Hila Qu: The Ultimate Guide to Product Growth at Your Startup | 20VC #967

Hila Qu is one of the leading growth execs of the last decade. Hila helped scale Acorns from 1 million to 5 million users as their VP of growth. Hila then joined GitLab, where she launched their PLG motion (on top of an established sales motion), and built their first-ever growth team. Today Hila is an advisor to amazing companies like Replit and funds like Mucker Capital, Openview and First Round Capital. --------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:59 How did you make your way into the world of growth? 2:25 What tactics worked for growth at Acorn 4:02 How to Optimize Facebook Ads 7:21 Advice on Channel Diversification 12:29 How do you define growth? 14:30 B2B vs B2C Growth Teams 18:05 When to make your first growth hire? 20:09 What Growth Profile to Hire 23:58 When To Hire an Agency 26:05 When To Bring In a Growth Advisor 30:15 How do you structure the hiring process for growth 34:52 Take Home Assignment for Potential Growth Hires 38:35 The First 90 Days 42:50 What Data Should Founders Prepare 46:20 How To Pick The Right Growth Metric 50:03 Activation and Conversion Rates 51:11 What’s a funnel and what’s a loop? 55:15 Systems of Record 57:04 Most Suprising Result 58:35 What tactics have and haven’t changed in growth? 59:10 How do best practices in China and U.S. differ? 60:17 Why do growth teams fail? --------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Hila Qu We Discuss: 1.) From Biology and Explosions to Growth: How Hila made her way into the world of growth with growthhackers.com? What are 1-2 of the biggest takeaways from her time with Acorns and Gitlab? How do B2B growth orgs compare to B2C growth orgs? What is different? What is the same? 2.) WTF is Growth? When? How & Why: How does Hila define growth today? What is it not? When is the right time for early-stage founders to hire their first growth hire? Why does Hila always look for data analysts in this first growth hire? From a data standpoint, what should founders have ready and accessible for their first growth hire to have access to and learn from? Is Google Analytics enough? 3.) Hiring Your First Growth Hire: How should early-stage founders structure the hiring process for the first growth hire? What do the best growth job descriptions include? What do they not include? Once applications are in, how does Hila advise founders screen for the best candidates? How should founders structure the interview process post-screening? What are the must-ask questions? Who is involved in the interview process? What are some red flags? 4.) The Master of Onboarding: What should new growth hires want to achieve in the first week? What should they want to complete in the first month? In the first quarter, what do the best candidates have completed? What can founders do to set their growth hires up for success in the best way at this time? 5.) Growth Models, North Stars, Activation and Onboarding and Key KPIs: What really is a growth model? How do founders and growth teams create one? How does Hila advise founders on how to pick the right North Star Metric to focus on? Why are activation and conversion Hila’s two favorite growth metrics? What are growth loops? What are growth funnels? How do they work together? --------------------------------------- Subscribe to the Podcast: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/hila-qu/ Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Hila Qu on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HilaQu Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok --------------------------------------- #HilaQu #HarryStebbings #20VC #productgrowth #startupgrowth

Hila QuguestHarry Stebbingshost

Jan 17, 20231h 2mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

From Experiments To Engines: Building Startup Growth Teams That Scale

Hila Qu, former VP of Growth at Acorns and Head of Growth at GitLab, breaks down how founders should think about growth as both a business outcome and a scientific discipline driven by data and experimentation.
She explains how Acorns layered channels, built a full-funnel growth org, and systematically optimized paid acquisition (especially Facebook) through rapid creative testing and tight cross-functional collaboration.
The conversation then focuses on when and how to hire the first growth person, how to structure their first 90 days, the role and compensation of agencies and advisors, and the data infrastructure needed for product-led growth.
Qu also clarifies concepts like funnels vs. loops, B2B vs. B2C growth orgs, and stresses culture and data as the main reasons growth teams succeed or fail.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Start with a product people truly love, then layer growth channels.

Acorns’ early growth came from a beloved Roundups feature and word-of-mouth; only after that did they systematically add Facebook ads, referrals, more paid channels, and new product lines to increase LTV and support higher CAC.

Treat growth as a scientific discipline powered by data and experiments.

Growth is not just ‘more users’ but a process: form hypotheses, run A/B tests, analyze results, and iterate across acquisition, activation, revenue, and retention using robust analytics and attribution tools.

Build cross-functional, full-funnel growth teams for compounding impact.

At Acorns, marketers, growth PMs, designers, engineers, and analysts sat together and owned the entire funnel—from acquisition to retention—which unlocked more ideas, faster iteration, and bigger wins.

Hire a mid-level, analytical growth generalist as your first growth hire.

For early-stage startups, Qu recommends an experienced growth PM or marketer (often ex-analyst) who’s scrappy, data-fluent, eager to learn channels/product, and can grow into Head of Growth—rather than a VP or a junior.

Set up modern data infrastructure early, especially for product-led growth.

Founders should move beyond basic Google Analytics to tools like Amplitude or Mixpanel, solid tracking plans, and channel attribution (e.g., Adjust, Singular), plus connect product usage with revenue data, especially in B2B.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Growth is both a result and a discipline.

— Hila Qu

Product-led growth is fundamentally data-led growth.

— Hila Qu

Wins change people's perception. You can get more resources, everything else becomes easier.

— Hila Qu

Just putting four things into a circle doesn’t make it a loop.

— Hila Qu

The biggest reason growth teams fail is culture.

— Hila Qu

Hila Qu’s path into growth and lessons from Acorns and GitLabChannel strategy: testing, scaling, and diversifying paid and non-paid acquisitionDefining growth, product-led growth, and differences between B2B and B2C orgsWhen and how to hire the first growth person (profile, process, red flags)Role, timing, and compensation of growth agencies and advisorsDesigning the first 90 days for a new growth leaderGrowth models, funnels vs. loops, and building a data foundation for experimentation

High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.