Episode 20 – Embrace failure and grow – Malachi Rose – VP of Growth, MAVAN

Malachi Rose is the VP of Growth at MAVAN. With over 17 years of experience in growth, he has led growth teams at companies like Zynga and Digit.

Malachi and Matt discuss sustainable and scalable growth strategies, and the importance of problem-solving in growth. Malachi emphasizes the need for data-driven decision making, the value of customer feedback, and the benefits of testing and iterating. 

(0:00:05) Introduction to the podcast and guest, Malachi Rose

(0:00:52) Malachi's background in growth and experience at different companies

(0:03:26) Joining Zynga and the challenges of restructuring their growth teams

(0:06:17) Transitioning to a startup called Digit and building a growth team

(0:07:39) Malachi's current role at Maven and problem-focused approach to growth

(0:08:49) Growth as a systematic, data-driven approach to scaling a company

(0:09:30) Identifying growth constraints and systematically solving problems

(0:10:01) The focus on revenue and profitability in growth strategies

(0:10:38) Challenges in determining where to allocate resources efficiently

(0:10:57) Evolution of growth over the last 20 years and its meaning

(0:10:38) SEO and managing growth efficiently

(0:11:41) Sequencing growth techniques for highest impact

(0:13:35) Evolution of growth teams and cross-functional collaboration

(0:17:04) Over reliance on intuition and optimism in early-stage companies

(0:18:28) Need to address product health before focusing on growth

(0:19:03) Underestimation of time and effort required for growth

(0:19:26) Unrealistic expectations for quick success in competitive markets

(0:20:16) Underestimation of time, complexity, and cost due to lack of knowledge

(0:20:16) Expecting immediate results and quick ROI in growth strategies

(0:21:11) The importance of having a sufficient budget for paid acquisition.

(0:23:39) Embracing failure and learning from it is crucial for growth.

(0:25:23) Investing in failure and allocating time and budget for learning.

(0:29:20) Structuring growth experiments to answer core questions and minimize impact.

(0:30:28) Leveraging platforms for learning and scaling purposes.

(0:31:41) Media buyers not incentivized to try new things due to roas pressure

(0:32:35) Separate budget for testing and exploration

(0:33:33) Apply confidence intervals to minimize loss and maximize learnings

(0:34:30) Growth is a continuous process of testing and optimizing

(0:35:08) Siloing and lack of shared goals hinder growth at scale

(0:36:45) Big companies become siloed, slow, and have siloed data

(0:37:37) Maintaining openness and shared goals is crucial for growth

(0:39:55) Talking to customers is essential for product and marketing improvement

(0:41:09) MVP everything to validate ideas and reduce Hail Mary attempts

(0:42:08) Defining MVP, doubling down on what works, having a measurement plan

(0:43:39) Balancing bias and intuition with consumer insights and data

(0:44:42) Using data-driven decision making and testing to drive growth

(0:45:38) Reaching out to customers for feedback, focusing on high-impact areas

(0:47:10) Conclusion and closing remarks