Ryan Wiggins: Scaling WhatsApp from 0-100M; How to Build a Growth Team; Mercury Neobank | E1016

Ryan shares his unconventional journey from Facebook's customer support to a growth leader at Mercury, emphasizing the importance of curiosity and adaptability in career growth. He discusses WhatsApp's unique growth strategy, which thrived without A/B testing, focusing instead on product-market fit and strategic partnerships. Ryan highlights the significance of understanding the full customer journey, prioritizing retention and conversion over mere acquisition. He advises on building lean growth teams and stresses the need for a growth leader to architect a scalable system. Ryan also underscores the value of scrappiness and customer empathy in hiring effective growth talent.

• Ryan began his career in a customer support role at Facebook, where he discovered his interest in growth through a SQL class.
• His work in customer support inadvertently led to growth strategies, connecting him with Facebook's growth marketing team.
• Ryan spent six years at Facebook, working on various products including Facebook ads, Workplace, and WhatsApp.
• His desire to explore early-stage problems led him to Mercury, a banking service for startups, where he now helps scale the product and build a world-class analytics team.

"I started my career in a customer support role at Facebook right out of college... I took that class and it basically changed my life."

• Ryan's career path was shaped by his initial role in customer support and a pivotal SQL class, leading him to growth strategies.

"We've scaled to over a hundred thousand startups... and I've had the opportunity to help build a world-class analytics team."

• At Mercury, Ryan has contributed to significant growth and the development of a strong analytics team.

• Ryan's career trajectory did not follow the typical path associated with prestigious educational backgrounds or tech giants.
• He believes in pursuing personal curiosities and using them to add value to one's team.
• Ryan advises identifying skill gaps and seeking opportunities to address them for career growth.

"You have to pursue things that you're really curious about and you have to use those head of Curiosities as a way to add value to the team you're on."

• Pursuing personal interests and leveraging them to contribute to one's team is crucial for career development.

"You should try to pick a role in a person you want to be and try to understand your skill got to that role."

• Identifying and addressing skill gaps is essential for personal and professional growth.

• Ryan's time at WhatsApp highlighted the importance of a simple, reliable product and strategic partnerships.
• WhatsApp's growth was fueled by its alignment with market needs, simplicity, and carrier partnerships.
• Understanding customer needs and executing growth strategies effectively are key lessons Ryan learned.

"WhatsApp was very different than everything I had learned at Facebook... it had a billion and a half users and it really only had about one product manager."

• WhatsApp's growth strategy differed from Facebook's data-driven approach, focusing instead on product simplicity and strategic partnerships.

"First, it was the right product for the right Market... second thing is that what that built a product that was really simple and it was reliable."

• WhatsApp's success was due to its market fit, simplicity, and reliability.

• WhatsApp faced challenges in markets like the United States due to competition and existing communication infrastructures.
• Market dynamics, such as SMS costs and competitor presence, influenced WhatsApp's growth in different regions.

"When you look at the Dynamics in the United States... SMS was very cheap early on and included in a lot of plans."

• Competitive market dynamics in the U.S. posed challenges for WhatsApp's growth.

"India coming online and reaching I think around 600 million smartphones... has been just a huge Boon to WhatsApp's growth."

• India's market was a significant contributor to WhatsApp's growth due to the increasing number of smartphone users.

• Growth requires a combination of product experience, marketing, partnerships, and sales.
• A comprehensive understanding of the customer journey and identifying key levers are crucial for growth.
• Sequencing in growth strategies is vital to address underlying issues before scaling acquisition efforts.

"When you kind of have that core product then you have the three rocket boosters of product you know growth product, marketing, and sales and Partnerships."

• Successful growth involves integrating product experience with marketing and sales strategies.

"I found that when someone is asking me about trying to grow something they want acquisition but what they actually have is conversion and retention problem."

• Addressing conversion and retention issues is essential before focusing on acquisition for effective growth.

• Growth leaders often focus on acquisition without addressing foundational product experience issues.
• Identifying the core driver of results is more effective than attempting numerous growth hacks.
• Understanding the full customer journey and addressing key drop-off points can lead to significant growth improvements.

"Far too many growth leaders jump to Notifications upsells or things like that... you have to try to find the right thing."

