What does Growth Org at Scale Look like?

Simplifying Growth at Scale

I woke up this morning with a mission. 🦸

It happens to me once in a while.

Most times, those “doomed from day 1“ missions are about promising myself to stop snacking after 10:00 p.m., capping my wine to a single glass, or other BS.

But this time, it was different.

It was a nerd-first 🤓 mission to ‘Visualize the complexity of Growth org at scale.

Why? (there is a reason!)

So whenever anyone says:

“We also do growth!”

“Growth is the SEO or the Social Marketing team.”

“Growth is a Conversion Optimization team.”

“Growth is the Experiments team (real quote!)”

I won’t need to argue but calmly pull this write-up. 🧘

So, my mission is actually not about you (my dear readers).

But about me.

I want to simplify my life. 😉

Here it goes!

You can break down the Growth org into three Tiers and each tier into three types of teams.

Each team within those tiers contributes to building the Distribution System for your product ( = Generating and Capturing Demand)

A ton of value is coming your way!

🔵 Tier 1: Growth PLG teams

It’s the heart of the PLG motion.

This is where you start when kicking off Growth.

1. Product Acquisition Teams

Acquiring users through product channels. Think Virality, Content (UGC), etc. Anything you can do to generate demand using the Product.

2. Product Retention Teams

Activating and Engaging users. Activation is the key Retention driver, so the main focus is on Activation. Think of both user-level Activation and team-level Activation (if you are a B2B startup). 

3. Product Monetization Teams

It is all about converting Free to Paid and expanding those accounts (Capturing the demand and getting this Self Serve ARR and NDR going)

🟡 Tier 2: Growth Scale teams

Growth Scale teams (layering on top of Tier 1).

4. Persona Focus Teams

Experimenting with strategic sub-segments of growth drivers. Not the entire ICP. The entire ICP is what all the rest of the growth teams focus on!

5. Channel Focus Teams

Experimenting with scaling both Performance Marketing acquisition channels (SEO, Paid, etc.), pre-products acquisition channels, and more horizontal plays that are not necessarily pure acquisition plays but can also impact your retention and monetization. Think community-led channels.

6. Motion Focus Teams

A big one! Layering new Growth motions on top of PLG. Think Marketing-Led Growth (i.e., LifeCycle) and Product-Led Sales (the PLS teams 90% of B2B startups are buzzing about in this year’s annual planning).

🟢 Work with me!

There are three ways we can work together. Check those out. 😉

🔴 Tier 3: Growth Enablers teams

Growth Enablers teams (enabling Tier 1 & Tier 2 bets)

7. Technology Enabler Teams

Building the infrastructure to support Growth teams’ fast “hypothesis - experiment - learning” loops. Both horizontal (i.e., experimentation, segmentation, etc.) and vertical (i.e., payments). For example, if you can’t set multiple experiments running simultaneously or segment those users who reached ‘AHA!’ but didn’t reach habit! You are in trouble.

8. Content Enabler Teams

Enabling those big bets that rely heavily on content generation, moderation (and even localization) at scale. Think Company or Community generated content at scale.

9. Operation Enabler Teams

Not your traditional team! It’s about removing Growth teams’ operation friction, upholding high operation standards, and running professional growth programs. Growth org can benefit significantly from the operations love touch, especially when the org is at scale.

It’s all from my end.

And this time, I will stop snacking post 10:00 p.m 😆

Eugene Segal