Growthmates: Insights on Product Growth, UX, and Leadership

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

Insights on Product-led Growth, UX, and Leadership. 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. Join the newsletter to get inbox delivery and more: katesyuma.substack.com katesyuma.substack.com

  1. Notion method: How to Do More with Less | Randy Hunt (Head of Design at Notion)

    OCT 8

    Notion method: How to Do More with Less | Randy Hunt (Head of Design at Notion)

    Welcome to Growthmates with Kate Syuma — Growth advisor, previously Head of Growth Design at Miro. I’m building Growthmates as a place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Canva, Loom, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Get all episodes and a free playbook for Growth teams on our brand-new website — growthamtes.club, and press follow to support us on your favorite platforms. Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). In this episode, we chat with Randy, Head of Design at Notion. Join us as we explore Randy's incredible journey from crypto and coffee startups to becoming the Head of Design at Notion. He shares how he blends craftsmanship, simplicity, and user-centered design into Notion’s core values. Randy also provides valuable insights into the balance of functionality and emotional design, his approach to building talent-dense teams, and how to foster creativity within high-performing groups. — Brought to you by Command.ai — a user-focused platform offering an alternative to traditional popups or chatbots. Their AI “Copilot” answers questions, performs actions, and simplifies complex tasks. Use “Nudges” to guide users with timely, relevant messages, all within a no-code platform. Perfect for Product, Support, and Marketing teams to positively influence user behavior while respecting their needs: — Key highlights from this episode 👇 -Design for Emotion: Randy explains how Notion prioritizes emotional connection in user experiences. -Craftsmanship with Efficiency: The importance of talent density and focusing on fewer resources for more impact. -Marketplace Insights: How working in multi-sided marketplaces influenced Randy’s approach to product design. -Visual Design Mastery: Randy’s tips on typography and user interaction to improve design quality. -Creative Collaboration: Discover how Notion encourages team improvisation and shared creativity, much like a jazz ensemble. How to make your collaboration more creative? 🎨 * Improvisation and Team Dynamics: Notion encourages team members to express their creativity, similar to a jazz ensemble, fostering spontaneous collaboration that leads to innovative solutions. * Cross-Functional Teams: By promoting collaboration across different functions, Notion leverages diverse perspectives to enhance the design process. * Regular Feedback: Open communication and constructive feedback sessions help refine ideas and improve team dynamics. * Design Sprints: Quick prototyping and testing through design sprints allow teams to iterate rapidly while staying aligned with user needs. * Empowerment: Team members are encouraged to take ownership of projects, boosting morale and encouraging boundary-pushing creativity. * Utilizing Notion's Tools: The product itself is used as a collaboration platform, enhancing documentation, feedback, and progress tracking — Follow Growthmates updates on: * NEW! Growthmates website with “The Holistic Growth Playbook”: https://growthmates.club * Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/ * X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/ Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro): * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/ * Newsletter: katesyuma.substack.com Where to find our guest — Randy Hunt (Head of Design at Notion): * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/randyjhunt/ — What we’ve covered in this episode: [00:00] Introduction[00:06] Randy’s Career Journey[01:12] Working at Notion[02:19] Transitioning from Coffee Startup to Tech[04:04] Leadership at Etsy[05:00] Music and Entrepreneurial Spirit[06:09] Notion’s Craft and High Standards[07:33] Talent

    48 min
  2. Revealing 3 myths about User Research and start easy | Jason Giles (VP of Product Design at UserTesting)

    SEP 24

    Revealing 3 myths about User Research and start easy | Jason Giles (VP of Product Design at UserTesting)

