Growthmates: Insights on Product Growth, UX, and Leadership Kate Syuma, Oscar Torres and experts from TOP tech companies

Quick update 🥳 Now the Growthmates newsletter and my other posts will be sent on Tuesdays (inboxes are packed with newsletters sent on Sundays). Hope you will enjoy the episode and listen to it throughout the week!
Welcome to Growthmates — the place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Amplitude, Canva, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Subscribe to get all episodes right to your inbox on katesyuma.substack.com.
Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!).
This time I talked to Tom Scott, a founder at Verified, an invite-only design network. We revealed the myth that TOP-1% of talent includes only FAANG companies, and uncovered emerging challenges in talent acquisition, such as finding designers with strong business literacy. My favorite part was exploring the differences in hiring for early-stage startups, Series A+, and Scale-up, where we shared advice to founders who are looking for talent, as well as for anyone who is exploring a career shift. 
Beyond that, we discussed the future of work in the tech industry, including the rise of fractional roles and the importance of flexibility. 
If you find this show valuable, please share it with one of your colleagues or friends — it gives huge support to continue creating it. To receive all episodes right in your inbox — subscribe to katesyuma.substack.com 
This episode is supported by Appcues — the platform that helps you design, deploy, and test captivating onboarding experiences.
Appcues created the Product Adoption Academy to help you level up your product adoption for free. Check out the template that I created to help companies uncover meaningful improvements. Find an example of Dropbox Onboarding inside and apply it to review any growth flows: appcues.com/growthmates
Key highlights from this episode:
* The top 1% of talent varies depending on the needs of different companies and is not limited to individuals from well-known companies (like FAANG 😉)
* Designers need to have strong business literacy and keep up with new technologies to be successful in the current market.
* The “businessification of UX” requires designers to have a growth mindset and understand the impact of their work on the organization.
* Alternative career paths for designers include transitioning to product or engineering roles, working in HR or VC, or starting their own businesses (YES 🙌)
* When hiring design talent, it is important to consider their mindset, soft skills, and growth potential, rather than just their job title or previous company.
* When hiring for scale-ups, it is important to hire people who have experience working on larger teams and can navigate the politics.
* The future of work in the tech industry is moving towards fractional roles and increased flexibility.
* Companies should look beyond big names and focus on hiring for potential and cultural fit.
For the 1st year of Growthmates, we’ve collected from dozens of leaders from Dropbox, Amplitude, Canva, Coda, Atlassian, and now I need your take.👉 Take a 10-min survey and get the first copy of “The PLG Playbook“🎁
Follow Growthmates updates on:
* Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/
Where to find Tom Scott, founder at Verified:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomscottt/
Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro):
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/
* Newsletter: katesyuma.substack.com
* X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma
What we’ve covered in this episode:
00:00 Introduction and Background
02:40 Defining the Top 1% of Talent
06:32 Challenges in Talent Acquisition
10:56 The Businessifi

Welcome to Growthmates — the place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Amplitude, Canva, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Subscribe to get all episodes right to your inbox on katesyuma.substack.com.
Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!).
This episode is supported by Appcues — the platform that helps you design, deploy, and test captivating onboarding experiences.
Appcues created the Product Adoption Academy to help you level up your product adoption, and you can use it for free. Check out the template which I created to help companies connect growth hypotheses with behavioral patterns to uncover meaningful improvements. Find an example of Dropbox Onboarding inside and apply it to review any growth flows: appcues.com/growthmates
This time we talked to Mohammed, formerly a Product lead on Apple Siri, Product Marketing Manager at Google, and currently a Co-founder of DesignPro. Mohammed shared his journey from studying at Stanford to building innovative products, and reflected on his time at Google and Apple, highlighting the different cultures and approaches to innovation. 
I felt so inspired after this conversation, especially when Mohammed shared how Steve Jobs entered their room to acquire Siri, how he embraced trial and error and be okay with failure, and how he uncovered that creativity is a fundamental aspect of human nature and should be prioritized in product development. Here are some highlights you can find in the episode:
— Embrace trial and error and be okay with failure in the process of product design and development.
— Customer obsession and understanding their desires and needs are crucial for successful innovation.
— Timing is key in launching products, and being able to tell a compelling narrative is essential for engaging customers.
— Creativity is a fundamental aspect of human nature and should be prioritized in product development.
— Combining the disciplines of product design and product management can lead to more successful and innovative products.
If you find this show valuable, please share it with one of your colleagues or friends — it gives huge support to continue creating it. To receive all episodes right in your inbox — subscribe to katesyuma.substack.com 
Share this episode with your like-minded colleagues and friends!
Follow Growthmates updates on:
* Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/
Where to find Mohammed Abdoolcarim (DesignPro, ex-Apple & Google):
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mscarim/
* DesignPro: https://designpro.ai/
Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro):
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/
* Newsletter: katesyuma.substack.com
* X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma
What we’ve covered in this episode:
01:26 Studying at Stanford University
03:09 Creating Products at Stanford
04:44 Working at Google
08:14 Building Siri and Joining Apple
12:29 Apple's Unique Culture
13:57 Combining Product Design and Product Management
19:16 Apple's Approach to Building Products
22:14 Adapting to the Trend of AI
26:38 Transitioning to a Founder Role
29:35 Creating DesignPro
35:05 Balancing Creativity and Operational Tasks
40:42 Fulfilling Creative Routine as a Founder
43:09 Memorable Moments at Apple
45:14 Book Recommendation: Shoe Dog
Resources referenced:
* 15% discount for Self-serve Onboarding course (starts on 15th of April!): https://maven.com/growth-course/self-serve-onboarding?promoCode=growthmates
* How Innovation Works by Matt Ridley: https://www.amazon.com/How-Innovation-Works-Serendipity-Technology/dp/0062916599
* Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull: https://www.amazon

