Product Growth
Product Growth Podcast
How to Crush Your Growth Role, with Former Gitlab and Acorns VP of Growth Hila Qu
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How to Crush Your Growth Role, with Former Gitlab and Acorns VP of Growth Hila Qu

How do you build Growth Models? How can you build a strong career as a Growth Leader? In this episode, Hila Qu gives a masterclass on crushing your growth role.

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.


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Every company wants growth, but not everyone knows how to make it happen.

In today’s episode, Hila Qu breaks down the secrets of building a growth model that can optimize metrics and also unlock untapped potential.

Hila is a growth expert who has led success at Acorns and GitLab. She’s also been an EIR at Reforge and was the First PM of Growth at Growth Hackers. She has over a decade of experience in product-led growth.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Building Growth Models | 07:24

  • Exploring the Growth Full Funnel Audit | 35:48

  • Growth Tool Stacks | 57:38

  • Growth PM v/s Core PM | 01:11:59

  • Why are Growth Leadership tenures short? | 01:14:32

  • Conducting Career Experiments | 01:20:16

  • Approach to Job Search | 01:29:38


Here are the Key Takeaways

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Here were my favorite lessons from our conversation:

1. Growth Models Are Critical for Scaling

Building a growth model is the foundation for any growth strategy. Before jumping into experiments or optimizing metrics, companies must clearly define what they are trying to grow.

Without clarity on this, efforts can easily go to waste.

A well-structured growth model breaks down the key success metrics and identifies the highest leverage points to focus on. This ensures that efforts are directed towards the areas with the biggest impact.

2. Metrics Can Drive Short-Term Thinking

While metrics are essential for tracking progress, they can incentivize teams to focus on short-term results over long-term customer value.

Instead, growth leaders should balance short-term and long-term initiatives.

This will direct focus towards customer value and experience rather than just hitting metrics.

3. Building the Right Growth Tool Stack

A well-integrated tool stack allows teams to drive growth experiments, iterate faster and make data-driven decisions. Companies need tools that centralize customer data, track user behavior, and enable seamless experimentation.

Growth Stack for Gitlab’s sales team

From a PLG point of view, startups should prioritize investing in:

  • A product analytics tool (such as, PostHog, Amplitude)

  • A lifecycle marketing tool (such as, Marketo, Hubspot, Customer.io)

  • A data-enrichment tool (such as, Apollo, Clay)

4. AI's Impact on Growth and Product Management

AI products often experience easier acquisition but struggle with activation and retention. The initial hype can lead to a "letdown moment" if the product doesn't meet high user expectations.

Growth strategies for AI products need to:

  • Focus on faster iteration cycles to keep up with rapidly evolving AI capabilities

  • Clearly demonstrate value propositions to combat the "AI tourist" phenomenon

  • Compete not just with other AI-first products, but also with established products adding AI features

Check out the full episode for more details!


Referenced

  1. Hila’s favorite book: Anxious Generation

  2. Hila’s favorite newsletter: Lenny’s newsletter

  3. Hila new favorite product: Perplexity


Where to find Hila


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Up Next

We have some great podcasts coming from George Harter, Maria Cuasay, and Shobhit Chugh. I’m so excited to share them with all of you.

In the newsletter, check out this week’s latest piece if you haven’t yet: What Your Biggest Weakness Really Is.

Look out for these pieces up next:

  • How to Rock Your Annual Planning to Come Out Ahead Instead of Exhausted

  • The Multiplayer Lever: How to Drive Product-Led Acquisition and Expansion

  • Full Guide: Estimation Questions

I think you’re going to love them,

Aakash