In tech, everyone is always talking about growth - but what does that actually mean and how do you make it happen? The PM for the Digital Growth team at WeWork, Drew Howard, gave an overview of what a growth PM does, what kind of tactics they focus on and how they measure results. He talked about what some important growth channels to be aware of for any product are, if "growth hacking" is a real thing or a terrible buzzphrase and how you can tell if you're really driving growth for your product.

1. Growth Product Management with
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7. Drew Howard
Tonight’s Speaker

8. Intro to Growth
Drew Howard - July 2017

9. Takeaways:
What is growth product management?
What are some important growth channels to be aware of for any product?
Examples
Popular “growth hacks”
Best practices
How can you tell if you're really driving growth for your product? What are some
common mistakes when measuring results?

10. Who am I?
From northern California
Studied international relations at University of San Diego
First job working for my family’s farm selling cheese at a farmers market.
Product for 5 years
PM of Growth team at WeWork now
Starwood Hotels before that (SPG app)
Product development agency before that (apps for Barneys, Uniqlo, etc.)
Non-product work before that for Square and Warner Music Group.

12. What is growth?
TL;DR - it depends
Lots of things! Generally everything is
growth oriented, especially pre product-
market fit.
Many scaling companies have growth teams
to focus on user acquisition.
Some companies also include onboarding
and retention in the umbrella of growth.
Sometimes it means marketing or something
else.

13. Assumption: Your product has to be good to grow
Focus on product-market fit with a small group
of users before worrying about growth.
Impossible to fill up a leaky bucket.

14. Wait, so what is it..?
Solving problems around sales & marketing through
a product-oriented lens.
Brand
Digital marketing
Conversion optimization
Segmentation
User acquisition

15. So, when ready, how do you do it?
☝️Pick Channels
✌️Decide on tactics
👌Convert based on a clear goal / metric

16. Growth Matrix*
*Inspired by the ‘Mobile Growth Framework’
(mobilegrowthframework.com)
viral

17. Example #1: Trip Advisor
Channel: Search
Tactic: SEM

18. Example #1: Trip Advisor
Goal: Discover a listing and click
through to affiliate.

19. Example #1: Trip Advisor
And have recourse if you fail...

20. Example #2: Airbnb
Channel: viral 👀
Tactic: referrals!

22. Common “Growth Hacks” (pls never say that)
Giveaways (e.g. Jet.com)
Viral videos (e.g. DollarShaveClub)
Waitlists (e.g. Mailbox)
Referrals (e.g. HotelTonight)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI

23. Growth Best Practices
Speed
Social Proof
Urgency / Scarcity
Trust
Be active on all relevant platforms for
your business

24. Common Mistake #1 - Vanity Metrics!
Pick metrics that authentically represent the
success of your product as a business. ✊
Downloads don’t matter if no one converts. 🤦
Users don’t matter if no one comes back 🙅

25. Common Mistake #2 - No Measurement! 🤦
Define your KPIs! ✍️
Spend time to set-up your analytics properly! 😇
Prove your product changes are really driving growth
(A/B tests!!) 👩🎓
Set measurable targets each month! 👩🏫

26. Common Mistake #3 - Not Diversifying
Paid Channels = day trading 🤦
Organic Channels = 401k 💪
Viral Channels = Trust Fund 👌

27. Takeaways:
1. Q: What is growth product management?
A: Marketing and sales through a product lens.
2. Don’t worry about investing a lot in user acquisition until you’re able to
retain and monetize your core users base / beta community.
3. Executing on key channels well will serve you better than “growth
hacks”
4. Measure the right thing
5. Always be measuring

28. drew.howard@wework.com

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