that don’t.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

Sharing 10 years of experience in validating and growing startup ideas, my 25+ failures, and 5 exits.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Accepting that you are probably wrong and that that is ok! If you want to be an entrepreneur, you’re taking on an endless amount of problems you need to solve. And it takes an open mind, critical positive thinking, and agility to navigate those paths. There is always something to learn from failure, that is why it doesn’t matter if something doesn’t work out.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Idea Validation. I am an expert on helping entrepreneurs go from BIG IDEA (what they eventually want to achieve) to the actionable activities they can start doing tomorrow, to start the journey to their eventual goal.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Helping a founding team realize that the app they were building (and was taking a long time) could be validated with a spreadsheet and a face-to-face meeting with their prospective customer(s). When they eventually did that with 15 customers, they realized their idea did not have any merit and they stopped developing their app. It saved them time and money and I was happy to contribute to that discovery.

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5. Chris Taudien

Describe yourself

I am an experienced digital product leader driven by my curiosity for technology and its potential to enhance user experience. My career highlights include establishing a global mobility service organization, leading digital transformation initiatives at notable companies, and founding an IT company acquired within three years.

I empower my teams to excel by providing clear direction and fostering an environment of innovation and continuous improvement. I apply creative methodologies like design thinking and constantly question how we can improve.

My motivation comes from thinking differently and viewing problems as opportunities for growth. As an entrepreneur, I believe that encountering problems signifies progress. I am authentic and honest, and I avoid political games. My mantra is: “As an entrepreneur, I want to have problems. Otherwise, I am not moving.”

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

Honestly, give back to others from all I have learned on my journey; it makes me feel so good.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Having a growth mindset means being able to adapt to various situations and interact effectively with peers as circumstances evolve. It involves a deep understanding of oneself, recognizing what energizes you and what drains your energy. Being connected to and rooted in your purpose is crucial. The journey should be enjoyable most of the time, and it should be something you look forward to.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Individual growth, becoming the real you, who you want to be in your inner you.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

At Volvo Cars, one of the digital teams struggled to meet its business KPIs, specifically user adoption. They were working on a groundbreaking project, the world’s first industrial use case with an Apple Watch. However, despite their innovative approach, they did not see the desired results.

Apple recommended me to step in and help. I was brought on board and immediately began to analyze the situation and devise a strategy. I focused on understanding the user behavior and needs and then aligning the product features accordingly.

Within just ten months, we were able to reach the KPIs. The team was highly satisfied with the results. This experience reaffirmed my belief in the power of user-centric design and agile methodologies, and it was a moment that made me think, “damn, I’m pretty good!”

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6. David Laubner

Describe yourself

20-year marketing veteran of numerous startups and large enterprises like Amazon. Working both hands-on and leading teams, there is not a role that I have not had a part in executing inside of a startup.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I enjoy startups and helping people. I also currently answer a lot of questions via Linkedin in a similar style.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Start with your customer, deliver a great product, measure results, and then apply constant, continual effort to grow your business.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Go-to-Market strategy – setting the foundation for the “who, what, why” in a product answers to most all other questions.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

I built the first DRTV program at Amazon.

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7. Elena Hurjui

Describe yourself

I am the founder of Heraldist, a brand strategy and communication consultancy that works with tech companies from all over the world.

My experience spans over 20 years, half of those spent on the corporate side, working for global brands, and the other on the entrepreneurial one, helping early-stage and mature tech companies build their brands and navigate through the challenges and opportunities of their competitive landscapes.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

The smallest contribution can have a meaningful impact if it comes from a place of knowledge & a “sharing is caring” attitude, and this philosophy leads my daily endeavors.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Having the humility to accept failure, the wisdom to learn from mistakes, and the unstoppable courage to pursue your mission.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

How to build a brand positioning that is authentic to who you are, different from the competition, and relevant for your target audience, in a world where the best product is not always the most successful one, but the product that is PERCEIVED to be the best is the one that makes it.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Positioning a fitness app as the “largest playground” on the market, even though their intended audience had one of the lowest gym attendance in Europe. The brand positioning was different vs. the competition, the communication tone of voice was enhancing the playfulness value of going to the gym and they became market leaders, later on bought by one of the largest corporations in Europe.

