Mike Duboe: Top 5 Lessons Scaling Stitch Fix to IPO; Why CAC/LTV is a BS Metric | 20VC #978

Mike Duboe is a Partner @ Greylock where he sits on the board of Builder, Inventa, Novi, Pepper, Postscript. Prior to entering the world of venture, Mike was the first in-house growth hire at Stitch Fix, where he built and led the Growth organization helping take the company through to their IPO. Before Stitchfix, Mike was the first growth hire at Tilt, where he built and oversaw multiple teams, including analytics, marketing, community, and growth product. He also served on YC’s growth advisory council and was a growth lecturer at Reforge. -------------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 0:53 Who is Mike Duboe? 4:58 Lessons from Stitch Fix 7:31 What is the Head of Growth’s role? 9:48 Where does Growth fit on the org chart? 13:10 When to Make Your First Growth Hire 14:54 What is “Analytics Debt”? 16:41 Which company does analytics the best? 18:21 How to Find Your North Star Metric 19:28 20VC’s Growth Loop 21:09 Hiring for Growth 32:17 Lessons from Keith Rabois 33:52 How Much Should You Pay a Growth Hire? 35:36 Loops vs Funnels 42:11 How to Codify Lessons Learned 45:15 Paid Marketing Tips 55:31 Why CAC to LTV is a Flawed Concept 58:26 Quick-fire Round -------------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Mike Duboe We Discuss: 1.) Entry into the World of Growth: How Mike made his way from consulting at Bain to leading the growth team for Stitch Fix? What did Mike believe about growth 5 years ago that he no longer believes? What does Mike know now that he wishes he had known when he entered the world of growth? 2.) When and Who To Hire: How does Mike define the term “growth team”? What is their core role and responsibility? Should the first growth hire be a senior growth lead or a more junior analytical lead? What data foundations should founders have in place prior to their growth hire joining? What are the most common ways founders fail to prepare for their first growth hires joining? When does Mike believe is the right and crucial time for growth hires to be made? Should these growth hires join existing teams or be put in standalone “growth teams”?\ 3.) The Hiring Process: How to Detect and Win the Best: How should founders structure the interview process for their first growth hires? What are the best questions to ask to reveal the quality of a potential growth hire? What are the right case studies and tests to do to ascertain their quality? What are the different levels of comp package for different growth execs? What are the single biggest mistakes founders make in the hiring process? 4.) Mastering Paid Marketing: Lessons from Stitch Fix: Why is CAC/LTV a BS metric? What should be used instead? When is the right time to start really engaging with paid marketing? How should marketing and growth teams determine budget on a per channel basis? How much is the right mix between paid vs organic? What are Mike’s biggest lessons from making paid work so well at Stitch Fix? What are the single biggest mistakes Mike sees founders make today with paid marketing? -------------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Mike Duboe on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mduboe Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com ----------------------------------------- #MikeDuboe #GreylockPartners #StichFix #harrystebbings #20vc #growthmarketing #venturecapital