Hila Qu

Brought to you by Amplitude—Build better products | Miro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life | Ahrefs—Improve your website’s SEO for free — Hila Qu is an Executive in Residence at Reforge as well as a renowned growth advisor, angel investor, and published author (her book about growth was named one of the top 10 business books of 2018 in China). Previously, she served as the Director of Growth at GitLab, where she implemented and scaled their PLG motion, and VP of Growth at Acorns, scaling them from 1 million to 5 million users. In today’s episode, we discuss: • The importance of having both a product-led and a sales-led motion for companies of all sizes • A step-by-step process for implementing PLG • Common pitfalls of layering on PLG • How to audit your existing funnel • Conversion, activation, and retention tactics • Structuring your growth organization from day one, and as it scales — Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-adding-a-plg — Where to find Hila Qu: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/HilaQu • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilaqu/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Hila’s background (03:26) The outcome of writing guest posts for Lenny’s Newsletter (05:12) Why companies should have PLG and sales (07:58) What PLG is and why it’s so popular (09:41) Zoom, an example of a PLG company (11:24) Common pitfalls in adding a PLG motion (16:06) The spectrum of when PLG makes sense (20:04) What you need to be successful in a product-led growth strategy (24:52) The first step to adding a PLG motion (30:11) What GitLab does and how the sales funnel and PLG funnel work there (34:07) Mapping out the funnel (35:29) Finding leverage and other next steps (38:24) What an aha moment is and conducting an audit (47:30) Activation and conversion  (52:17) Why you should start with activation, and who is doing it well (55:24) Retention, the messy part of the funnel (1:00:34) How Hila made an impact on retention at Acorns (1:03:03) The two buckets of data  (1:04:56) Tools for implementing a PLG motion (1:08:47) The importance of data  (1:10:20) Tips to get started, and why you need to have good data first (1:12:10) How to do a data audit (1:15:04) Building a PLG team (1:22:40) The core growth squad (1:27:51) Lightning round — Referenced: • Hila’s guest post on Lenny’s Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/five-steps-to-starting-your-plg-motion • Ravi Mehta on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/building-your-product-strategy-stack-ravi-mehta-tinder-facebook-tripadvisor-outpace/ • Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/ • GitLab: https://about.gitlab.com/ • Lauryn Isford on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/mastering-onboarding-lauryn-isford-head-of-growth-at-airtable/ • Acorns: https://signup.acorns.com/ • PostHog: https://posthog.com/ • Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/ • Pendo: https://go.pendo.io/ • Optimizely: https://www.optimizely.com/ • Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/ • HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/ • Clearbit: https://clearbit.com/ • ZoomInfo: https://www.zoominfo.com/ • Endgame: https://www.endgame.io/ • Pocus: https://www.pocus.com/ • Pace: https://www.paceapp.com/ • Toplyne: https://www.toplyne.io/ • Crystal Widjaja on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-scrappily-hire-for-measure-and-unlock-growth-crystal-widjaja-gojek-and-kumu/ • Redshift: https://aws.amazon.com/redshift/ • The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness: https://www.amazon.com/Almanack-Naval-Ravikant-Wealth-Happiness-ebook/dp/B08FF8MTM6 • How Women Rise: https://www.amazon.com/How-Women-Rise-Habits-Holding/dp/1847942253/ • 硅谷增长黑客实战笔记 (Hila’s best-selling book on growth): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BZC8L78?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_ND87BRFMB0CMWBEVB747 • The Wandering Earth II: https://wellgousa.com/films/wandering-earth-ii • The Three-Body Problem: https://www.amazon.com/Three-Body-Problem-Cixin-Liu/dp/0765382032 • Lululemon yoga pants: https://shop.lululemon.com/c/women-pants/yoga/ • ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/chat • Someday: https://www.amazon.com/Someday-Alison-McGhee/dp/1416928111 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Hila Qu

Executive in Residence

ReforgeGitLab

Hila Qu is one of the leading growth execs of the last decade. Hila helped scale Acorns from 1 million to 5 million users as their VP of growth. Hila then joined GitLab, where she launched their PLG motion (on top of an established sales motion), and built their first-ever growth team. Today Hila is an advisor to amazing companies like Replit and funds like Mucker Capital, Openview and First Round Capital. In Today's Episode with Hila Qu We Discuss: 1.) From Biology and Explosions to Growth: How Hila made her way into the world of growth with growthhackers.com? What are 1-2 of the biggest takeaways from her time with Acorns and Gitlab? How do B2B growth orgs compare to B2C growth orgs? What is different? What is the same? 2.) WTF is Growth? When? How & Why: How does Hila define growth today? What is it not? When is the right time for early-stage founders to hire their first growth hire? Why does Hila always look for data analysts in this first growth hire? From a data standpoint, what should founders have ready and accessible for their first growth hire to have access to and learn from? Is Google Analytics enough? 3.) Hiring Your First Growth Hire: How should early-stage founders structure the hiring process for the first growth hire? What do the best growth job descriptions include? What do they not include? Once applications are in, how does Hila advise founders screen for the best candidates? How should founders structure the interview process post-screening? What are the must-ask questions? Who is involved in the interview process? What are some red flags? 4.) The Master of Onboarding: What should new growth hires want to achieve in the first week? What should they want to complete in the first month? In the first quarter, what do the best candidates have completed? What can founders do to set their growth hires up for success in the best way at this time? 5.) Growth Models, North Stars, Activation and Onboarding and Key KPIs: What really is a growth model? How do founders and growth teams create one? How does Hila advise founders on how to pick the right North Star Metric to focus on? Why are activation and conversion Hila's two favorite growth metrics? What are growth loops? What are growth funnels? How do they work together?

Hila Qu

Executive in Residence

ReforgeGitLab