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8. Jillian Wood

Describe yourself

Hey! I’m Jill, and I love helping B2B brands sound smart and sell themselves to the right people. Over eight years, I’ve grown from a junior content writer to a director—so I know that being an in-house content person at a software start-up isn’t easy. That’s why I love mentoring content specialists, associates, or managers in early-stage SaaS organizations that want to learn the ropes quickly or level up their skills so they can take on more senior roles and tasks.

While I’ll always tailor my advice to the individual, I offer coaching around specific areas like core content marketing knowledge, writing + editing best practices in B2B, and senior content strategy skills. I’d love to learn how I can help you (and, subsequently, your organization) grow faster with the right messages and tactics.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

When I hear about people’s marketing or career problems, I get so fired up to dig in, listen and share relevant, helpful advice back to them.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

To me, people who have the best growth mindsets can see how growing themselves, their function, their processes, etc., will have a positive impact on their team, results, and organization. The people who can find the through-lines between their success and their company’s success make the best decisions, create the most impactful projects, stretch their skills the furthest, and drive the strongest results. But finding this strategic mindset (“How is my day-to-day contributing to the bottom line?”) is very hard to find and cultivate without the right guidance.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

How to tie your work to larger strategic initiatives or outputs. Sometimes it’s difficult to connect the dots between everyday blogs and marketing targets, or social media and brand recognition. And most people outside of marketing (including executives) really don’t get it.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Having freelancers and/or resources in place that help me tackle marketing emergencies and fire drills so I don’t burn out. It’s shocking how many times these things come up. Rather than burn out trying to do it all, I’ve learned to throw some money at problems I can’t say no to or make go away so that everyone is happy. (i.e. me, my team, and my executives.)

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9. Jonathan Francis

Describe yourself

Hey, I’m Jonathan. A growth marketer with over six years of experience developing and executing campaigns for B2B businesses, with an emphasis on demand generation, ABM, and LinkedIn advertising. I’m passionate about transforming customer insights into innovative demand-generation strategies that drive conversions. Successfully grew pipeline prospects by 285% and sales qualified leads by 81% for a $90M series E startup.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I’d like to offer my practical experience in implementing demand generation and ABM tactics for B2B companies.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset is characterized by a belief in improvement, a willingness to learn from failures, and a commitment to continuous learning. It is a mindset that fosters resilience, adaptability and a lifelong love for learning.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Demand generation. There’s a better way to approach customer acquisition than trying to optimize 1% here and 2% there for conversions from the 5% that’s ready to buy now.
Instead, consider making marketing a valuable resource channel that builds deeper connections with an audience. I’d be able to draw hands-on experience in helping you build a demand generation engine through content, ABM, email, and social media marketing tactics.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

One of the challenges a start I worked with was that they didn’t have domain authority in a respective industry to be able to take their product offerings to market. For three months I worked with the PMM, Regional Marketing Managers, content, design, and web team to develop a multi-touch integrated campaign encompassing thought leadership, content syndication tactics with major publishes like the Economist, use-case collateral, case studies, and customer stories. After continuous iteration, and reviewing of messaging, in a span of 12 months we grew pipeline opportunities by 285%. Qualitatively our leaders got more speaker opportunities and customer recognition within the industry.

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10. Jonny Butler

Describe yourself

I’m a SaaS marketing leader with 10+ years of experience building teams, strategies, and processes that drive scalable growth. I’ve worked in startups from 10 to 300 people focussing on building demand generation and growth strategies. I’m passionate about helping people and businesses grow.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I enjoy working with early-stage startups and helping people to grow.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Learn from mistakes. Never give up. Experiment.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

How to create, capture, and convert demand.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

When running brand awareness ads on LinkedIn (ie: ads that drive engagement on the platform but not direct clicks to a website) we struggled to come up with a solution to how we could measure the success and potential impact on the pipeline.

The solution was to run our ads to a target account list and use a website visitor identification tool to analyze whether there was an uplift in the website from our target companies before and after the campaign.

