Here are the 20 Growth Mentors of June 2023

1. Zohaib Anwaar

Describe yourself

Hi, I’m Zohaib…I lead the business strategy and growth functions for Snapp, the largest super-app in the Middle East. I’m experienced in leading growth and strategy functions for various startups ranging from mobility, deliveries, fin-tech, travel, and health-tech..many of which led to big market disruptions. I was also fortunate to work with some great founders and mentors that shaped my professional career. Through this platform, I would like to give back to the startup community..so hit me up if you need help in improving the conversion funnel, customer retention, or in unlocking business growth blockers.

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

I want to utilize my professional experience to help accelerate the growth of many businesses globally, connect with the international startup community, and get exposure to business problems in various international markets.

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

Always look for problems to solve..It’s a big red flag if we start to believe that there’s nothing left to improve.

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

CRM/retention/growth hacking ( resolving growth blockers )

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

Delivery subsidies were the biggest pain point in our on-demand grocery delivery business. The reason was the high delivery cost due to the single order-per-trip and time sensitivity ( deliver orders within 40 mins ).
To understand how critical it is for customers to get deliveries within 40 mins, we ran some surveys and it turned in half the cases, customers are willing to wait up to 2 hours at lower delivery costs.
So we launched 2-hour delivery at a 30% lower customer fee, which allowed us to do 3-4 order batching per trip and helped us decrease delivery subsidies by 20%.

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2. Stijn Pieper

Describe yourself

Hey, I’m Stijn – Product executive and investor at Uncapped. Previously I was at Revolut, Advanon, Google, and ING. With over 10 years of experience with building products and organizations in FinTech, I love working with entrepreneurs that truly seek to make a global impact.

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

My mission is to inspire entrepreneurs to accelerate innovation.

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

Be tenacious in your goals and never settle on them. Find product-market fit and scale through a system of continuous build, measure, learn.

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

Start- and Scale-up Product Strategy, which entails

1. Goal setting
2. Find Product-Market-Fit
3. Effective Product Management
4. Building systems that scale
5. Fundraising

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

While at Revolut, I combined strategic thinking with design thinking to deliver the SuperApp experience, which is the basis of the current user experience.

Problem: Few revenue streams with many low-engagement features
Solution: An engaging super app that with diversified revenue ($30B+ valuation)

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3. Stanislav Birov

Describe yourself

Hey,
I’m Stas, experienced and passionate 🙂 A business developer with more than 17 years in B2B/IT/Tech/StartUps on CEE/EMEA markets. My focus areas are all that’s related to Revenue growth incl Marketing, Sales & CX;

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

Passionate in helping people & businesses find their growth strategy.

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

Openness to the new: Ideas, formats & knowledge even if they contradict “ the Past experience”; Focus on what matter; Mental flexibility; High empathy level.

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

Sales & Marketing in B2B; The area I’ve started my career & spend the most time in. The area where the variety of knowledge could save time & gain money for many people/businesses.

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

The CEE StartUp Academy launched in 2021 with minimal resources that unlock the enormous potential of EcoSystem development for all the participants.

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4. Sergei Bekeshkin

Describe yourself

Hi, I am Sergei, a Product Lead driving new big bets for Microsoft as part of their Incubation team. Throughout my career, I’ve been managing end-to-end product development, defining product vision & leading teams to deliver delightful user experiences at early-stage & big tech companies. Hit me up for any product-related questions.

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

Collaborating with exceptional individuals and helping them effectively tackle complex challenges truly inspire me.

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

A growth mindset is about embracing a continuous cycle of discovery and learning that enables you to continually evolve your understanding of the world and yourself, making more informed life decisions.

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

Succeeding as a product manager.

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

N/A

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5. Sean Middleton

Describe yourself

I’m an engineer by nature who ended up in a business. That means I love solving problems, in particular growth problems, by breaking them down, looking at how they came together, and putting the system back in place better than when it started. Doing so has helped me generate hundreds of millions of dollars in growth for companies (and have a TON of fun along the way).