• Growth strategies should prioritize identifying and addressing the main drivers of success rather than relying on numerous tactics.

"When you sign up for WhatsApp and you have no one to talk to on WhatsApp you don't use WhatsApp."

• Ensuring users have a meaningful experience and addressing key utility issues is crucial for retention and growth.

• The most effective growth strategies focus on enhancing the core product experience rather than merely adding features like notifications or upsells.
• Identifying and solving the user's core problem through the product experience is crucial for growth.
• The success of a product often hinges on the right feature or action at the right time and place.

"To me, it's really about thinking about what is the right thing at the right place at the right time for someone, and that kind of is the most important thing about growth."

• The quote emphasizes the importance of context and timing in driving product growth, suggesting that understanding the user's needs and context is crucial for successful growth strategies.

• Determining what constitutes a successful user is a challenging task that many businesses struggle to define accurately.
• Various metrics can be used to measure user success, such as the number of messages sent, app return rate, or the number of contacts using the app.
• Analyzing retention curves and correlating them with user actions helps in identifying key factors that contribute to user success.

"One of the most common analyzes I do when I kind of start on a growth problem is think about what is the retention curve."

• The quote highlights the importance of retention analysis in understanding user success and guiding growth strategies by correlating it with user actions.

• Speed is a critical differentiator for growth teams compared to core product teams, emphasizing quick hypothesis validation and impactful results.
• Growth teams should operate in an explore and exploit mode, iterating quickly and doubling down on successful strategies.
• Aiming for significant impact rather than small incremental gains is essential for early-stage companies.

"Speed is one of actually the most important parts of a growth team and I think it's something that differentiates a growth team from just a core product team."

• This quote underscores the importance of speed and agility in growth teams, suggesting that quick iterations and impactful results are key to successful growth.

• The science of experimentation involves measuring the impact of experiments and determining the necessary sample size.
• Input metrics (e.g., user actions) are often more immediately measurable than output metrics (e.g., user retention), and improvements in input metrics can indicate potential success.
• Understanding the difference between input and output metrics helps in assessing the effectiveness of growth experiments.

"There's actually a science to this which is that, you know, when you run an experiment, you can measure the measurable impact of an experiment in the sample size you need to be able to affect that experiment."

• This quote explains the scientific approach to experimentation, emphasizing the importance of understanding sample size and measurable impact in growth experiments.

• A growth team should be considered once the product has achieved core product-market fit and at least one user acquisition channel is consistently working.
• Growth should be fundamental to the product experience, and a growth team should not be expected to create growth from nothing.
• Founders should differentiate between hiring for growth and hiring for marketing.

"You can't bring in a growth team to create growth out of nothing. It has to be about doubling down on what's working and scaling out to new channels."

• The quote stresses that growth teams should build on existing success rather than being expected to generate growth from scratch, highlighting the need for a solid foundation before scaling.

• Early growth roles may involve setting up infrastructure for measurement and conversion tracking before hiring a growth leader.
• A versatile growth leader should be brought in early to architect the growth system and maximize existing success.
• Initial growth hires should focus on understanding the customer journey, analyzing user sources, and identifying key actions for user activation.

"You want that person to basically architect the system of growth that you're building for your company."

• This quote emphasizes the importance of hiring a growth leader who can design and implement a strategic growth framework tailored to the company's needs.

• Smaller teams can facilitate faster execution and tighter communication, aligning with the principle of Metcalfe’s Law.
• Keeping teams lean helps prioritize essential tasks and maintain focus on quick iteration and execution.
• Scaling should occur only once a small team has demonstrated success with the growth strategy.

"The thing that I look for is, is there one to four people that can get something done and trying to keep things as small as possible to iterate as quick as possible."

• The quote highlights the advantages of small teams in maintaining agility and focus, advocating for lean team structures to enhance execution speed.

• Founders should look for repeatable growth processes that do not rely heavily on founder-led initiatives.
• Pulling back on certain activities (e.g., ad campaigns) can test the organic growth potential of a product.
• A product showing signs of organic adoption across multiple channels indicates successful growth.

"If you stop kind of that activity, if you kind of like back off...and if it totally goes to zero, you actually don't have something that's working."

• The quote advises using the cessation of certain growth activities as a test to determine if organic growth is taking place, indicating true market demand.

