How I Grew This: Real Stories of Digital Growth

In this episode of How I Grew This, Hovhannes Avoyan, Founder and CEO of Picsart, joins Mada Seghete to share how his daughter's negative experience led to the creation of Picsart, the platform's growth and unique features, as well as how to use AI to drive more growth for their app or companies. Hovhannes is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor, having founded several successful startups, includi...

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Jayne Peressini is the Senior Director, Mobile Marketing and Growth @ Electronic Arts (EA). Her team manages user acquisition, retargeting, and user retention across the multiple genres of games that EA produces. Jayne’s interest in gaming dates back to the pre-iPhone era when her Dad purchased her a console on which she became hooked to playing games. Jayne believes that mobile gaming helps peopl...

Our guest on this episode of How I Grew This, Dan Bishop, is currently the Senior Vice President of Global Mobile and Digital Marketing at Citi. Most people that build a career in startups stay in the startup world and most who go to Fortune 500 brands stay in that world. Dan has built a career traversing through both. He got his start seeing innovations that would change the world years later, fi...

Growth and product are a completely different beast when you sell physical products and not software. Despite those challenges, our next guest Ramneek Khurana has grown Lenskart to help India’s vision problem. Ramneek went to Georgia Tech and expected to go to a major consulting firm, but he took some advice that led him into physical products as he started his career at Michelin Tires. Since Mich...

On this episode Archie Abrams, Senior Director of Product Management, shares how he thinks about balancing supply and demand at Lyft, even as markets have been forever changed by COVID-19. Before this, he was the 10th employee at udemy. Over the course of his 7.5 years there he helped to scale Udemy from no revenue to hundreds of millions in revenue and over 600 employees. More on Archie’s story,...

Noa Gutterman is the Director of Marketing at VSCO. Before this VSCO, she spent six years in the digital marketing game in various roles. Noa runs VSCO’s marketing function and in the ten months since joining she has hired four team members, built up the entire lifecycle and product marketing functions and refreshed VSCO’s paid acquisition strategy. Noa shares details of an upcoming influencer mar...

In this episode of How I Grew This, Mauricio Monico, Chief Product Officer at Wish, joins Mada Seghete to delve into Mauricio's career journey, the growth and challenges of Wish, and the role of a product manager in the tech industry. Mauricio is a product leader and entrepreneur with over twenty years in the tech industry. Mauricio's professional journey encompasses a rich spectrum of experiences...

In this episode of How I Grew This, Benjamin Chemla, CEO and Co-founder of Shares, joins Mada Seghete to share practical insights for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, trading, and the startup ecosystem. They dive into the success story of the Shares platform, the differences between the startup ecosystem in Europe and the US, and the importance of attracting a supportive and committed initia...

Erin McFarland is the Managing Director, Marketing Channels Strategy, and Personalization at JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S. She is responsible for the optimization of JPMorgan’s industry-leading digital assets and marketing channels that deliver communication to more than seventy million customers. She has spent the last twenty years creating customer-first marketing strategies for n...

Canva belongs to a small group of products that change how people and brands completely shirt their approach to design. Our guest today, Cameron Adams, is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Canva, he shares how the product was built and how it was able to disrupt the design industry. He shares what he learned from building a product that would get massive adoption after working on Google...

Ian Moore is the Head of Subscription Growth at Verizon Media. Before joining Verizon Media in August 2020, he spent five years at The New York Times, where he was the Growth Media Strategy Director. As the son of a first-generation American, Ian’s educational path pointed towards medicine, but that wasn’t where he found his career passion. An Economics professor turned things around. His professo...

In this episode of How I Grew This, Lee Anne Grant, Chief Growth Officer of Babylist, joins Mada Seghete to discuss the growth and marketing strategy of Babylist, the leading digital destination for growing families. Lee Anne also shares insights on the website's founding, growth, and marketing channels, including their focus on search, social, and affiliates. With an illustrious career spanning m...