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

I love building things that grow and greatly enjoy helping others do the same.

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

No matter what hits me today, I’ll be better for it tomorrow. Progress, not perfection.

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

Deeply understanding the problem you’re solving.

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

All problems are complex at this level or we wouldn’t be talking about them. One of my favorites was building a full Accelerator program inside of an F500 company to not only launch new businesses but train the company’s next generation of leaders.

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6. Ryan Lucht

Describe yourself

I’m an experimentation expert (what some folks call “conversion rate optimization”) whose curiosity led me far beyond A/B tests to explore how a “test, learn, scale” mindset can become the entire OS for building marketing strategies and organs. In addition to my work leading programs for our clients at Cro Metrics, I’m also always conducting research and hanging out with academics in the field.

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

In my role, I work with a narrower range of companies to advise them on experimentation/growth marketing these days, and I miss the breadth/variety of conversations I used to have!

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

I love that my line of work gives me a slightly unique frame for explaining a growth mindset 🙂

1. We have to believe that improvement is possible – whether in incremental optimization, or surprising leaps from pure experimentation
2. We have to acknowledge that the intuition we’ve built to date is insufficient to guide us to that improvement on its own
3. We have to be willing to test many potential ideas and approaches, observe what works, and do more of that

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

The toughest question you could ask anybody in my line of work – and the least generalizable answer of all: “How do I build a culture of experimentation into our org?”. Running and analyzing A/B tests is easy. Getting people to make truly data-driven decisions is really hard!

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

We have research and meta-analysis that shows that something like 90% of the positive impact from A/B testing programs comes from just 5% of the winning tests – a super fat-tailed distribution! It was always hard to get clients to wrap their heads around this though and to accept the conclusion when it came to how to use this information for taking action: orient around “test velocity” as the top-priority KPI.

The out-of-the-box solution came when we realized that this “fat-tailed distribution” is a recursive property – it should show up even within a few months of recent A/B test data for any individual company. Like most counterintuitive lessons, it doesn’t land until you observe it first-hand – so using *their* data to illustrate the property was important. We built an interactive slide in QBR decks that let users slide a circle from 0%-100% of positive impact to see how few tests it took to build the bulk of experimentation ROI in that quarter.

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7. Louie Pascua

Describe yourself

Over my 10+ year career spanning tech, media & entertainment, aerospace, defense, and hospitality, my successes have relied on this fundamental approach:

1. Take a sincere interest in the problem at hand.
2. Be curious and ask questions.
3. Make thoughtful, empathetic decisions.
4. Aim to solve as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I’m a champion for effectively utilizing the program management function as proper application is vital to product development and business velocity. I’m a huge advocate for career mentorship for the simple reason of paying it forward. I naturally cultivate strong partnerships at every level through tact, consideration, and natural camaraderie, and take pride in being a trusted thought partner to all. I strive to be an inspirational leader through empathy, empowerment, and a heavy bias for action. I prefer to be selective in my pursuits as I tend to fully immerse myself in all that I take on and am constantly on the lookout for new opportunities where my passions and ability to create value intersect.

Visit louiepascua.com for more about me.

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

Paying it forward and helping others find success in their careers is a huge passion of mine. Having extensive experience in tech, media & entertainment, aerospace, and defense and having mentored for the past several years with overwhelmingly positive feedback, I feel I have a knack for mentorship through active listening and identifying actionable steps that can lead to immediate impact for mentees.

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

Having a growth mindset means being self-aware enough to identify critical weaknesses, diligent enough to take action and strengthen those areas, and ultimately evolve your business, team, and leadership through honesty and humility.

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

I prefer to spend my time focusing on untangling the mess that resides in the overlap between business strategy, operations, and product development. There is typically a heavy focus on being a product visionary as well as an engineering guru, however, there is a clear lack of expertise in the in-between. This is where I’ve been proven to be most valuable time and time again.

