Product Growth
Product Growth Podcast
The Ultimate Guide To Growth Marketing And Sales | Shubham Khoker, Head of Growth @ TopMate
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The Ultimate Guide To Growth Marketing And Sales | Shubham Khoker, Head of Growth @ TopMate

This episode is a masterclass on breaking out of static approaches in growth marketing and sales, building a culture that learns, pivots, and pushes boundaries based on real, data-driven insights.

Listen now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.


Brought to you by:

  • Enterpret: Transform customer feedback into product growth with custom AI

  • Dovetail: The Fastest Way to Understand Your Customer

  • Sprig: Build products for people not data points

  • Statsig: The complete platform for Product Growth


Growth isn’t about relying on the same playbooks or sticking to same strategies day in and day out.

It’s about testing, learning, and adapting — over and over again.

In this episode, Shubham Khoker, Head of Growth at TopMate.io, dives into why continuous experimentation is the lifeblood of a thriving growth strategy.

He sheds light on what many companies miss: growth isn’t just about scaling tactics that worked once; it’s about pivoting, iterating, and evolving with every new insight.

In today's episode, we cover:

  • Growth Sales vs. Traditional Sales – 00:07:15

  • Why Vanity Metrics Don’t Equal Growth – 00:25:15

  • Customer-Centric Experimentation and Insights – 00:40:30

  • Cross-Functional Collaboration and Its Role in Growth – 01:25:20

  • Key Takeaways on Growth Strategy – 01:42:30


Here are the Key Takeaways

Here are five key lessons that will help you break out of stagnant strategies and stay ahead of the curve:

1. Experimentation is Non-Negotiable

If you’re not experimenting, you’re not growing. Growth is not a “set-it-and-forget-it” role; it’s more like steering a ship in uncharted waters — you have to keep adjusting your course.

Here’s why:

  • Experiments keep your strategy flexible, allowing you to pivot with changing market demands.

  • Routine can be a growth killer. Testing new ideas regularly keeps teams agile and open to new opportunities.

2. Adapt Strategies for Different Stages

Growth isn’t one-size-fits-all; it’s a moving target. Tactics that drive results at the early stage may fall flat as a company scales. As your company evolves, your growth focus should shift too — from acquisition to optimization to expansion.

It is also important to recognize which tactics need to be ramped up and which can be trimmed as you grow.

3. Failures Teach More Than Wins

Every failure is a stepping stone. Shubham treats losses like a “goldmine of data” rather than setbacks because each unsuccessful experiment tells you what doesn’t work, helping refine future strategies.

4. Growth Sales Needs a Different Playbook

Growth sales is a different beast from traditional sales, where rigid processes can be limiting. Growth sales is about trying new angles and approaches instead of relying on old pitches.

  • Segment smartly: Test different audiences and outreach methods to find what lands.

  • Focus on flexibility: Growth sales calls for constant fine-tuning, letting teams capture leads with greater impact.

5. Target Real Engagement on Social Media

On platforms like Instagram, numbers are only part of the story. Shubham emphasizes quality over quantity. It’s not just about vanity metrics; engagement is where the real growth happens. Try various formats—Reels, stories, posts—and see what resonates.

Make sure your social efforts support your larger growth objectives, not just the follower count.

For more details, listen to the full episode now!


Referenced

  1. Books

    • Growth Hacking by Sean Ellis mentioned as one of the best books on growth strategies and experimentation.

    • Blitzscaling recommended for understanding rapid growth and scaling techniques.

    • Blue Ocean Strategy — discussed for insights on creating uncontested market spaces and moving beyond traditional competition.

    • The Art of Strategy — highlighted for its approach to strategic thinking and competitive advantage.

  2. Frameworks

    • First Principles Thinking — emphasized as a crucial approach for problem-solving and building effective strategies in growth.

    • The Eisenhower Matrix — for task prioritization, breaking tasks into four quadrants based on importance and urgency​

    • AARRR (Pirate Metrics) — framework focusing on Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, and Revenue to analyze and optimize customer journeys.

    • North Star Metric — single metric that best captures the core value your product delivers to customers, guiding growth efforts.

    • ICE Scoring Model — prioritization framework evaluating Impact, Confidence, and Ease to decide which growth experiments to pursue.

    • Paul Graham’s “Maker vs. Manager Schedule” — framework to distinguish between schedules that require deep focus (maker time) versus those with frequent meetings and administrative tasks (manager time).

  3. Tools

    • Enterpret: Transform customer feedback into product growth with custom AI

    • Dovetail: The Fastest Way to Understand Your Customer

    • ChatGPT — Used by Shubham’s team to simplify data querying, showing how ChatGPT can aid in data tasks even for non-technical users by generating SQL queries.

  4. Newsletters


Where to find Shubham

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Hello India! 🇮🇳

Shout out to my Product Growth fam in India!

I'm visiting India from 16th November to 23rd November, covering all the major Tech cities. It's going to be unlike any trip I've done before.

Delhi: 11/16-11/19
Bangalore: 11/19-11/22
Mumbai: 11/23

With events almost everyday.

Stay tuned for all the events details arriving shortly on my LinkedIn and X.

Looking forward to see you all!


Up Next

We have some great podcasts coming from Henry Schuck, Vineeth Madhusudanan, and Aaron Dinin. 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: How to Rock the Team Matching Process.

And look out for these pieces up next:

  • Session Replays: The Missing Link Between Product Development and Customer Success

  • How Sprig Grows

  • The Product Strategy Interview Revisited

I think you’re going to love what’s coming up,

Aakash

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