The Initial

Lucia van den Brink
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What does it take to build a healthy in-house experimentation program? Find out in these candid conversations with the leaders running 100 - 500+ A/B tests a year at Vinted, Preply & Diary of a CEO, and more. Get the recipes, frameworks, and lessons you need to run your own in-house experimentation program. Episodes released twice a month. Host, Lucia van den Brink, is Founder of The Initial, the agency that builds, runs & hands over experimentation capabilities for brands like Semrush, British Airways and Bolt Pharmacy. Find out more: https://the-initial.com/

  1. 27 okt

    The Boring Pre-Work That Makes AI Actually Work for CRO

    in this episode…Margus Veeber is head of web at Pipedrive - the CRM used by over 100,000 businesses, and the host of the Web Unpacked Podcast. he leads global website strategy and has pushed his team from 3–5 tests a month to 10+ with the same headcount.his secret? treating AI as a teammate in every step of the process, with a human always leading.it’s about:→ how a team of 6 scaled from 3–5 tests a month to 10+ without adding people→ launching A/B tests straight from Claude Code, connected to the testing tool through MCPs→ the boring pre-work (your test repository) that decides whether AI gives you winners or slop→ why ugly websites can win, and how cool designs quietly tank conversion→ small, fast tests vs. big bets: how to keep velocity up while still swinging bigCheck out his Podcast page: ⁨ https://www.linkedin.com/company/webunpacked/home/​

    The Boring Pre-Work That Makes AI Actually Work for CRO

  2. 13 okt

    The Good, Better, Best Model for CRO Investment: How to Get The $$$ For Your Program

    in this episode… Muqtadaa Miandara was the senior manager of experimentation at Upbound Group, the company behind Rent-A-Center, Acima, and Bridget. he went from not knowing what tagging was on a Friday to acing a technical interview on Monday. and he's been figuring things out at speed ever since. this year? his team was targeting 300 tests, a massive valuation goal, and a leaderboard that makes ops teams compete for experimentation glory. it's about: → how to go from 12 tests a month to 12 tests a week, without burning your team out → the good, better, best investment pitch that got his CGO to say "I want the biggest one" → why win rate is a smoke screen (and what to measure instead) → the ideation workshop format that turns any team into experiment generators → empathy, ethics, and context switching: the 3 traits every great experimenter needs this episode was recorded while Muqtadaa was at Upbound Group. the views expressed are his own and do not represent those of Upbound Group. If you enjoy learning about these topics, follow our newsletter to get all the frameworks and insights: ⁠https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/⁠

    The Good, Better, Best Model for CRO Investment: How to Get The $$$ For Your Program

  3. 28 sep

    Why Is Nobody Acting on Your A/B Test Results? Here's Why & What to Do About It

    Get Simon's framework for scaling experimentation across product teams in this month's newsletter: ⁠https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/⁠ in this episode… Simon Born is head of analytics and experimentation at Kaufland — Europe's fastest growing marketplace. he's been there six years, executed over 1,500 experiments himself, and right now has 80 experiments running simultaneously. he didn't build this from zero — but he scaled it to something most companies can only dream of. it's about: → how to go from 2 experiments in parallel to 80 running at the same time → the C-level move that got every team to start experimenting (without forcing it) → why trustworthiness is the most underrated metric in any experimentation program → build vs. buy: the tooling decision that shapes everything

    Why Is Nobody Acting on Your A/B Test Results? Here's Why & What to Do About It

  4. 24 aug

    How You Can Build an Experimentation Program from Scratch (from the Senior Optimization Manager at The AA)

    Get Stuart's framework for building an experimentation process from scratch in this month's newsletter: ⁠https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/⁠ in this episode… Stuart Clare is the senior manager of digital trading, optimization, and personalization at the AA — one of the UK's most iconic brands. he's spent four years building an experimentation program from scratch, across five different product journeys, with a team of four. calm under pressure, process-obsessed, and still checking dashboards first thing every morning, just like he did when he was A/B testing email subject lines. it's about: → how to build an experimentation program from nothing — and get leadership to fund it → the loss prevention argument that makes any business case impossible to ignore → why a 25% win rate is healthy (and why chasing a higher one is actually dangerous) → app testing: why it's a completely different beast and what nobody tells you about it → the 1 thing that has stayed consistent across every company, every product, every journey

    How You Can Build an Experimentation Program from Scratch (from the Senior Optimization Manager at The AA)

  5. 10 aug

    You're Already in Love With the Solution (That's the Problem)