This enabled my team to observe a 50%+ uplift in target account traffic that we could tie directly to the pipeline.

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11. Jorge López-Sarry Álvarez

Describe yourself

I have been working across user acquisition, activation, and retention for 11+ years. Entirely focused on helping companies implement and accelerate their PLG motions.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

To share my knowledge and experience, help others achieve their goals, and contribute to their professional growth, while I get better at mentoring.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Daring to learn is how would I describe it. Which essentially means you need to be able to be quite open to change and be receptive to it.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

I think someone with certain domain expertise that wants to transition into a PM or pure Growth-focused role would be perfect. Those are the roles I consider with more potential.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Defining an activation journey map and coming up with a quick and easy, but solid, way to experiment to validate it.

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12. Karen Hokanson

Describe yourself

Marketing Leader with a 10+ yr. Track Record of Delivering Results.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

With 10+ Years of experience in Marketing & a Master’s Degree, I have seen and experienced the mistakes businesses can make. I would like to leverage my skills and knowledge to help them.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset is the execution of a strategic vision to present a product to a market.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Marketing Strategy

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

I was working for a software company. They had no way to track and analyze the performance of their marketing channels. I figured out a seamless way to track and analyze the data between Marketo, Salesforce, and their proprietary system.

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13. Lídia Gallardo

Describe yourself

Hi, I’m Lídia, and I’m passionate about Customer Success. I wish I had someone to help me go through the earlier stages of my career or provide me with different points of view to help me grow. I can be this person to you and help you or your company succeed, just as I do with my clients. I have a background as a teacher, so I’m good at breaking concepts and explaining them!

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

Because I am passionate about helping others and I wish I had a mentor earlier in my career.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

• Embracing challenges and seeing obstacles as a chance to develop new skills and improve.
• Personal development is essential, effort, perseverance, and continuous learning. Skills can be learned with work and time.
• Don’t fear failure, and take calculated risks. Failure often offers valuable feedback to adjust the next strategies and ultimately grow.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Customer Success, Customer Centricity. I love helping companies succeed while driving customer retention, loyalty, and revenue growth.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

We had an angry client and started the meeting with a small joke. I used solid colors in the presentation, small sentences, and pictures of big, calm animals. It was risky, but it turned out to work. Would my manager have approved it? Probably not, but now everyone has heard about it in the company!

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14. Lilla Szulyovszky

Describe yourself

I’m a consumer and data product expert with a focus on crafting sound product development, analytics, organization, and monetization strategies on a global scale. My experience spans more than 10 years and three countries in the software industry, both at high-growth scale-ups and early-stage startups in HR tech, ed tech, and health tech domains. Currently building mõju, a cofounder matching platform, and enjoying Berlin.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I’ve been mentoring, coaching, and leading high-performing teams for the past 10 years – had several mentees along the way that I mentored for free – and I love giving back from the knowledge I got.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

As Nietzsche says, “I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and impossible.”

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

It would be high-performing teams and products people don’t want to leave. Such simple concepts with a tremendous amount of advantages for organizations, yet still hard to master.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Notion AI. Takes the burden of thinking about what to write which will make this wiki a little bit better.

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15. Lindsey Paholski

Describe yourself

Curiosity is my single greatest source of inspiration; that’s something I bring forth every day, into each and every interaction I have. I’m a big fan of collaboration, new ideas, and continuous improvement. My greatest joy is managing a new idea from the spark to the finish line. I started this journey to become the best digital marketer in the business so that I could understand the ins and outs—ultimately providing those around me with all the resources they need to grow. Sharing my experiences and mentoring those throughout their journey has brought me to find my passion.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

To help others. I love coaching, teaching, and providing others with another perspective to consider or new information to empower them to grow.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Every day is a new day to learn. I love embracing challenges and finding new intelligence in myself and others. I persist with setbacks and accept redirection. I am inspired by watching others grow and all efforts made to master something lead to the next adventure. Learning from feedback is one of my favorite forms of finding new ways to grow. A fixed mindset is unrealistic as change is constant.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Digital marketing channel mix related to performance. Paid media, content marketing, SEO, email, social media, and audience research are my specialties.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

During a product launch, we realized the market size was smaller than originally determined by the executive team. After some keyword research, I was able to determine another way to frame the particular product to another industry allowing for more revenue to be captured.