• Discusses the importance of focusing on maximizing the effectiveness of channels that are already working before shifting resources to new opportunities.
• Emphasizes the need for constant evaluation to determine when a channel is reaching diminishing returns and when opportunity costs suggest shifting focus.

"When you have something working, the first priority is to make that thing work as well as it can."

• Highlights the importance of optimizing current successful strategies before exploring new ones.

"You start to face this question of when should you stop working on a lever or when is there bigger upside elsewhere."

• Discusses the challenge of knowing when to continue investing in a current strategy versus seeking new opportunities.

• Highlights the need to hire individuals with non-obvious and underappreciated talents, particularly in startup environments.
• Looks for candidates who are change agents, capable of making significant impacts from challenging positions.

"The people that stood out... are the people that you want to be looking for as kind of untapped talent that is not yet being reached."

• Identifies the type of talent that can drive change and innovation within a company.

"I look for someone that has been making some changes and been able to kind of affect that change."

• Emphasizes the value of candidates who have demonstrated the ability to drive change and impact.

• Growth is characterized as a system of optimization aimed at understanding and improving a system for positive outcomes.
• A candidate for a growth role does not necessarily need prior growth experience but must demonstrate the ability to optimize systems.

"Growth is a system of optimization and being able to understand a problem in a system and change that system towards positive outcomes."

• Provides a definition of growth that focuses on systemic optimization and problem-solving.

"I do need to see that kind of like ability to understand the system, make changes, and then that change have like an impact."

• Stresses the importance of understanding and impacting systems for successful growth.

• The hiring process should evaluate candidates on their ability to deliver impact, understand customer behavior, and demonstrate product sense.
• The process can include various interview formats, such as behavioral interviews and case studies.

"The fundamental things you're looking for are really three things: getting things done, understanding customer behavior, and product sense."

• Outlines the key attributes necessary for a successful growth candidate.

"You can figure out the right structure for your company... but deciding on what are the kind of core attributes that you really need for the job."

• Encourages tailoring the interview process to the specific needs of the company while focusing on core attributes.

• Case studies should not focus solely on current company problems to avoid candidates feeling like they're doing free work.
• They should be general enough to evaluate the candidate's problem-solving and strategic thinking skills.

"It's really important not to just do case studies about the problems you have in front of you."

• Advises against using company-specific problems in case studies to ensure fairness and objectivity.

"Case studies are critical, but I try to think about like can it be about the more general problem."

• Suggests using case studies to evaluate broader problem-solving abilities rather than specific company issues.

• The hiring decision should involve the leadership team and cross-functional partners to ensure comprehensive evaluation.
• It's essential to assess how well the candidate can work with future peers and reports.

"The leadership team should be kind of core to it and the people that are going to make decisions about the future of the company."

• Emphasizes the importance of involving key decision-makers in the hiring process.

"You need to get some report signal as well in management skills."

• Highlights the need to evaluate management skills and peer interactions during the hiring process.

• Compensation should include a balance of salary and equity, giving the candidate a stake in the company's success.
• Equity should be significant enough to ensure the candidate is invested in the company's growth.

"You really want skin in the game so that the growth person has, you know, equity upside in the problem."

• Stresses the importance of providing equity to align the candidate's interests with the company's success.

"You do have to think about that balance of reasonable cash, sizable equity, and then trying to find that is important."

• Discusses the need to balance cash compensation with equity to attract and retain talent.

• The first month should focus on building relationships and understanding the product and processes.
• By the third month, the new hire should be forming opinions and making impactful changes.

"Month one is about getting to know the people, the product, and the kind of processes."

• Describes the initial focus of onboarding as relationship and context-building.

"By month three, what I expect is someone to be starting to form opinions and starting to make changes."

• Sets expectations for the new hire to begin contributing meaningfully within three months.

• Red flags include a focus on personal success over team success, lack of sustainable thinking, and chasing quick wins.
• Sustainable systems thinking and team adaptation are critical for long-term success.

"You really want to see someone that is adopting and adapting to the company that you're working on."

• Highlights the importance of team integration and alignment with company goals.

"If someone's just coming in and you're launching a new notification in their first month, they're probably looking for the quick wins."

• Warns against candidates who prioritize short-term achievements over sustainable growth strategies.

