Knowing when is the right time to invest in growth, what should be the team size and structure can be overwhelming. I am sharing a few pieces of advice in this presentation that I hope you will find useful to build your first growth team.

1. How to Hire the
Right Growth Team
Thibault Imbert
VP, Marketing & Growth
@thibault_imbert

2. Who is this guy?
Developer
Coding Teacher
2001-2007
PM
Growth PM
Dir,Growth
2010-2021
Sales
Engineer
2008-2010
VP, Marketing &
Growth
2021
@thibault_imbert

3. What is GitHub?
@thibault_imbert

4. On the Growth team at GitHub, we focus on the self-serve business
@thibault_imbert

5. @thibault_imbert
Agenda
● When to hire a growth team?
● What is the composition of the team for each stage?
● What do you want to grow?
● Before you start hiring, have your homework done
● Where does growth sit?
● How to interview growth candidates?
● Where do you find these folks?

6. When to hire a growth team?
@thibault_imbert
PMF

7. When to hire a growth team?
@thibault_imbert
PMF
Traction

8. When to hire a growth team?
@thibault_imbert
PMF
Traction
Growth

9. It depends on where you are in the journey
@thibault_imbert
PMF
Traction
Growth
Growth lives with
the founder(s).
Time for a small
growth team to
execute on tactical
but also build a
longer term
strategy.
One growth lead
focused on building a
growth model (how
does the product
grow?) and execute
on non-scalable
things.

10. While you figure out product market fit, it comes from the founders
@thibault_imbert
PMF
Traction
Growth
During that
cycle, growth
comes from the
founders
Growth lives with
the founder(s).
Time for a small
growth team to
execute on tactical
but also build a
longer term
strategy.
One growth lead
focused on building a
growth model (how
does the product
grow?) and execute
on non-scalable
things.

11. Once you get traction, you should hire one growth lead
@thibault_imbert
PMF
Traction
Growth
That lead needs
to ship
Growth lives with
the founder(s).
Time for a small
growth team to
execute on tactical
but also build a
longer term
strategy.
One growth lead
focused on building a
growth model (how
does the product
grow?) and execute
on non-scalable
things.

12. Once growth is accelerating, time to pour gas on the 🔥
@thibault_imbert
PMF
Traction
Growth
Growth lives with
the founder(s).
Time for a small
growth team to
execute on tactical
but also build a
longer term
strategy.
That team will
only exist if the
previous lead
proved the
value of growth
One growth lead
focused on building a
growth model (how
does the product
grow?) and execute
on non-scalable
things.

13. So, what do you want to grow?
@thibault_imbert
The goal of a Growth team is to maximize a variable.

14. @thibault_imbert
The goal of a Growth team is to maximize a variable.
Acquisition
Activation
Conversion to Paid
Retention
Churn
So, what do you want to grow?

15. @thibault_imbert
When thinking about the right profile, go from variable to profile,
rather than the opposite.
Who you need depends on what you want to grow.
I highly recommend starting with one variable to grow, initially.
So, what do you want to grow?

16. @thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
So, what do you want to grow?
Acquire new
users?

17. @thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
So, what do you want to grow?
Growth Marketer
Acquire new
users?

18. @thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
So, what do you want to grow?
Growth Marketer
Acquire new
users?
Time to aha!

19. @thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
So, what do you want to grow?
Growth
Product Manager
Growth Marketer
Acquire new
users?
Time to aha!

20. @thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
So, what do you want to grow?
Growth
Product Manager
Growth Marketer
Acquire new
users?
Time to aha! Revenue

21. @thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
So, what do you want to grow?
Growth
Product Manager
+
Growth Marketer
Growth
Product Manager
Growth Marketer
Acquire new
users?
Time to aha! Revenue

22. @thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
So, what do you want to grow?
Growth
Product Manager
+
Growth Marketer
Growth
Product Manager
Growth Marketer
Acquire new
users?
Time to aha! Revenue Retention

23. @thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
So, what do you want to grow?
Growth
Product Manager
+
Growth Marketer
Growth
Product Manager
Growth Marketer
Acquire new
users?
Time to aha! Revenue Retention
Growth
Product Manager
+
Growth Marketer

24. At all stages, it needs to be properly enabled
@thibault_imbert
PMF
Traction
Growth
Designer
Data Analyst
Engineer

25. With the folks with the right mindset
@thibault_imbert
PMF
Traction
Growth
Designer
Data Analyst
Engineer Growth mindset

26. Before you start hiring, have your homework done
@thibault_imbert
Do you know what you want to grow?
What type of activities do you expect this team to drive?
Have you aligned profile type with your growth stage? (strategy vs tactics)
How do you expect them to work with the rest of the teams?
Do you know where these folks will be sitting in your org?