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16. Manish Wardekar

Describe yourself

Hi, My name is Manish.

I have had a very successful career in the technology industry for over 30 years, including a stint as a partner in a startup.

I have worked in a variety of small, medium, and large organizations over my career and have been a mentor to college students in the past.

I would love to be able to share my experiences and applied learnings with folks looking to make their own startups successful and achieve their growth goals.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I would like to be able to share my 30+ years of experience with folks looking to learn and avoid mistakes by using the knowledge and wisdom of someone who has “been there and done that”.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Growth Mindset is a delicate balance between relying on what has worked well in the past and being open to new ways of thinking and doing things. Sometimes, the old ways are not necessarily bad, and sometimes a new way is the only way to be successful.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Sales Strategy and Execution. You may have the best product or idea in the world, but you HAVE to be able to get people to:

1. Be aware of it and
2. Want to buy it

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

I helped build a predictable, fixed-price solution to migrate large enterprise customers off of a legacy platform that ultimately helped drive over $500M of consulting revenue over a 5 year period.

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17. Michelle Teo

Describe yourself

I’m a B2B SaaS growth marketer at Demand Conversion. I specialize in Demand Generation (Demand Creation + Capture) for early-stage and growth-stage companies. I’m also a huge fan of designing your life and digital nomadism.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I believe startup knowledge is acquired through: 1). do the thing, and 2). learning from others who’ve already done it. I’ve benefitted enormously from learning from mentors, and I want to pay it forward to building the ecosystem.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset means that you believe life is a journey, and that it’s not about striving for binary outcomes of ‘success and failure’, but rather viewing ‘failure’ as a learning opportunity – where you get to develop yourself and continue to make a positive impact on the world.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Demand Generation and attribution. Things change fast. New channels are constantly popping up, and existing channel acquisition costs are continuously evolving. Understanding your unit economics, conversion rates, experimenting with new channels, and making sure we’re building strategies for the long term is key to preserving healthy revenues.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

It doesn’t always have to be about reaching customers directly via ads etc. Sometimes, other routes might leverage far more influence. For one client with bookkeeping software for small businesses, I created a strategy where we would leverage the gatekeepers who small businesses trusted the most on this topic: bookkeepers. We went to market with a strong partnership strategy, incentivizing bookkeeping companies to recommend and roll out the software to their clients. Some of these companies had hundreds, or even thousands of clients – so through building tight-knit relationships, we were able to access incredible reach.

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18. Nathan Hudson

Describe yourself

Hey! I’m Nathan, founder of Perceptycs and former Head of Growth with 8 years of B2C growth & marketing experience. I love helping early-stage mobile apps find product market fit and scale growth from pre-seed through series A.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

To help startup founders grow their mobile apps.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset is what forms when ambition meets humility. It’s treating failures as learnings and victories as learnings. It’s accepting that there’s always more to learn because there’s always room to grow.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Customer centrality. I don’t think anyone disputes that it’s important to be customer focused. But what does this actually look like? What are the common pitfalls? And what does it mean for day-to-day operations?

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

How do you make data-driven decisions in an early-stage startup when A/B test results are hardly ever statistically significant? Let’s talk through some solutions in a Growth Mentor session 🙂

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19. Pratibha Jain

Describe yourself

Hello, I’m Pratibha! I have 15+ years of experience at startups and public companies and am passionate about all areas of growth marketing and demand gen. I’m excited to mentor teams at any stage of growth.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I’d love to share my expertise in the areas of demand generation and growth marketing with startups.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Continuously experimenting, measuring, iterating, and improving. Not being afraid to fail!

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

How to leverage different marketing channels to create a well-oiled demand gen engine.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

I led demand gen at a startup and built the growth programs, team, processes, and metrics from the ground up. The marketing efforts contributed significantly to the pipeline growth and eventually led to the acquisition of the startup.

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20. Ross Boardman

Describe yourself

I’m a seasoned senior executive with over two decades of experience in the fast-paced world of global startups and scale-ups.