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

99% of my mentoring sessions involve unorthodox, out-of-the-box solutions to my mentees’ problems. My approach doesn’t simply involve providing canned solutions. We take an introspective look at who they are to identify the root cause of the problems at hand to truly understand if the issue stems from external factors out of their control or potentially internally within themselves.

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8. Lukas Hlavac

Describe yourself

I am a growth marketing expert and seasoned mentor with extensive experience in helping startups achieve their growth objectives. My expertise in online and digital marketing, especially in emerging markets, has given me a deep understanding of the unique challenges faced by entrepreneurs in these regions.

Throughout my career, I have guided numerous startups and entrepreneurs through the complexities of building and scaling their businesses. My experience as a mentor for SOSV VC and Orbit Startups has helped me understand the nuances of working with early-stage companies and creating successful strategies for long-term growth.

One of my proudest achievements was helping the leading travel guide platform achieve 500k app downloads with zero ad spend, demonstrating my ability to develop innovative and effective growth strategies. As a growth marketer, I possess a wealth of experience in driving online traffic, generating leads, and improving conversions for startups.

I am passionate about sharing my knowledge and expertise with others, and I believe that my experience as a growth marketer and mentor can be valuable to entrepreneurs seeking to achieve their own growth objectives.

I look forward to connecting with and assisting startups through your platform.

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

I want to support startups, expand my network and keep my growth marketing skills up to date.

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

A growth mindset means having a positive, proactive, and resilient attitude toward challenges and setbacks. It’s a mindset that values learning, experimentation, and continuous improvement as critical ingredients for success. A growth mindset allows entrepreneurs to adapt to changing circumstances and seize new opportunities to help them achieve their long-term objectives.

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

As a mentor, if I had to choose just one topic to guide and teach others about, it would be the critical process of selecting the right beachhead market. So here’s how I would structure my mentoring approach:

Primary criteria for a beachhead market selection:
a. Customers within the market buy similar products.
b. Customers within the market have a similar sales cycle and expect products to provide value in similar ways.
c. There is “word of mouth” among customers in the market.
d. The total addressable market for a beachhead segment should range roughly between $20-100M. (depends on market specifics)

Attributes that make a beachhead market attractive:
a. Popular pain point: A lot of people have it.
b. Tangible solution: The solution is expressed in numbers.
c. Believable revenue: You can do it, and customers can implement it.
d. Identifiable targets: You can build a list of prospects.
e. Unique selling proposition: You must be different and unique.

I believe that by mastering the art of selecting the right beachhead market, startups can increase their chances of success and accelerate their growth.

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

At SmartGuide, we encountered the formidable challenge of expanding our user base within stringent budgetary constraints, compounded by the reality of our Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) remaining modest. Consequently, traditional paid marketing channels did not appear viable for achieving a positive return on investment (ROI).

To overcome this hurdle, we devised a novel strategy that entailed releasing more than three hundred individual apps, each optimized for the app store search engines based on geographically relevant keywords (e.g., Rome, Paris, etc.). Through the diligent execution of this plan, we achieved top-ranking positions for each app’s respective geo-localized keywords, ultimately driving a staggering 500,000 active users to our main platform app with almost zero ad spend.

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9. Ryan Johnson

Describe yourself

I was the director of growth of a Google venture-backed company that I helped lead rapid growth into our series C. I lead teams working closely with C-suite and VPS on planning and reaching our growth goals and penetrating our product into early adoption/new markets. I am my happiest building growth strategies and implementations for companies and optimizing consumer funnels with channel execution, conversion rate optimization, and data analysis.

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

To help businesses grow and find income doing so.

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

It’s the journey of never-ending learning. Thinking outside the box and understanding both what to ask for the data and what actionable insights can be used in a strategic way.

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

Growth strategy and execution.

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

At Ready, we were struggling on increasing our new user booking rate. A challenge we faced after listening to several help center calls was that people consistently saw us as expensive even though we had clear messaging on our landing pages that we accepted insurance.