27. Where does growth sit? Multiple options depending on the variable
@thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
Marketing
Demand Gen
Revenue

28. Where does growth sit? Multiple options depending on the funnel area
@thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
Marketing
Demand Gen
Revenue
Product

29. Where does growth sit? Multiple options depending on the funnel area
@thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
Marketing
Demand Gen
Revenue
Product
Product
Revenue

30. Where does growth sit? Multiple options depending on the funnel area
@thibault_imbert
Acquisition Activation Conversion Engagement
Marketing
Demand Gen
Revenue
Product
Product
Revenue
Product

31. How to interview growth candidates?
@thibault_imbert
At the end of the interview process, it’s critical to
provide homework assignment.
You want to test the quality of the ideas,
presentation skills, communication and assess EQ
when the candidates are challenged.
You want to hire for a culture of helping, not telling.

32. @thibault_imbert
Some examples, the first one Acquisition
oriented, the other, Conversion related.

33. Assume you have the datapoint:
“For every 10 signups we get, 1 of them
becomes MAU (~10%)”
● What could we do to drive a higher
number of users to become new
MAU (Monthly Active Users)?
● Formulate 3-4 hypotheses about
your observations. Prioritize your
hypotheses and select one to move
forward with as a primary
hypothesis.
“For every 10
signups we get, 1 of
them becomes a
MAU* (~10%)”
*MAU: Monthly Active User
@thibault_imbert

34. Assume you have the datapoint:
“For every 100 signups we get, 1 of
them becomes a paid customer in their
first 28 days (~1%)”
● What could we do to drive a higher
number of users to become paid
users?
● Formulate 3-4 hypotheses about
your observations. Prioritize your
hypotheses and select one to move
forward with as a primary
hypothesis.
“For every 100
signups we get, 1 of
them becomes a
paid customer in
their first 28 days
(~1%)”
@thibault_imbert

35. What you should be looking for in the presentation
@thibault_imbert
Have they worked on growing what you want to grow?
Have they worked in a similar environment (startup, Fortune 500)?
Can they work with high ambiguity? (eg: little data)
Can they gather some approximative data by themselves?
Can they develop good quality ideas?
Do they have a framework (hypothesis generation) for developing ideas?
Do they possess a blend of qualitative and quantitative skills?
Are great minds alike? You want to find some similar ideas.
Can they tell a compelling story (strong communicator)?
When challenged, do they leverage quant/qual or take it personally?
Are they humble?

36. Where do you find these folks?
@thibault_imbert
Grow someone
Hire an existing
practitioner

37. Where do you find these folks?
@thibault_imbert
Grow someone
Hire an existing
practitioner
Pros: Immediate, Familiarity, Investing
in internal talents.
Cons: Depth, Leadership
Pros: Depth, Leadership, New
Perspective.
Cons: Time to Hire, Ramp Up, Budget

38. Where do you find these folks?
@thibault_imbert
Grow someone
Hire an existing
practitioner
Pros: Immediate, Familiarity, Investing
in internal talent.
Cons: Depth, Leadership
Pros: Depth, Leadership, New
Perspective.
Cons: Time to Hire, Ramp Up, Budget
Channels:
Social (#growthmarketing,
#growthhacking, #growthmarketer, etc.)
Followers of Growth
platforms/conferences (@reforge,
@growthmktconf, @growthhackers, etc.)
Profiles: Growth Product Manager, Growth
Marketer, Growth Hacker, Founder,
Co-Founder, Head of Product.

39. To summarize
@thibault_imbert
Is it time to invest in growth?
Who you hire depends on what you want to grow.
Align the team size based on your growth stage.
Think about where that team will be sitting in your company.
At the very beginning, growth should live within the founders.
At the traction phase, time for a lead to figure out what growth means for you.
For the growth phase, it’s about a team to continue executing and build the strategy.
It’s still relatively a new discipline, good talents are scarce.
You can grow someone or hire an existing practitioner.
There is no perfect playbook, a growth mindset culture is key.

40. Q&A

41. Thank you!
@thibault_imbert