In this episode of How I Grew This, Omar Seyal, Head of Product at Cambly, joins Mada Seghete to dive into the realm of product growth, customer retention, SEO, user behavior, and personal growth in the tech industry. Cambly is an English learning marketplace where students can select tens of thousands of tutors to learn and practice English. Before Cambly, Omar was the Head of Core Product at Pin...

In this episode of How I Grew This, Farhad Massoudi, Founder and CEO of Tubi, joins Mada Seghete. They cover the success journey of Tubi, a free streaming service disrupting the industry, and its growth hack strategies involving content, viewership, and advertising. Farhad shares his journey as an entrepreneur and his approach to leveraging the power of AI in media distribution. Tubi is the leadin...

Frank Hulsebosch is the Head of Digital Marketing Europe at Banco Santander. Before this role, he spent two years as a digital marketing manager in the Benelux region of Europe, also at Banco Santander. Frank was responsible for driving for Banco Santander’s Benelux region’s digital transformation, launching a new mobile home banking app, new digital onboarding journeys, and CRO programs to optimi...

In this episode of How I Grew This, Mada Seghete is joined by Daniel Broukhim, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of FabFitFun. They explore the evolution of FabFitFun, including the company's approach to customer acquisition, influencer marketing, the importance of content creation, and the balance between mobile and web experiences. Daniel is a highly skilled Chief Executive Officer, boasting a remarkable tr...

David Rusenko is no stranger to creating world-class products. In 2007 he founded Weebly, a website builder, and watched it grow. Selling to Square in 2018, David now leads the eCommerce team which, as the pandemic surfaced, acted quickly to build new delivery products on their platform that has forever changed the business. More on David’s story including his time management techniques post-acqui...

Ben Weiss has built a career with an attention to detail and quality specifically around the mobile customer journey from offline into digital. As an intern at Walgreens in 2007, he pitched the then CEO about creating a mobile app in the first place. Long story short, they listened. Over the course of the next decade, Ben rose the ranks, starting from the bottom as an intern and exiting at the top...

Carman Wenkoff is the EVP & Chief Information Officer at Dollar General. In this role, Carman has led the company’s digital transformation, implementing technology advancements to enhance the brick-and-mortar retailer’s offerings and elevate the overall customer experience. Throughout Carman’s career—from working in construction to practicing law, founding a tech company and now as the CIO of a ma...

Our next guest Matthew Moore started his career at GE before going back to school for management consulting to grow as a leader. He realized that growth during his time working for the Boston Consulting Group. Matt's journey into driving mobile growth kicked off when he became the first Chief Customer Officer of Yum! Brands where he oversaw Pizza Hut for Europe and UK, and he also launched Pizza H...

In this episode of How I Grew This podcast, Kar Paramasivam talks about the growth strategy at Blue Apron, a direct-to-consumer, chef-designed meal kit company. Starting his career as a banker, Kar shifted his focus to startups, where he got his first opportunity to lead a growth team at Shipt. From this point, Kar made his way through companies like Spacious.com (acquired by WeWork), Nutrafol, an...

In this episode of How I Grew This, Mada Seghete is joined by Kristen Banks, Vice President of Marketing and Digital Products at Ultimate Fighting Championship. They dive into the exciting world of fan-centric entertainment brands and explore the various marketing strategies involved in building a loyal fanbase. Kristen offers valuable insights into how to connect with fans, acquire audiences, and...

Greg Shelly is the VP of Enterprise Digital Marketing at Canadian Tire. Greg is, admittedly, obsessed with attribution and performance, and he cares about organizations needing to understand how their investments are driving customer outcomes. Before joining Canadian Tire, Greg led the business insights and marketing analytics organization at McDonald's and spent eight years at Dell in e-commerce...

The Covid-19 pandemic pushed the healthcare industry to its limits, but it also led to new opportunities in terms of accelerating digital transformation. In this episode, we discuss the growth of digital transformation in healthcare with Tracey Weber, SVP of Digital Products, UX and Operations at CVS Health. Tracey joins us with over twenty-five years of experience in leadership roles across multi...