After reviewing customer interviews, listening to more support calls, and talking to responders about what customers talked about at home, I realized “accepted insurance” didn’t mean a guarantee or that they wouldn’t have to pay more for the service. I experimented with verbiage on communicating our service in familiar verbiage and found that using “same cost as your co-pay” hit high resonation with our customers and increased conversion rates from 23% to 34%.

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10. Jon Falker

Describe yourself

I’ve led marketing at five startups and advised others. As an early marketing lead, I’ve built marketing and sales tech stacks and learned a lot about efficient RevOps along the way. Whether a brand is following the PLG model or not, I can help recommend processes and tools to get to healthy growth.

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

Giving back is important to me and not only for altruistic reasons…I learn by helping others solve their business challenges.

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

A growth mindset is always exploring how to deliver the most value to your core audience, with the least friction.

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

Every startup founder and employee struggles with focus and prioritization. I enjoy helping people effectively prioritize for maximum return on their invested time.

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

When a board replaced a founder and brought in a new CEO, that CEO wanted me to rebrand the entire company, against my advice. I led the rebranding process nonetheless and managed to not let it disrupt our growth.

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11. Oguz Ayar

Describe yourself

My name is Oz, and I work as a Sr. User Acquisition manager in the mobile gaming industry. I have 5+ years of experience in the field, and I’ve worked with/on different companies and projects including casual, hyper-casual, hybrid casual, and browser games. I have experience in not only in creating/managing/optimizing marketing campaigns but also in marketing BI functions like reporting, building dashboards, LTV prediction, etc. I also have experience with campaign automation using custom Python scripts and third-party APIs.

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

I would love the opportunity to share my experience and expertise with people who need it; at the same time tackling new and different challenges. I love what I’m doing, and I would enjoy taking a fresh perspective with different startups and founders.

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

A growth mindset for me is a never-ending test-measure-evaluate-implement cycle. I’m a big believer in constant incremental improvements, whether it’s about a product or personal growth.

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

That would be the correct LTV prediction as it relates to marketing activities. Predicting correct LTV is like charting a correct course for the ship; it gives everything else you do a direction and that direction has to be as correct as you can manage.

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

I developed an LTV modeling framework that helped us(and still is helping) grow titles even further profitably.

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12. Akshay Mahajan

Describe yourself

Hello there 🙂 I launch & run new products for Booking.com along with my co-founded Food Tech startup in Amsterdam. I’ve taken a lot of shit over the years and am hoping my story can help you navigate things smoother than I did. I can advise on launching new products, growth hacking & spirituality/leadership for startups.

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

To give back more than what I’ve taken from the community, even if it is a little bit more.

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

In my opinion, it is a combination of intelligence, talents, and abilities that can be developed through dedication and hard work.
It involves embracing challenges, persisting through obstacles, and seeing failure as an opportunity for learning and improvement.
A growth mindset allows us to reach our full potential and achieve success.

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

How to build the most loved MVP.

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

Outreach to religious groups to find potential home chefs for our platform.

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13. Neil Bainton

Describe yourself

I’ve had an eclectic business career across multiple industries and was fortunate to have the opportunity to take Mailchimp from its infancy to a billion-dollar company.

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

I enjoy the creative process and “priming the pump” for growth.

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

Rapidly iterate on concepts for low-cost customer acquisition. Drop bad ideas quickly and focus attention on those working best. Product/Market fit is crucial.

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

Focus and start small. Too many try to boil the ocean in the beginning and lack the resources.

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

In the case of Mailchimp, offering “forever free” plans was a game changer and something our competitors couldn’t match. Created amazing brand awareness and goodwill.

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14. Alex Dyer

Describe yourself

I’m a teacher, founder, and CEO. I’ve received support from mentors and advisors and found that knowledge can be turned into confidence and confidence into success. And I’m ready to do the same for others.

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

Pass on Knowledge (success and failure)

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

Flexible and able to listen and admit mistakes.

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

My background is in psychology, so it would be people, users, interaction, and behavior.