    Welcome to Growthmates with Kate Syuma — Growth advisor, previously Head of Growth Design at Miro. I’m building Growthmates as a place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Canva, Loom, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Get all episodes and a free playbook for Growth teams on our brand-new website — growthamtes.club, and press follow to support us on your favorite platforms.  Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). In this episode, I chat with Jason Giles — a VP of Product Design at UserTesting.com. We dove into his journey, from working as an electronic musician to becoming a leader in the tech industry. Jason shares his unique story about transitioning into the UX field during his time at Microsoft, his experiences with design leadership, and how human-centered design became his foundation. We also dive into the importance of research, debunking 3 myths about its cost and time, and Jason’s insights into democratizing research within organizations. — Brought to you by Command.ai — a user-focused platform offering an alternative to traditional popups or chatbots. Their AI “Copilot” answers questions, performs actions, and simplifies complex tasks. Use “Nudges” to guide users with timely, relevant messages, all within a no-code platform. Perfect for Product, Support, and Marketing teams to positively influence user behavior while respecting their needs: https://command.ai/ — Key highlights from this episode 👇 - How Jason transitioned from music to UX design;- The role of human-centered design in successful products;- Revealing 3 myths about User Research and sharing actionable tips: * Research takes a lot of time, it’s expensive, and we basically don’t have resources for that.  * Research doesn’t give any measurable impact and it’s impossible to to measure * It’s risky to democratize research, as it can become a weapon in the “wrong” hands - Quantifying the ROI of user experience research- Democratizing research across teams for better user insights— Follow Growthmates updates on: * NEW! Growthmates website with “The Holistic Growth Playbook”: https://growthmates.club * Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/ * X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/ Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro): * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/ * Newsletter: katesyuma.substack.com Where to find our guest — Jason Giles (VP of Product Design at UserTesting): * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaygiles/ — What we’ve covered in this episode: [00:00] Introduction and welcome to the conference[00:07] Jason’s journey: From electronic musician to UX designer[00:20] Joining Microsoft and the early stages of his career in UX[03:00] Joining UserTesting and how the mission aligns with his personal goals[05:30] The myths about UX research and the challenges of starting with limited resources[09:30] Conducting research with minimal budget and engaging customers[12:41] Measuring the ROI of UX research[16:00] Case study: Saving $1.2 million by using validated designs[20:00] The role of democratizing research within teams[24:00] How leadership can support a user-centric mindset[26:30] Audience Q&A: Advice on how to involve the entire team in UX research[31:00] Final thoughts and closing remarks — 📕Useful Resources for User Research * “The Holistic Growth Playbook" by Growthmates with insights from 100+ companies on Growth and UX: https://growthmates.club/playbook * “The Design of Everyday Things” by Don Norman: https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expanded/dp/0465050654 * UserTestin

    39 min
  3. Find your Position-Market Fit: The Role of Brand and Memorable Experiences | Enzo Avigo (CEO at June, ex-Intercom)

    SEP 10

    Find your Position-Market Fit: The Role of Brand and Memorable Experiences | Enzo Avigo (CEO at June, ex-Intercom)