I’ve helped many businesses to grow into market leaders.

3x startups to IPO.

I was lucky. I had one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world as my mentor.

I’ve worked for some of the fastest-growing companies in the world.

I was part of the leadership team that became the UK’s largest-ever technology IPO.

Now, I help high-performing entrepreneurs and leaders grow without losing their minds.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I want to become a growth mentor to share my knowledge, experiences, and insights to help others unlock their potential and achieve meaningful progress in their personal and professional lives.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset is the ultimate superpower for personal and professional development. It’s not just about acknowledging that growth is possible; it’s about embracing the journey that growth entails. It’s a way of viewing life as an infinite playground for evolution, not a rigid classroom where you’re either right or wrong.

With a growth mindset, challenges become intriguing puzzles rather than intimidating roadblocks. Failure doesn’t define you; instead, it provides a chance to learn, improve, and emerge stronger. There’s a beautiful freedom in understanding that missteps are not permanent setbacks but stepping stones on the path to mastery.

In a growth mindset, every experience is an opportunity to learn something new. It’s about perpetual curiosity, a hunger for knowledge, and a passion for improvement. It’s the constant quest to refine skills, explore new ideas, and reach for even the most audacious goals with grit and resilience.

It’s about understanding that we are not confined by our current abilities or knowledge. We are, instead, malleable beings capable of incredible transformation. It’s about owning our potential and being willing to put in the effort to unlock it. To me, a growth mindset is the ultimate testament to human adaptability and potential. It’s not just about reaching the destination but thoroughly enjoying the adventure of the journey.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Peak Performance & Productivity

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Imagine a setting where the pressure is on. Nintendo, the giant in the gaming industry, is stepping into the realm of eCommerce and it is our mission to bring this vision to life. The catch? We have less than a week to design and approve the entire website – an assignment that typically takes months.

Time was the merciless enemy and a conventional approach would have certainly led us to defeat. The team was a medley of fresh faces – client representatives, creative designers, marketing strategists, and software engineers – all of us standing at the edge of an ambitious venture that was riddled with complexity.

The challenge seemed like a giant mountain standing between us and our goal. It was in this crucible, however, that a solution began to take shape. Drawing from Agile and Lean methodology, we shifted our focus away from traditional hierarchical structures and towards a philosophy that placed people and communication at the heart of our mission.

We broke down the walls of the convention, inviting everyone to take part in daily stand-up meetings. We encouraged open conversation, enabling every member to voice their ideas, concerns, and progress. This broke the silos that typically slow down large projects and fostered an environment of collaboration and rapid iteration.

As the days passed, the website began to emerge, not as a result of one person’s efforts, but as the collective output of our cohesive team. Every element, from user interfaces to backend systems, was discussed, approved, and implemented in tandem.

On day seven, a sense of disbelief swept over us as we took in the fully designed and approved eCommerce website. It was an accomplishment that truly underscored the power of thinking beyond the norm. A complex problem that was untangled by prioritizing people and communication above rigid structures and siloed work.

Looking back at this feat, one can’t help but think, “Damn, that was pretty good!” It stands as a testament to the magic that can occur when a diverse team is united under a single goal and empowered to think out of the box.

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21. Ross Hickey

Describe yourself

Former McKinsey Engagement Manager turned VP of Growth for a PE-backed, MSP-focused SaaS company; Focus on B2B; Growth Strategy, Channel Growth, Ecosystem, Sales Ops. I like pragmatic solutions and I’m here to help.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I am currently mentoring someone outside of the platform and I really enjoy it.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset is having a future that you’re looking forward to, and learning until you get there.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Channel Strategy – how can you get companies to sell your product?

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Throwback to my consulting days; I discovered that if my client could sign up independent service companies under their “factory authorized” designation, then all of the independent service companies were contractually obliged to use OEM parts; this helped my client increase segment revenue by 42%.