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

During Covid we switched to pure SEO and Organic traffic, targeting backlinks as well. We grew that by 120% over 18 months. I had no plan and no long-term strategy – it was a result of a big change in our situation, so we had to adapt. (I usually like a plan!)

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15. Moran Khoubian

Describe yourself

I’m a senior marketing leader with vast experience in Saas, B2B, B2C marketing, and eCommerce. Based out of Tel Aviv, I enjoy splitting my time between the beach and practicing yoga, and helping tech companies grow. I have over 7 years of global B2B Saas marketing experience, bringing together cross-functional teams to conceptualize and deliver exceptional integrated campaigns across all channels, including brand strategies, demand generation, product marketing, and corporate communications.

I am a founding member of Yotpo’s Partner program and team, established and leading the global partner marketing, ecosystem, and community teams. Played a critical role in the leadership of both the marketing and partnerships organizations.

Over the past 6.5 years with Yotpo, I’ve been part of the company’s growth from 100 to 1,200 employees, and to over $130 ARR.
Throughout my journey with Yotpo, I experienced 2 acquisitions of new technologies and the launch of 2 brand new products whiteness the growth from a single product company to an integrated platform of 5 products.

I Led a team of 7 marketers across 3 geos, initiated, built, and scaled the “Yotpo Partners” brand, and helped grow Yotpo’s global partner community from low signal digits to over 3,000 active partners responsible for millions of dollars of ARR.

I advise and support tech companies with GTM strategies, new market expansion, and 1:1 marketing management, and am extremely passionate about mentoring marketers.

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

I love guiding teams and individuals and seeing their success. Nothing fulfills me more.

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

We are so lucky to live in this era, which allows smart and creative people to develop skills and grow by simply being curious and hard-working. The tools are all around us, with the right guidance and direction growth has no boundaries.

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

Marketing and partnerships. I believe successful marketers are ones who learn and build an ecosystem around them and can smartly partner with the right companies/people to achieve their goals.

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

When I started my role as a junior partner marketing manager I knew I’ll be able to succeed if I create value for the partners we were trying to acquire but had 0 budget. I then decided to come up with an awards program- we were the first in the industry to do so. And awarded our 2 biggest targets – this not only helped us open a door with them, but this campaign also became an annual ceremony companies paid to take part in. Here’s an article I wrote about the process

https://www.yotpo.com/blog/value-creation-in-partnerships/

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16. Chris McClure

Describe yourself

I’ve worked in software development for 8 years and really enjoy mentoring non-tech founders. There is a lot of moving technical pieces when creating an MVP and can help guide you in that process.

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

I want to help and work with non-tech founders.

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

A growth mindset is a belief that one’s abilities and intelligence can be developed with effort, learning, and persistence, viewing challenges as opportunities for growth rather than obstacles.

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

Creating an MVP as a non-technical founder. Working in tech for years, I have seen people spend insane amounts of money to get a simple MVP out the door. I can help advise on what to do and what not to do.

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

In my first engineering testing position, I grew frustrated with manually testing spreadsheet contents. Teaming up with another developer, we devised a nightly testing system for all spreadsheets. This system continues to be used, even six years later.

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17. Matt Avero-Sturm

Describe yourself

Experienced go-to-market operator, with deep B2B startup & growth stage experience in marketing, business development, ops, and sales. Love partnering with founders and selling to marketers, PMs, sales, HR, engineering, and other tech company functions. Like hiking and working out.

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

Help B2B founders grow their companies.

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

Eagerness to experiment and put yourself and your company out there. Open-minded to doubling down on what works, even if it’s unexpected. Focus on “get it right” before scaling it.

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

Hmm, that’s a hard one. I’d say distribution strategy and go-to-market journey. Is a free trial going to work for your product? Do you need an SDR? Do ads even make sense to you? How does your buyer buy? Very fun.

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

Working with a company that sells to VCs (quite successfully) and wanted to sell to more startups, I helped them understand how to “activate” their great VC audience. Give the VCs social post templates, host events with them, give them pre-built discount offers for companies in their network, and other ways to leverage their existing customers as a wedge to enter their desired market.

