When transitioning your growth team into an integrated product organization, how did you determine which priorities would drive the most impact early on? What were the biggest challenges you faced in navigating that shift?

We first absorbed all the relevant user research available, spent a ton of time with the core PMs to understand what had been tried – what worked well and failed. We also, in parallel, looked at data and business trends with the core PMs and assessed not only biggest areas of impact but also areas that potentially had low hanging fruit – all of which were aligned to our top user needs. Aligning the vectors of the growth team with that of the core product organization, leaning on the wealth of knowledge that already exists is critical to initial success.

Our biggest challenges in navigating the shift:

• Data instrumentation and proof of direction – It takes a bit to get the new KPIs off the ground, especially when it comes to engagement loops. What should the KPIs be (e.g., what is the setup/aha)? How are they correlated to business impact? How many KPIs do we prioritize this qtr.. this year? This takes a good few months to establish and prove out.

• Overall dynamics – setting up the growth squads needed for success – the necessary number of engineers, designers, data scientists, PMs… especially in years when resourcing is not easy to come by is the hardest part. This requires constant discussions (read negotiations), operational efficiencies and ruthless prioritization.