    Welcome to Growthmates with Kate Syuma — Growth advisor, previously Head of Growth Design at Miro. I’m building Growthmates as a place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Canva, Loom, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Get all episodes and a free playbook for Growth teams on our brand-new website — growthamtes.club, and press follow to support us on your favorite platforms.  Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). In this episode, I chat with Enzo Avigo, CEO of June.so. We delve into the journey of product management and the shift from being a Product Manager at companies like Zalando and Intercom to becoming a Startup founder. Enzo shares his insights on the key differences between product management in large companies and startups, and how that experience shaped his approach to building June.so, a platform for B2B SaaS companies that provides customer analytics for product-focused teams. We discuss positioning, product-market fit, and how to align multiple aspects like brand, marketing, and product into what Enzo calls "Position Market Fit."— By the end of this episode, you’ll gain insights on:- The transition from PM to Founder   - The role of design and user experience in creating a strong product position   - How to build a memorable product experience that stands out   - Practical examples of positioning, including how Enzo applies it at June.so   - Lessons learned on when to outsource brand work and when to handle it in-house — Brought to you by Command.ai — a user-focused platform offering an alternative to traditional popups or chatbots. Their AI “Copilot” answers questions, performs actions, and simplifies complex tasks. Use “Nudges” to guide users with timely, relevant messages, all within a no-code platform. Perfect for Product, Support, and Marketing teams to positively influence user behavior while respecting their needs: https://command.ai/ — Self-Serve Onboarding course is coming back! Get 100€ off 🎁 We open enrollment for the new cohort of the Self-Serve User Onboarding course. As an early-bird gift, we give all subscribers a discount of 100$ with a promocode “growthmates”. Reserve your spot now and join me on live sessions starting from September 16, 2024 (only 5 spots left): https://maven.com/growth-course/self-serve-onboarding — Key highlights from this episode 👇 1. From PM to Founder: Enzo discusses the dream many Product Managers have of founding their own company and why it's so challenging to take the leap. 2. Key Differences Between Large Companies & Startups: Enzo dives into why traditional product management techniques don't always translate into startup success. 3. Position Market Fit: We discuss the metaphor of aligning multiple "planets" (product, brand, marketing, pricing, etc.) to achieve Position Market Fit, a crucial aspect for startups today. 4. Importance of Memorable Experiences: Learn how creating a distinct and memorable product experience helps cement your product in users’ minds. 5. In-House vs. Agency: Enzo shares the pros and cons of working with an agency for brand and product design versus keeping it in-house, with real-life examples from June.so. Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). — Follow Growthmates updates on: * NEW! Growthmates website with “The Holistic Growth Playbook”: https://growthmates.club * Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/ * X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/ Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro): * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/ * Newsletter:

    60 min
  4. Driving a Positive Behavioural Change with Your Product | Amy Bucher (Lirio, Author of "Engaged")

    AUG 27

    Driving a Positive Behavioural Change with Your Product | Amy Bucher (Lirio, Author of "Engaged")

    Welcome to Growthmates with Kate Syuma — Growth advisor, previously Head of Growth Design at Miro. I’m building Growthmates as a place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Canva, Loom, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Get all episodes and a free playbook for Growth teams on our brand-new website — growthamtes.club, and press follow to support us on your favorite platforms.  Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). — In this episode, I chat with Amy Bucher, Chief Behavioral Officer at Lirio and author of Engaged. We delve into the world of behavioral design, exploring how understanding human behavior can lead to more ethical and effective product development. Amy shares her journey from academia to leading behavioral design teams, and how frameworks like the COMBEE model and Behavior Change Wheel are essential tools for influencing user behavior. By the end of this episode, you'll learn how to apply behavioral science principles to your product, understand the importance of ethical design, and gain insights into leveraging AI for personalized user experiences 💡 — Brought to you 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 to uncover meaningful improvements with an example of Dropbox Onboarding inside: appcues.com/growthmates — Self-Serve Onboarding course is coming back! Get 100€ off 🎁 We open enrollment for the new cohort of the Self-Serve User Onboarding course. As an early-bird gift, we give all subscribers a discount of 100$ with a promocode “growthmates”. Reserve your spot now and join me on live sessions starting from September 16, 2024 (the cohort is limited to 20 participants): https://maven.com/growth-course/self-serve-onboarding — Key highlights from this episode 👇 1: Behavioral Design Defined: Understand the fundamentals of behavioral design and how it differs from traditional UX/UI design. 2: COMBEE Model and Behavior Change Wheel: Learn how capability, opportunity, and motivation drive behavior change and how to apply these concepts in product design. 3: Ethical Design: Discover how to avoid dark patterns like over-gamification and notification fatigue. 4: AI and Personalization: Explore how AI can be used to create personalized and effective user experiences. Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). — Follow Growthmates updates on: * NEW! Growthmates website with “The Holistic Growth Playbook”: https://growthmates.club * Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/ * X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/ Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro): * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/ * Newsletter: katesyuma.substack.com Where to find our guest — Amy Bucher: * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amybucher/ * “Engaged”: Designing for Behavior Change: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/engaged-designing-for-behavior-change/ — What we’ve covered in this episode: [00:00] Introduction [00:39] Amy Bucher’s Journey: From Academia to Chief Behavioral Officer [02:08] Defining Behavioral Design and Its Importance [06:52] The COMBEE Model and Behavior Change Wheel [13:20] Understanding and Driving Internal Motivation [17:36] Ethical Considerations in Design: Avoiding Dark Patterns [22:32] Meeting Psychological Needs: Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness [30:57] Writing Outcome Stories and Designing for Growth [42:24] Leveraging AI for Behavioral Design and