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22. S K Prasad Iyer

Describe yourself

Throughout my career, am proud of playing a crucial role in the growth of well-known brands such as ZestMoney, OYO, Leap, FrontRow, Headout, Vserv & MoneyWorks4me.com. With a passion for empowering fellow marketers in their career journeys and next job opportunities, I’m thrilled to share my knowledge and experience to help marketers navigate the world of startups.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I feel learning is incomplete without sharing it with others.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Growth is about rising about yourself whatever may be your current state. So compete with yourself & you’ll always deliver the best growth for your business.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Product marketing would be my go-to topic for mentoring. I started my career as a product marketer and over the last 15 years have honed this skill the most. Sharing my learning about this brings me the most joy.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

The complicated problem was to explain our product’s use case, which required users to shuttle between Aamzon & our app to pay for their purchases. While other similar platforms asked users to copy-paste product URLs from Amazon onto their app, we took a completely different approach. We realized that people cared about the money more than the product while transacting on Amazon and used this insight to create a simple cart amount > our app > Amazon gift card flow. On the face of it, this sounded more complicated to explain to the user, but by eliminating distractions during the journey we were able to become a market leader in this space within a year’s time.

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23. Sam Gregory

Describe yourself

I have +15 years of experience in sales and marketing across a wide range of startups, scale-ups, and enterprises. Initially heavily focused on digital, I spent seven years at Google helping large travel advertisers scale their performance marketing, before moving in-house and broadening to other areas of growth, brand, and retention. The last nine years have been spent leading growth and marketing teams across a variety of startups and scale-ups in both B2B and B2C, with revenue journeys that include £0.5m to £32m and £300m to £500m.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

To have the chance to share the benefit of my experience with founders, while learning about the problems they are working towards solving.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Acknowledging that you don’t know everything, approaching new challenges with humility and the desire to learn, treating failures as necessary steps on the journey of improvement, enjoying learning from others, and sharing your hard-earned wisdom as you go.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Getting set up for sustainable growth.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Identifying the need for a hyper-flexible product when Covid-19 hit. Getting the product scoped, operationalized, and launched within a couple of weeks, to great effect.

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24. Samet Durgun

Describe yourself

Imagine a blend of Picasso and Einstein – that’s me in the mobile marketing world! From the moment Facebook birthed this field, I’ve been there, making connections and driving growth. Remember, we’re all about the human journey – our desires, our interests, our taps. Whether you’re a tiny startup or a huge app, I’ve got a pocketful of insights for you. So, what’s on your mind today? Let’s chat!

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

We don’t know exactly how much money we are wasting on marketing, but I am happy to minimize it for others with my know-how.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Your failures don’t define you. But remember to learn from them.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

User Acquisition

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

I created script options within minutes based on viral videos, for brands, with AI.

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25. Sarah Ratliff

Describe yourself

Hey, I am Sarah! I was previously a VP of Client Strategy with Hawke Media, and have worked with dozens and dozens of brands to help them connect with their audience and scale.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I want to give back and help people who are trying to grow their brands; I’ve been lucky to have amazing mentors around me, so I would love to give back!

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

1. Being able to roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty
2. Always asking “How could we make this happen” rather than looking at roadblocks
3. Staying perseverant even when you want to quit.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Audience-centric growth – understanding who your audience is and their attributes are the core of building a great growth strategy. Understanding what campaigns, what messages, and what user experience to create for them are all key components to creating a great journey for your users.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Honestly, sometimes it’s not the complex thing that solves the problem. Sometimes the answer really is simple and under your nose. I worked with a client once that was having an issue with sales plateauing during the holidays. After looking at their site, we worked together to completely come up with new collections that organized merchandise for holiday shoppers which resulted in ECR jumping over 25% overnight.

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26. Sarah Sal

Describe yourself

Hey, I am Sarah. I am a FB and Linkedin ads specialist with 12 years of experience. I leverage the principles of storytelling, persuasion, email marketing, and copywriting to squeeze the most revenue from ads.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I get my best ideas when helping others.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

The road to Growth is full of trial and error, but the road is shorter when listening to those who traveled that same road before.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Storytelling as I often used it to both capture and audience attention and sell them while providing value and entertainment.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

When many argued that ads should be short and sales, I used storytelling to write ads that didn’t look like ads. For example, When I started running ads for Strategyzer, they struggled to make $0.40 for each $1 spent on ads and helped them make $18 for each $1 spent on ads, generating over $700,000 in sales.

