Growth vs Efficiency: Can You Have Both?

a16z Podcast

a16z

Science, Innovation, Business, Entrepreneurship, Culture, Disruption, Software Eating The World, Technology

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2023

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Despite the ease of product building, sustainable growth has become increasingly challenging as many traditional channels no longer deliver the same results. In these challenging times, we explore the remaining growth opportunities. How can we achieve a balance between efficiency, profitability, and growth? Which channels are still relevant and how can they be effectively mastered in 2023? Join us as we discuss these questions with three seasoned experts who have successfully navigated similar confusing times in the past: Gina Gotthilf, leading Latitud and renowned for her impressive tenure as the VP of Growth at Duolingo; Kieran Flanagan, a long-time SVP of Marketing at HubSpot; and Bryan Kim, Consumer GP at a16z, who held various leadership roles during Snap's hypergrowth phase up to its IPO.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We need to try to get back to like fundamentals and how do we actually iterate and ship fast.
0:04.8	We have to build products that are constantly evolving and that are constantly learning and evolving
0:10.0	from those learnings. The only way, really to stay ahead of the curve on that
0:14.0	consumer side is get the lightnings keep hitting. I mean that sounds hard.
0:18.9	To be real, that's incredibly hard. Second product hitting, so rare. Third product hitting, you're a
0:24.0	generational company. It's like there's this big wave coming and it might hit your
0:28.5	ship. Is there a way to avoid the wave? I don't think so. I think it's kind of a
0:32.4	tsunami. If you sit there it it's just going to wash you away.
0:34.5	People will want to talk to people, so like community becomes much more important,
0:38.5	referral becomes much more important, where the mouth becomes much more important.
0:41.6	The new limiting factor is possibly creativity.
0:44.6	That's a very, very fun place to be.
0:47.0	Despite it being easier than ever to build a product,
0:50.4	it may actually be harder than ever to grow one, especially sustainably, with many tried
0:55.8	and true channels no longer working as they once did.
0:59.4	Paid platforms were hit with app transparency tracking, SEO is now threatened by AI chat, social graphs have moved
1:05.8	interest graphs, product-led growth is easier than ever to copy, and virality is just as transient
1:12.3	if not more transient than before.
1:15.2	And those are just a few of the examples that founders are facing.
1:19.1	So what growth green space still exists, especially in an era of austerity. How do you
1:24.8	balance efficiency and profitability while still growing and what channels
1:28.4	matter and how do you master them in 2023? These are just a few of the questions we address in this episode,
	...

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