    53 min
  5. From Designer to CEO: Building Design-led and Journey-centric Business (Jochem van der Veer, CEO at TheyDo)

    AUG 13

    From Designer to CEO: Building Design-led and Journey-centric Business (Jochem van der Veer, CEO at TheyDo)

    Welcome to Growthmates with Kate Syuma — Growth advisor, previously Head of Growth Design at Miro. I’m building Growthmates as a place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Canva, Loom, and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Get all episodes and a free playbook for Growth teams on our brand-new website — growthamtes.club, and press follow to support us on your favorite platforms.  Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). — In this episode, I chat with Jochem Van Der Veer, co-founder and CEO of TheyDo, about his journey from UX design to leading a successful B2B SaaS company. We dive into the triple diamond framework, customer obsession, and key strategies for scaling a product. By the end, you’ll gain actionable insights on how to align business goals with customer outcomes and effectively grow your company. By the end of this episode, you'll learn about the triple diamond framework for design thinking, the importance of customer obsession, and practical strategies for scaling a B2B SaaS company 💪 — Brought to you 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 to uncover meaningful improvements with an example of Dropbox Onboarding inside: appcues.com/growthmates — Self-Serve Onboarding course is coming back! Get 100€ off 🎁 We open enrollment for the new cohort of the Self-Serve User Onboarding course. As an early-bird gift, we give all subscribers a discount of 100$ with a promocode “growthmates”. Reserve your spot now and join me on live sessions starting from September 16, 2024 (the cohort is limited to 20 participants): https://maven.com/growth-course/self-serve-onboarding Key highlights from this episode 👇 1: Triple Diamond Framework: Learn how to apply the triple diamond approach to design thinking, from problem discovery to solution delivery, and how it can be used to design not just products, but entire organizations. 2: Customer Obsession: Discover the importance of aligning your business with customer journeys and how customer obsession can drive significant impact and transformation in your organization. 3: Opportunity Prioritization: Understand how to identify and prioritize opportunities within customer journeys to maximize business impact and improve customer experiences. 4: Enterprise Growth Strategies: Gain insights into scaling a B2B SaaS company, from targeting enterprise clients early on to leveraging product-led growth strategies that drive long-term success. Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). — Follow Growthmates updates on: * NEW! Growthmates website with “The Holistic Growth Playbook”: https://growthmates.club * Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/ * X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/ Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro): * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ekaterina-syuma/ * Newsletter: katesyuma.substack.com Where to find our guest — Jochem: * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jochemvanderveer/ * TheyDo: https://www.theydo.com/ — What we’ve covered in this episode: [00:00] Introduction [00:39] From UX Design to CEO: Jochem’s Career Journey [01:45] The Transition from Design to Founding TheyDo [03:28] Building a Customer-Obsessed Organization [07:15] The Triple Diamond Framework Explained [12:02] Prioritizing Opportunities in Customer Journeys [18:34] Strategies for Scaling a B2B SaaS Company [26:11] Overcoming Challenges in Enterprise

    54 min
  6. How to Get Your Dream Job and Stand Out in the Crowd | Lena Kul (Miro)

    JUL 30

    How to Get Your Dream Job and Stand Out in the Crowd | Lena Kul (Miro)