Welcome to Growthmates — the place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Amplitude, Canva, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Subscribe to get all episodes right to your inbox on katesyuma.substack.com.
Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!).
This episode is supported by Appcues — make your product adoption easy!
Appcues is the platform that helps you design, deploy, and test captivating onboarding experiences. Appcues created the Product Adoption Academy to help you level up your product adoption, and you can use it for free. 
Check out the “5-step Growth Flow Review” template which I created to help companies connect growth hypotheses with behavioral patterns to uncover meaningful improvements. Find an example of Dropbox Onboarding inside the template and apply it to review any growth flows: appcues.com/growthmates
Get a 15% discount for my Self-Service Onboarding course
If you're keen on Mastering Product Growth and User onboarding, join the upcoming course starting on the 15th of April. You will get personal guidance to create a stellar onboarding experience and frameworks to turn it into live. Get a 15% discount with promo code “growthmates”. Learn more and get early access → https://maven.com/growth-course/self-serve-onboarding
This time we talked to Rob Litterst who is leading HubSpot media and Building an insightful newsletter about Pricing in SaaS. We discussed his journey from sales to writing, the emerging trend of employee-generated content and a lot of things connected to user-centric pricing. If you listen to this episode, you will learn about:
— Unethical pricing practices we should avoid
— Why companies started shifting from Freemium to speed up monetization
— And a dozen newsletters that Rob recommends to stay informed on important industry news
If you find this show valuable, please share it with one of your colleagues or friends — it gives huge support to continue creating it. To receive all episodes right in your inbox — subscribe to katesyuma.substack.com 
Follow Growthmates updates on:
* Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/
Where to find Rob Litterst (HubSpot media):
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roblitterst/
* Newsletter: goodbetterbest.substack.com
Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro):
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/
* Newsletter: katesyuma.substack.com
* X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma
What we’ve covered in this episode:
00:00 Introduction and Background
01:30 The Importance of Pricing in SaaS
06:17 Employee-Generated Content
11:15 Creating the Newsletter Good Better Best
16:35 Introducing Newsletters in Companies
34:14 Issues with Amazon Prime and Black Friday Strategies
36:15 Ethical Pricing Practices
38:04 Transparency in Pricing
42:55 Trends in Pricing Pages
50:05 The Rise of Subscription Models
Resources referenced:
* 15% discount for Self-serve Onboarding course (starts on 15th of April!): https://maven.com/growth-course/self-serve-onboarding?promoCode=getteamdiscount
* “Good Better Best” Newsletter: goodbetterbest.substack.com
* Ben Thompson's Stratechery: https://stratechery.com/
* Newsletter: https://www.packym.com/newsletter
* Big Technology Newsletter: bigtechnology.com
* James Clear's “The 3-2-1 Newsletter”: https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1
* Chris Black's “How Long Gone” podcast
* Pulling Weeds With Chris Black: https://www.gq.com/about/pulling-weeds-with-chris-black
If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to share it with your colleagues and like-minded friends. For sponsorship and other inquiries reach out to ekaterinasyuma@gmail.c