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27. Sebastian Hewing

Describe yourself

Over the last 15+ years, I helped marketers rocket-launch Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) and nose-dive Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) by building data & analytics teams, strategies, and infrastructure.

I built up the first data team for Rocket Internet from scratch at the end of 2010 and we established data teams for 7 portfolio companies in 15 countries, including Zalando, Lamoda, Lazada, Dafiti, and Zalora.

For 10 years now, I work as a Solopreneur Data Leader on Demand.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

As a Solopreneur / one-man army, I believe in a community approach to doing business and I want regular exchange with peers (both learning and teaching).

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

As a data guy, I believe that a growth mindset is very tightly coupled with being both data-driven and eager to constantly learn, improve and challenge the status quo.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Tough to answer, as topics can be defined very widely or very narrowly. Since the audience is very startup-heavy, my favorite topic would be helping to decide when to start which data initiatives relative to the startup’s maturity.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

Back in the day, at Rocket Internet, we struggled to get recommendation algorithms working (“customers who bought this, also bought that, etc”). We tried every vendor and also built our own algorithms with very disappointing results. In the end, we came to the realization that a huge percentage of sales and web visits come from a very small percentage of products, so we set up recommendations manually only for these products. This approach worked far better than all the complex machine-learning stuff.

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28. Selen Kucukarslan

Describe yourself

An experienced CRM & lifecycle marketing manager who is also a data-driven consumer researcher. More than 10 years of CRM & marketing automation experience in dynamic tech companies like Wolt, Peak Games, and Intel. Passionate about lifecycle marketing, CRM data projects & consumer research.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I am a data-driven CRM & lifecycle marketing manager with over 10+ years of experience so it is time to use this know-how more to support related projects.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

It means to improve every day regardless of where you are coming from.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Digital App CRM & Lifecycle Marketing. As I have quite deep-dive industrial experience as well as academic knowledge.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

The main problem with automation is reducing user overlap especially if you give incentives to users. Because of that reason, upper-level management was against having more than 1 automation for the early engagement level. However, I worked on an integrated modal where give first give product based incentives and users move into other automation only if there is no conversion. The challenge is that you need to create segments from scratch on the internal tools and create consecutive automation on a different 3rd party CRM tool. This plan was approved and in motion but it was a hell of an effort for 24 countries. So yes, I am kind of proud of it.

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29. Shamangy Tel

Describe yourself

I live for sharing growth, and I share it with anyone I connect with. Life is about growth and growth is about assimilating building blocks. A set of building blocks is like a puzzle and if you organize them the right way, you grow healthy structures.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I love to share and teach about what I’ve learned. Growth is something not many people understand and I find myself in a position it comes very naturally to me and it’s a true talent. I miss teaching and sharing knowledge.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset to me means that you are always looking to go out and find new information or frameworks to incorporate in order to expand.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Growth frameworks

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

I create frameworks for everything and then automate them.

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30. Tim van Gerrevink

Describe yourself

“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” – Benjamin Franklin

Spirit Animal: Mark Cuban

Info about me: Entrepreneurial, Captain of a Team, problem-Solving, building strong motivated teams and leading by example as a captain, positivity, making mistakes fast, and making the lessons stick. Winning makes my clock tick.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I love to share my knowledge of how to build and scale commercial teams in their journey from start- to scale-up!

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

The world has never changed and evolved so fast. That means that you have to constantly develop your skill set, fail FAST, and drive progress by making your lessons learned stick!

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Sales Strategy

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

The sales team at a company that I consulted was underperforming on target. When I started actively coaching the calls being done, I noticed that the objections were really broad and sometimes really valid. Because of multiple factors, I proposed a whole different commercial strategy, by not targeting the market outbound, but through a partner channel. Within a few months, the company was on target again.