    Welcome to Growthmates. This is Kate Syuma, Growth advisor, previously Head of Growth Design at Miro. I’m building Growthmates as a place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Canva, Loom and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Get all episodes and a free playbook for Growth teams on our brand-new website — growthamtes.club, and press follow to support us on your favorite platforms.  Thanks for reading Kate's Syuma Newsletter & Growthmates! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). In this episode, I met Lena Kul — a seasoned design recruiter with vast experience at companies like N26, Miro, and now a User Researcher. Lena shares her journey from design recruitment to user research, providing valuable insights for anyone looking to shift careers or land a job in the current competitive market. By the end of this episode, you'll learn how to make your job search more effective, craft a compelling portfolio, and negotiate your worth confidently 💪 P.S. Lena is launching a new course, and I’ll be also there hosting a life session. It starts on the 5th of August (and she has just 2 spots left 🏃‍♀️). 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 that you can implement right away 👇 1: Networking Strategies: Lena's tips on leveraging your network and reaching out to connections to stand out in a crowded job market. 2: Portfolio Best Practices: The importance of adding a personal touch, maintaining a clear structure, and showcasing the impact of your work. 3: Interview Preparation: The significance of asking insightful questions and demonstrating your process and thoughtfulness during interviews. 4: Negotiation Tips: Starting salary discussions early, understanding your worth, and confidently pitching your value during the negotiation phase. Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). Early birds 🎁 Get a 100€ discount on my Self-Service Onboarding course! Have you ever wondered — why some people start using the product, but never come back after the first session? The problem is that they can’t easily uncover the value that your entire team has been working hard on.  We created a course intending to help you design the most valuable Onboarding experience. The course is filled with best practices we gathered from over 80 companies and frameworks that will help you uncover improvements in your onboarding, run user research, and create a fresh roadmap of new experiments.  The new cohort starts already on the 2nd of September, and for dear listeners, we provide a discount of 100€ with the promo code “Growthmates”.  I would like to interact with each participant directly, and hope to see you there! — The early bird discount is valid till the 14th of August — The course is limited to 25 seats, feel free to invite your colleagues! 🏃‍♀️ Follow Growthmates updates on: * NEW! Growthmates website with “The Holistic Growth Playbook”: * https://growthmates.club * Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/ * X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/ Where to find Kate Syuma, Growth Advisor (ex-Miro): * LinkedIn:

    60 min
  7. Finding Harmony between Design and Product Management | Bruno Bergher (Metabase, ex-Google)

    JUL 16

    Finding Harmony between Design and Product Management | Bruno Bergher (Metabase, ex-Google)

    Welcome to Growthmates. This is Kate Syuma, Growth advisor, previously Head of Growth Design at Miro. I’m building Growthmates as a place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Canva, Loom and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Get all episodes and a free playbook for Growth teams on our brand-new website — growthamtes.club, and press follow to support us on your favorite platforms.  Thanks for reading Kate's Syuma Newsletter & Growthmates! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). In this episode, I met Bruno Berger — a VP of Design and Product Management who worked in companies like Google, Metabase, and now he’s teaching “Design for PMs” on Reforge. We discuss Bruno's career journey, the integration of design and product management, and best practices for improving collaboration between designers and PMs. We also explored Bruno's strategies for combining design and product management to enhance team collaboration and project success. By the end of this episode, you can learn how to make your PM and Design collaboration better by adjusting the ways of working, building trust, and how to align faster to make it the most rewarding thinking partnership. 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 that you can implement right away 👇 * Generalist Career Journey: Bruno’s transition from product design and engineering to design leadership at Google and his current role at Metabase combining design and product management. * Integration of Disciplines: The benefits of combining product design with product management and the evolution of design roles over time. * TOP-3 Collaboration Challenges: Common issues between PMs and designers, such as late involvement of designers, lack of context, and misaligned expectations. * Best Practices for PMs: Importance of regular communication with designers (set up your Weekly 1:1!), clarifying goals, and providing project context to align expectations. * Advice for Designers: Develop curiosity about business and technical aspects, engage in strategic conversations, and understand business metrics. * Leadership Insights: The need for product leaders to understand designer motivations, include design leadership in strategic planning, and bridge the gap between goal-oriented PMs and craft-focused designers. * Future of Design Discipline: Prediction that future design roles will require well-rounded skill sets with increased integration of business and technical understanding. Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube(new!). And one more thing 🎁 To celebrate the first Growthmates anniversary, we prepared a gift to our community — “The Holistic Playbook for Growth Teams”. It’s a reflection of industry trends, in-depth interviews with our guests, and insights gathered from a hundred companies. You can get this playbook for free on our new website → growthmates.club. Follow Growthmates updates on: * NEW! Growthmates website with “The Holistic Growth Playbook”: https://growthmates.club  * Substack Newsletter (for instant inbox delivery): https://katesyuma.substack.com/podcast * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/growthmates-podcast/ * X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/kate_syuma * Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growthmates_/ Where to find Kate Syuma, Growt