    Daniël Granja Baltazar⁠ is a CRO Specialist at one of the Netherlands' biggest telecoms VodafoneZiggo, and proving that CRO goes way beyond A/B testing. If you enjoy learning about these topics, follow our newsletter to get all the frameworks and insights: ⁠https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/⁠ in this episode… → what a 300+ experiments per year experimentation program looks like → why B2B experimentation can't just copy B2C playbooks → the MVP mindset: stop falling in love with solutions, start defining the problem → how qualitative research fills the gap when traffic is too low to test → using sales knowledge to rewrite product pages (and 10x your leads) → building an AI-powered experiment library so no learning ever gets lost Find Daniël on Linkedin: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/dgbaltazar/

    You're Already in Love With the Solution (That's the Problem)

  6. 29 jul

    Stop Testing Only Your Website — There's a Whole World Out There

    Gabriel Marçal⁠ is a growth PM at AIOS Medical, and one of the quietest, sharpest minds in experimentation. Solving bigger problems than just running A/B tests for checkouts. follow our newsletter to learn all his frameworks and insights: ⁠⁠https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/⁠⁠ in this episode… from his early days at a CRO agency in Brazil to running experiments on sales call scripts, physical medication boxes, and mobile apps, Gabriel refuses to stay in a box. it's about: → why your website isn't the only surface worth testing (and what to do when you're blocked) → how a lean 2-person team scaled to 10x growth without scaling headcount → the no-show rate problem: how experimenting with sales reminders moved the needle from 70% to 80%+ → subscriptions as a retention game-changer — and why 90%+ adoption doesn't happen by accident → Bayesian vs. frequentist? the answer that will surprise you Find Gabriel on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabmarcal/

    Stop Testing Only Your Website — There's a Whole World Out There

  7. 22 jun

    I Do Stand-Up Comedy and A/B Testing (Turns Out They're the Same Thing)

    Get David's prioritization framework in this month's newsletter: ⁠https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/⁠ David Swinstead spent 10 years inside the Booking.com bubble, and came out with some of the sharpest, most contrarian takes in the experimentation space. in this episode… he is now running experimentation programs at e-clerks, and doing stand-up comedy on the side, he treats both the same way: test everything, surrender to the data, and never assume you know the answer. it's about: → the "no-brainer" test on his first day at Booking.com that completely tanked → why PIE, ICE, RICE and every off-the-shelf framework is setting your team up to fail→ the 5-criteria prioritization framework he's been refining for 15+ years→ 1 pixel. 1 underline. and why everything on your site can make a difference→ CRO is easy, people are hard. how to actually build a culture that lasts Find David on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-swinstead-09267030/

    I Do Stand-Up Comedy and A/B Testing (Turns Out They're the Same Thing)

  8. 1 jun

    Blinkist: 'Onboarding Best Practice' failed 😳

    Proven at brands like Kia, Montblanc, Blinkist, and Blacklane, Ioana’s framework shows how to implement experimentation that actually scales. Find it in this month’s newsletter: ⁠https://increaseconversionrate.substack.com/⁠ in this episode... Ioana has built experimentation programs across industries (from automotive to luxury to tech) and she’s not just running tests, she’s building systems that scale learning. currently working as a product growth consultant at Blinkist, she turns experimentation into a true growth engine. this conversation isn’t about surface-level A/B tests. it’s about: → the 5-step framework to build an experimentation program from scratch→ why “time to learn” beats perfection in high-performing teams→ how to avoid false positives that can cost companies millions→ why common “best practices” in CRO often fail in reality→ using AI to generate hypotheses and accelerate experimentation Find Ioana & her cohort for women on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ioanaiordache/

    Blinkist: 'Onboarding Best Practice' failed 😳
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What does it take to build a healthy in-house experimentation program? Find out in these candid conversations with the leaders running 100 - 500+ A/B tests a year at Vinted, Preply & Diary of a CEO, and more. Get the recipes, frameworks, and lessons you need to run your own in-house experimentation program. Episodes released twice a month. Host, Lucia van den Brink, is Founder of The Initial, the agency that builds, runs & hands over experimentation capabilities for brands like Semrush, British Airways and Bolt Pharmacy. Find out more: https://the-initial.com/

Informatie

  • Maker
    Lucia van den Brink
  • Jaren actief
    2026
  • Afleveringen
    19
  • Beoordeling
    Veilig
  • Copyright
    © Lucia van den Brink
  • Website van aflevering
    The Initial

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