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18. Malina Iorga

Describe yourself

Over the years, my role evolved into the area of performance and growth engineering, having coordinated global digital marketing campaigns with 7-figure annual budgets (€), as well as data tracking and analytics solutions. As a Senior Growth Marketing Manager in an organizational structure that blends the start-up atmosphere with complexity, I am coordinating the strategic development and positioning of the company both on the market and internally in the diconium universe. At the same time, I am invested in the growth of the marketing department, from recruitment to operationalization.

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

Having reached this point in my career where I can confidently strategize my growth trajectory, I am now on a personal mission to empower others and multiply my expertise through mentoring.

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

The vision and confidence to change course when needed, to feel prepared for the next strategic step (or leap), after having integrated what was to be learned from previous experience.

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

Performance strategy, nothing satisfies the data-driven mind like direct attribution for results.

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

While taking over the coordination of a budget-intensive LinkedIn advertising campaign, the challenge was to pivot and scale it sustainably. The historical data indicated a performance below industry benchmarks and optimizing at several levels seemed to make little difference.

After studying multiple data points, I figured that one of the main challenges was building rapport with the high-level technical audience targeted in the campaign. My hypothesis was that, for these individuals to feel compelled to give out their personal data, the creatives would need to reveal some of the value which was gated behind the lead form.

Going against all branding best practices, we started pulling charts and screenshots from our gated content and using these raw creatives instead of carefully-crafted ones.

This strategy was an absolute game-changer and helped double down on the campaign results, while significantly optimizing the digital spend.

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19. Malcolm De Leo

Describe yourself

I am an executive not only passionate about creating innovation, building new markets from the ground up, and driving business results, but also a person deeply interested in helping individuals learn how to drive change regardless of company, role, or experience. I have had the privilege of creating and implementing new ideas in both large and small companies with no budget, people, or authority. Over the years, I have developed great relationships with my co-workers by being both a strategist and therapist to help them get the best out of who they want to be as they work to excel in their professional lives. I love the diversity of thought, and working with people open to both learning and teaching, and believe that everyone can be an evangelist if they choose to be one. Who you work for, what your role is, and what you do doesn’t matter if you want to learn how to drive change I am here to help you learn and succeed.

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

Both helping and learning from others with varying experience is what drives my purpose.

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

Having a growth mindset is all about the idea that we never ever should stop being willing to learn something new, but beyond learning having a growth mindset is all about embracing diversity of thought, understanding what you suck at, and how those around you can make you better each and every day.

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

Learning the skills to drive change and “innovate in space”

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

I pioneered the use of social media data as a means of understanding consumer behavior faster and better before there was even Twitter or Facebook.

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20. Kate Syuma

Describe yourself

I’m the Head of Growth Design at Miro, as well as a Mentor and Growth Advisor. I joined Miro in 2017 as a part of a small team of 50 people and passed from a startup to a successful SaaS company through hyper-growth. I built a team of 10 Product designers who now drive Miro’s growth across Acquisition, Retention, Monetisation, and Community Platforms. As a former individual contributor, I covered design for the whole Growth funnel, conducted hundreds of customer interviews, and validated 100+ hypotheses. When it comes to design leadership, I rely on behavioral design to bridge the gap between psychology, user experiences, and in-person interaction to create empowered teams. I’m practicing thought leadership and using my diverse knowledge to mentor designers and leaders, as well as advise startups with Product-led growth, UX design, User research, leadership, hiring, and scaling their businesses.

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

Thought leadership is a source of diverse knowledge sharing and “paying it forward” for me.

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

A growth mindset is the courage to experiment, iterate and learn.

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

Career Development is one of my most passionate areas for me. Through the Growth mindset and experimentation, your role can be dramatically shaped and evolved in any organization.

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

Miroverse is a community-led growth platform we created with the team from scratch (0→1). It helped to attract hundreds of creators, generate thousands of UGC templates and enable a new growth loop for the business.

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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.