    57 min
  8. Making Decisions with User Research from Startup to Scale-up | Behzod Sirjani (Advisor & Partner at Reforge, ex-Slack)

    JUL 2

    Making Decisions with User Research from Startup to Scale-up | Behzod Sirjani (Advisor & Partner at Reforge, ex-Slack)

    Welcome to Growthmates. This is Kate Syuma, Growth advisor, previously Head of Growth Design at Miro. I’m building Growthmates as a place to connect with inspiring leaders to help you grow yourself and your product. Here you can learn how companies like Dropbox, Adobe, Canva, Loom and many more are building excellent products and growth culture. Get all episodes and a free playbook for Growth teams on our brand-new website — growthamtes.club, and press follow to support us on your favorite platforms.  Thanks for reading Kate's Syuma Newsletter & Growthmates! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Listen now and subscribe on your favorite platforms — Apple, Spotify, or watch on YouTube (new!). In this episode, I met with Behzod Sirjani — a leader in Research space who worked in companies like Slack and Facebook, and currently supporting the broader community as an Advisor and Reforge partner Research is one of my favourite topics, and we discussed how different companies should approach: from Startup to Scale up. By the end of this episode, you can learn how to get customer insights even in a small team, when it’s the right moment to bring a dedicated researcher, common mistakes, and how to scale the research forward. 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 that you can implement right away 👇 1. User Research Evolution: * Startup phase: Founders act as first researchers, focusing on problem validation and customer understanding. * Growth phase (Series A): Consider hiring a dedicated researcher when research tasks start overwhelming the team. * Scale-up/Enterprise phase: Implement research ops and scalable processes. 2. Early-stage Research Methods: * Interviews are crucial for understanding customer decision-making. * Usability testing helps identify user expectations vs. actual experiences. * Deeper partnerships with customers (e.g., design partners, diary studies) provide ongoing feedback. 3. When to Hire a Dedicated Researcher: * When research tasks start taking too much time from other responsibilities. * Ideally, before there's a full-time workload, allowing time for infrastructure setup. 4. Integrating Research into Teams: *  New researchers should map the organization's research needs and current practices. * Implement a mix of direct research, partnering with other teams, and supporting self-service research. * Use office hours to provide guidance and support to non-researchers. 5. Scaling Research: * Implement research ops to protect customers, the business, and improve efficiency. * Standardize processes and tools across teams (e.g., survey templates, question banks). * Focus on high-leverage activities that raise the floor of research quality. 6. Common Mistakes in Research at Scale: * Using research only for validation rather than exploration. * Researchers working in silos or "throwing research over the fence." * Forgetting that growth is everyone's job, including researchers. 7. Key Research Skills: * Asking "why" and "how" questions to gain deeper insights. * Understanding the business context and how research drives growth. 8. The Role of Research in Growth: * Research should directly contribute to acquisition, retention, and monetization. * Researchers need to understand how their work impacts business growth. And one more thing 🎁 To celebrate the first Growthmates anniversary, we prepared a gift to our community — “The Holistic Playbook for Growth Teams”. It’s a reflection of industry trends, in-depth interviews with our guests, and insigh

    1h 3m
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About

Insights on Product-led Growth, UX, and Leadership. 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. Join the newsletter to get inbox delivery and more: katesyuma.substack.com katesyuma.substack.com

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