Intro

We’ve interviewed dozens of growth candidates and advised hundreds of startups on hiring.

Lousy growth hires slow companies for months and waste millions — yes, millions — of dollars. But good growth hires help you scalably find customers, raise fundraising rounds, and teach you about your users at a deep level.

One startup came to us after wasting more than $300k on two growth hires and an agency that didn’t work out. They had to lay off 80% of their employees and almost ran out of cash.

We know many others with a similar story. We want to help you avoid their mistakes.

So we wrote this guide.

It’s meant for pre-seed, seed, and Series A startups making their first growth hire. The playbook is a bit different if you’re Series B or later.

We’ll start with a high-level overview of what to look for, and then we’ll get into the nitty-gritty of each step of sourcing.

What does a bad growth hire look like?

To an inexperienced founder, good and bad growth hires can look equally compelling. The red flags aren’t always obvious, and their sales pitches can be misleading.

Below are some traits we’ve learned to avoid. Click the arrows to see why.

🐴 “The one trick pony” who claims the playbook from their previous company will work for you.
💡 "The ideator” who can’t (or won’t) tactically run experiments.
🩺 "The spin doctor” who ****grows mid-funnel metrics (leads, product page views, waitlist signups) but not bottom-funnel ones that matter (SQLs, customers, referrals).
💸 “The mercenary” who just wants money or a fancy title. They aren’t passionate about your product or customer.

What does a good growth hire look like?

A good growth hire is passionate about your company. A great growth hire is obsessed and curious.

They want to spread your mission even if they don’t get the job. They can’t help but learn things in their free time. They already use your product — or at least think a lot about your users.

Most founders overweigh technical skills and underweigh obsession. We understand why: they can get away with it for other technical roles like engineering and finance. But when it comes to growth, obsession matters.