Welcome to Growthmates — the place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Amplitude, Canva, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Subscribe to get all episodes right to your inbox on katesyuma.substack.com.
Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!).
This episode is supported by Appcues — make your product adoption easy!
Appcues is the platform that helps you design, deploy, and test captivating onboarding experiences. Appcues created the Product Adoption Academy to help you level up your product adoption, and you can use it for free. 
Check out the “5-step Growth Flow Review” template which I created to help companies connect growth hypotheses with behavioral patterns to uncover meaningful improvements. Find an example of Dropbox Onboarding inside the template and apply it to review any growth flows.
Get a 15% discount for my Self-Service Onboarding course
If you're keen on Mastering Product Growth and User onboarding, join the upcoming course in April. You will get personal guidance to create a stellar onboarding experience and frameworks to turn it into live. Get a 15% discount before 15 March. Learn more and get early access → https://maven.com/growth-course/self-serve-onboarding
This time we talked to Matt Woods, a Product Manager focused on Product-led Growth, who helped companies like Coda increase key activation metrics by 60%, and introduce personalization experience that combines great UX and business impact. Matt also contributed to Reforge artifacts to share examples of his work as one of the earliest contributors to their program. Being a Product Manager, Matt has a fantastic website built with Coda full of insightful case studies. I personally learned so much from Matt, and if you listen to this episode, you will learn about:
* The process of defining activation and aha-moment with examples from Coda
* How connection to customers helped to uncover meaningful wins
* The secrets behind collaboration between product managers and designers in Growth
* and much more
If you find our show valuable, please share it with your colleagues and friends. To receive all episodes right in your inbox — Subscribe to katesyuma.substack.com, your support means a lot. 
Follow Growthmates updates on:
* Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/
Where to find Matt Woods (Product Leader, ex-Coda):
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewchristopherwoods/
* Website: https://portfolio.mattwoods.io/
Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro):
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/
* Newsletter: katesyuma.substack.com
* X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma
What we’ve covered in this episode:
00:00 Introduction and Website Creation
03:11 Learning and Mission Statement
07:12 Coda's Success Factors
10:07 Product-Led Growth and Experimentation
14:32 Defining Activation and User Behavior Insights
34:33 Building a Partnership
35:23 Challenges in Working Together
36:23 Trust and Inclusion
37:34 Understanding Motivations
38:31 Embracing Collaboration
39:44 Overcoming Communication Issues
42:25 Fostering Creativity
50:26 Building Healthy Partnerships
56:25 Favorite Artifact: $100 Voting
58:41 Favorite Book: Setting the Table
Resources referenced:
* Reforge Artifact “Weekly outcomes update message at Coda”: https://www.reforge.com/artifacts/weekly-outcomes-update-message-at-coda
* Welcome doc onboarding: https://portfolio.mattwoods.io/case-studies-how-i-work-3
* 100-Dollar Voting Exercise: https://coda.io/@lshackleton/100-dollar-voting-exercise
* “Radical Candor” by Kim Scott: https://www.amazon.com/-/en/Kim-Scott/dp/1250103509
* “Managing Hum

Welcome to Growthmates — the place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Amplitude, Canva, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Subscribe to get all episodes right to your inbox on katesyuma.substack.com.
Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!).
Exciting announcement! If you're keen on Mastering Product Growth and User onboarding, join the upcoming course in April. You will get personal guidance to create a stellar onboarding experience and frameworks to turn it into live. Get a 10% discount before 15 March.
Learn more and get early access → https://maven.com/growth-course/self-serve-onboarding
This time we talked to Emily Wang, CEO of Bento, previously Product Manager on Growth Team at Intercom.  Emily shared her authentic story of becoming a founder, the role of leadership, creating a company culture, and building a strong team. Our conversation went beyond that, and we also discussed: 
* What’s The Right Time to Introduce Experimentation
* Why Killing Features is necessary to grow and evolve your product 
* Why the PLG model sometimes is not the right fit, and what we all should be aware of in the current market landscape 
If you find our show valuable, please share it with your colleagues and friends, and leave us a good review.
Follow Growthmates updates on:
* Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/
Where to find Emily Wang, CEO of Bento:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyyidanwang/
* Website: https://www.trybento.co/

Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro):
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/
* Newsletter: https://katesyuma.substack.com
* X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma
Where to find Oscar Torres, Product Designer at Miro:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscartorrestryme/
* Website: https://www.oscartorres.me/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oscar_towers_/
What we’ve covered in this episode:
00:00 Emily's Mission to Start Bento
03:46 Emily's Personal Mental Model Shift
05:00 The Importance of Building a Company
10:00 Understanding Different Parts of a Company
12:14 The Right Time to Introduce Experimentation
15:00 The Role of Leadership in Company Building
16:44 Killing Features and Simplifying the Product
17:12 Balancing Product and Design Team Priorities
20:00 Creating a Company Culture
22:32 Product-Led Growth and Finding the Right Fit
25:00 Building a Strong Team
30:00 Effective Communication within a Company
34:47 Shifts in the Macro Environment and Impact on Product Growth
40:00 Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
47:33 Onboarding vs Everboarding
45:00 Conclusion
51:03 Where to Connect with Emily
Resources referenced:
* Get a 10% discount for the Maven course on Onboarding and Activation before 15th March: https://maven.com/growth-course/self-serve-onboarding
* Behind the Cloud, Mark Benioff: https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Cloud-Salesforce-com-Billion-Dollar-Company/
* Leadership and Self-Deception, The Arbinger Institute: https://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Self-Deception-Getting-Out-Box/
If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to share it with your colleagues and like-minded friends. For sponsorship and other inquiries reach out to ekaterinasyuma@gmail.com.
Subscribe to get more episodes right in your inbox: katesyuma.substack.com
Thanks for reading Kate's Syuma Newsletter & Growthmates! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.




This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit katesyuma.substack.com

Exciting announcement! If you're keen on Mastering Product Growth and User onboarding, join the upcoming course in April. You will get personal guidance to create a stellar onboarding experience and frameworks to turn it into live. Get a 15% discount for your team (most value for PM + Product Designer together).
Learn more and get early access → https://maven.com/forms/2c51cc
Welcome to Growthmates — the place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Amplitude, Canva, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Subscribe to get all episodes right to your inbox on katesyuma.substack.com.
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!).
In this conversation, we invited Phil Vander Broek, Co-Founder at Dopt, previously Head of Growth and Business Platform Design at Dropbox. We decided to talk about User Onboarding and unpack all the truth we know about it. From this episode, you can learn:
* How Dropbox approached User Onboarding and what they learned from experimenting with that
* How Growth and Core teams collaboration looked at Dropbox
* What Rituals can help in building a Growth Culture
* and Best practices for User Onboarding from research with more than 80 companies. 
Beyond the Dropbox story, Phill shared his transition to becoming a Co-Founder at Dopt,  and how his design background helped him play a founder role. 
If you find it valuable, please share it with your network and leave us a good review. 
Follow Growthmates podcast updates on:
* Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/
Where to find Phil Vander Broek, Co-Founder at Dopt:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philipvanderbroek/
* Website: https://www.dopt.com/
Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro):
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/
* Newsletter: https://katesyuma.substack.com
* X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma
Where to find Oscar Torres, Product Designer at Miro:
* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oscartorrestryme/
* Website: https://www.oscartorres.me/
* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oscar_towers_/
What we’ve covered in this episode:
01:20 Approach to User Onboarding at Dropbox
04:12 Surprising Behavioral Insights from User Onboarding Experiments
11:57 Collaboration between Growth and Core Teams
13:23 Rituals for Alignment and Building a Growth Culture
21:44 Industry Trends in User Onboarding
34:05 Transition to Entrepreneurship and Creating DOPT
44:07 Insights and Learnings as a Founder
46:28 The Connection Between AI and User Onboarding
47:16 Favorite Example of User Onboarding
47:29 Interactive Guides
50:10 Tooltips vs Checklists
51:10 Recommended Resources
53:08 Conclusion
Resources referenced:
* Product Led Onboarding playbook: https://blog.dopt.com/product-led-onboarding-playbook
* The State of User Onboarding — report from 80+ companies: https://onboard.report/
* The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick: https://www.momtestbook.com/
* How to determine your activation metric from
* I bet you are doing product activation all wrong from
* Mike Maples playbook: https://www.joincolossus.com/episodes/61719/maples-a-playbook-for-startups?tab=transcript
* Get early access to the Maven course on Onboarding and Activation (15% discount for teams): https://maven.com/forms/2c51cc
If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to share it with your colleagues and like-minded friends. For sponsorship and other inquiries reach out to ekaterinasyuma@gmail.com.
Subscribe to get more episodes right in your inbox: katesyuma.substack.com
Thanks for reading Kate's Syuma Newsletter & Growthmates! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.



This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss thi