20 VC 082: 500 Startups Week: Growth Hacking 101: How To 10x Your Conversion with Matt Lerner, Head of Distro Dojo London
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 26 October 2015
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Matt Lerner is a Distro Partner with 500 Startups, and runs their London office. He specializes in conversion optimization, analytics, engagement and retention. As a member of the in-house growth (AKA “Distro”) team, he partners with 500 portfolio companies to help them build growth engines and scale. Previously, as a 500 Startups Mentor, Matt helped over 40 companies develop and execute growth strategies. Prior to joining 500 Startups, he worked as a Marketing Director at PayPal, where he built and managed three growth teams that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue across the funnel. Here are some of Matt's amazing growth hacking slide decks:
10 Growth Hacking Tools To Disrupt Your Competitors
For your chance to win a signed copy of Brad Feld's amazing Venture Deals, all you have to do is click the click to tweet link here: http://ctt.ec/C61w6 and you will be entered into the competition.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Matt made his move from Paypal to VC with 500Startups?
2.) What is the mission at 500 in London with the Distro? What is the investment thesis? Preferred round? Sector? What process do you take the companies through when they are with you in the Dojo?
3.) What does growth hacking really mean? Is it not another BS new techie term?
4.) What has Matt found to be some of the most effective growth hacks and why? What are the biggest mistakes companies make with regards to growth? How can they avoid them?
5.) When does Matt think a company should start to focus on growth?
6.) Who does Matt personally admire and think has been extremely effective and why? What campaigns or pieces of work have led him to this conclusion?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode:
Matt's Recent Investments: Tom Beverly: Fy, Tamatem
Matt's Fave Book: Do You Talk Funny: The Guide To Public Speaking, The One Thing You Need To Know
Matt's Fave Newsletter: Doug Scott, Susan Su: Distro Snack, Tim Ferriss Podcast
Matt's Growth Hacking Idols: Dave McClure: Pirate Metrics Talk, Sean Ellis: Inventor of Growth Hacking Term, Andy Johns @ WealthFront,
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC, Matt and 500 Startups on Twitter here!
If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!
We would like to say a special thank you to our partner for this very special 500 Startups Feature Week, LawTrades, the go to place for startups and VCs to get their legal work done. For all 20VC listeners LawTrades are offering a special $150 off your first piece of legal work when you mention 'The Twenty Minute VC'. You can follow them on Twitter here!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the 20 minute VC and the start of an incredibly special week as we feature the legendary Dave McClure's 500 startups. |
| 0:09.7 | Yes, we will be going inside the world of 500 to reveal their investing strategy and teach you how to build a kick-ass startup, the 500 way. |
| 0:19.5 | To do this, we need a rock star from 500, so it's with great |
| 0:23.3 | pleasure that I introduce Matt Lerner to the show today. Matt is a distro partner with 500 |
| 0:28.7 | startups, and he runs their London office, specialising in conversion optimization, analytics, engagement, |
| 0:36.5 | and retention. As a member of the in-house growth, aka |
| 0:40.1 | distro team, he partners with 500 portfolio companies to help them build growth engines and scale. |
| 0:48.5 | Previously, as a 500 startup's mentor, Matt helped over 40 companies develop and execute growth strategies. |
| 0:56.0 | And prior to joining 500, Matt worked as a marketing director at PayPal for over 11 years, |
| 1:02.0 | where he built and managed three growth themes that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue across the funnel. |
| 1:10.0 | But first, I want to talk about |
| 1:11.5 | law trades. I just used them and fell in love with how they are disrupting the legal hiring process. |
| 1:17.3 | So this is how it works. You text law trades with a description of your job, and they'll reply to you |
| 1:22.5 | within 24 hours. They will then coordinate what you need from the appropriate legal service and let you know |
| 1:28.3 | the price so you can confirm it. Then all that's left to do is to pay securely via Stripe. But why |
| 1:34.8 | just take my word for it though? Many startups from the famous YC, tech stars and even 500 |
| 1:41.1 | startups have used law trades. And for all listeners who mention the 20 minute VC when they sign up for law trades, |
| 1:48.5 | will give you $150 off your first job on the platform. |
| 1:52.9 | And you can check them out at www.lortrades.com. |
| 1:56.6 | And if you have any questions, feel free to email me at harry at the 20 minute vc.com. |
| 2:03.0 | However, there is more good news. |
| 2:05.1 | We have our first winner of Bradfeld's venture deals. |
... |
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