• Discusses the importance of sustainable growth strategies that lead to long-term success rather than short-term, potentially annoying tactics.
• Emphasizes the need for repeatable patterns in growth that do not alienate customers.

"Things that are actually going to lead to long-term success and so you know what's the sustainability of what they're doing and will it be something that is a repeatable pattern or is it kind of behaviors that are kind of quick wins that uh you know maybe annoying to customers."

• Highlights the importance of feedback cycles with leadership and peers to ensure growth strategies are on the right track.

"The thing that you want to do is have a really good feedback cycle with the leadership and cross-functional peers."

• Leaders must be open to feedback and willing to adapt strategies based on input from others.
• Failure to incorporate feedback is a significant red flag and can indicate potential issues in leadership effectiveness.

"Ignoring feedback... is a huge red flag to me and something that we've got to act on super quick because being a leader means that you take feedback."

• Stresses the importance of acting quickly if a growth hire is not working out, typically within three to six months.

"In most cases, you can understand three to six months if someone is working out or not."

• Reflects on hiring mistakes, particularly around ignoring red flags such as arrogance during interviews.
• Stresses the importance of hiring individuals who can drive incremental differences in new scenarios.

"People show you who they are in the interviews and the things that you see that are red flag early on tend to be problems that kind of grow over time."

• Warns against hiring based solely on past success in different environments without assessing adaptability.

"Did we hire someone because the system around them at their previous company made it so they were successful or were they uniquely successful?"

• Questions the value of traditional post-mortems for growth changes, advocating for a more continuous evaluation process.
• Suggests that constant evaluation and adaptation are more beneficial than in-depth analyses of individual failures.

"I don't really believe much in doing postmortems for growth changes... it's constantly about that evaluation of what should we change and where should we go forward."

• Encourages focusing on learning themes from multiple changes rather than fixating on individual project failures.

"You have to be able to make a lot of changes and see what the themes of those are, evaluate what happened, and then figure out where you go from there."

• Discusses the implementation of a product demo at Mercury that was initially a hypothesis-driven experiment without data backing.
• Highlights the success of this approach in driving growth and attracting both customers and employees.

"We built a product demo where we just remove all the friction... and it turned out to be hugely successful."

• Illustrates the importance of experimenting with innovative ideas and learning from outcomes.

"It was really just a hypothesis that people want to see a product before they sign up for it."

• Shares insights from building an A/B testing framework at WhatsApp to assess negative impacts of new business features.
• Emphasizes the importance of understanding potential downsides of new features at scale.

"We built an A/B testing system to understand the negative impacts of some of the features we were introducing."

• Highlights the need for privacy-safe experimentation frameworks in large-scale applications.

"We worked with some great engineers to build it in a privacy-safe way."

• Details a successful growth strategy for WhatsApp in France, focusing on product marketing, partnerships, and consumer engagement.
• Highlights the need for tailored growth strategies in competitive markets.

"We basically took that Playbook of finding the product marketing and partnerships that we could build to go accelerate our growth."

• Stresses the importance of choosing the right markets and applying a classic growth playbook to achieve success.

"It was kind of one of the best successes we saw in growing the WhatsApp consumer app."

• Identifies tactics that remain effective over time, such as connecting users with key product actions.
• Warns against overused tactics like email and push notifications that lead to channel blindness.

"Building an experience that connects users with key actions that are going to make it so they stick around your product is something that hasn't changed."

• Encourages sustained investment in growth systems rather than expecting immediate, singular successes.

"A growth team has to be a system and a sustained investment."

• Advocates for more direct customer interactions to inform growth strategies.
• Predicts that sustainable product experiences will be crucial as ad platforms become more expensive.

"People need to talk to more customers... and ask them what the problems they experience are."

• Foresees a shift towards richer content formats and sustainable product experiences for growth.

"It's always going to be more expensive to run ads, but if you can think about what are the sustainable kind of product experiences, that's really where you'll find a lot of growth value."

• Praises Substack for its targeted customer focus and value creation through network effects.
• Highlights Substack's alignment of incentives with core customers as a key to its success.

"Substack is a product that has built an incredible platform for a very targeted customer subset and provided a ton of value with them."

• Notes the importance of aligning incentives and leveraging network effects for growth.

"They're aligning their incentives behind their core customer, and when you see that happen, the world is their oyster."