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31. Valentin Raspe

Describe yourself

I’m Valentin, a Berlin native who lived in London for a couple of years. I started my growth career as part of the early growth team at Pact Coffee. After 7 years of client-side growing various e-commerce scale-ups, I set up my own agency Up Collective a couple of years ago. We’re experts in creative, media buying, and landing page optimization. Specifically, we help fashion and lifestyle e-comms with paid growth. Outside of work, I like to run, read and also make a mean flat white.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I enjoy passing on knowledge about growth that can help others solve problems.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

It’s not having all the answers and having an “always learning” mentality. When being given new information it’s trying to use it to your advantage instead of fighting it. It’s also about having the belief that you can focus on what you can control and through that achieve a desired outcome. Finally, it’s always questioning how and whether there is a better way.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Paid media for e-commerce companies. Because this is my main area of expertise and it’s where I could add the most value.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

When I was at moo.com we had a poorly converting mobile experience. Which meant that our paid CPAs were too high. So I came up with the idea of creating a paid traffic landing page to drive mobile traffic to. We captured email addresses instead of going straight for purchase. This meant that we could capitalize on cheap mobile traffic and nurture leads over time, turning them into paying customers. Our paid CPA was reduced by at least 20% because of this approach.

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32. Zacharias Voulgaris

Describe yourself

I am a data science professional with ample experience in startups. I have worked in both academia and the industry in internationally well-known organizations, such as Georgia Tech and Microsoft. I enjoy mentoring and have been a mentor for several years, helping learners from all walks of life and inspiring them to become better.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I want to help others on the startup journey and make some money in the process to sponsor my entrepreneurship endeavors.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

It’s all about viewing each experience in a non-attached way and trying to learn from it. Each setback then becomes a data point in our journey of becoming better professionals and people overall.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Data work (data analytics, data science, data management, data strategy, etc.) as I’ve spent the largest part of my career in this area. Also, there is a lot of demand for it and the freely available material on the web oversimplifies it often.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

One time, while searching for various queries from the Bing database to solve a particular business problem, I came up with a process to go through them very quickly and identify the best ways to understand the problem from the users’ perspective and quantify it with analytics later on, in such a way that everyone involved (even people with no technical expertise whatsoever) could understand it.

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33. Zoya Brar

Describe yourself

I am the founder of CORE Diagnostics. I scaled the company to 500+ employees, serving 40 million patients across 13 countries. CORE transformed the diagnostic industry in Southeast Asia. I also reimagined the leadership training for Quest Diagnostics.

I mentor and advise startups, champion women-led initiatives, and work as Chief of Staff at Eli Health. I am also a columnist and faculty member and a mother of two.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

To pay it forward.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Always looking at things with a solution orientation. Never being a victim.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Culture. I think it’s my superpower 🙂

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

When a group of women came to me and said they feel uncomfortable about how some men look at them when they dress a certain way, I called an all-hands and looked at those specific people in the audience and told them, “I know who you are. If it ever happens again, you will get fired and there will be no conversation.”

Needless to say, women felt safe to be whoever they wanted to be after that.

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34. Zunair Bhutta

Describe yourself

Hi, I’m Zunair. I am currently the Growth Lead for Bolt’s Food vertical for Central & Eastern Europe and Baltics. I have been working in the growth/performance marketing functions for 5+ years now. My expertise lies in financial planning, growth strategy, product marketing, lifecycle marketing, and growing user-centric businesses. I also own a small restaurant business which is very close to my heart.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I love taking on new challenges and helping people build purposeful businesses

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Having complete faith in your vision, moving fast, being open to experimentation, and most importantly, understanding while building the org that growth is a ‘team’ effort not a responsibility of an ‘individual’.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

User Lifecycle. I have a lot of companies invest insane amounts in acquiring users (Ads, discounts, partnerships, etc) and eventually suffer from really bad retention. I would love to help people build a healthy user funnel.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself.

That’s a tricky one. Launching cash-back offers in a ride-hailing business to a) cut costs by half and b) increase user activity. Not very out of the box but it worked really well.

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Interested in becoming a growth mentor?

What we’re looking for:

• Growth marketers, product managers, and designers, with extraordinary track records of success
• Inspirational founders that have “been there and done that.”
• Friendly people that take joy in helping other people.
• At least 5 years of demonstrable experience working in growth.
• GrowthMentor is a #givefirst platform. You should be cool with mentoring for free until you have three reviews.