Ryan Wiggins is the VP of Growth and Analytics at Mercury where he oversees a Growth team and founded the Analytics function. Prior to this, Ryan built Growth teams at WhatsApp, where he helped grow WhatsApp Business from 0->100M users, Workplace, and Facebook Ads. If that was not enough, Ryan is also an active angel investor.
In Today's Episode with Ryan Wiggins We Discuss:
1.) From US Department of Commerce to Leading Growth Teams:
- How Ryan made his initial foray into the world of growth with Facebook and Whatsapp?
- What does Ryan know now that he wishes he had known when he made the entry into growth?
- What advice does Ryan have for people who want to change their career but are not sure what they want to do?
2. ) Who and When: Building the Team:
- Should we hire a Head of Growth or a more junior growth hire first?
- What are the different profiles of growth hires? How do they change with business model?
- When is the right time to hire your first growth hire?
- What are the single biggest mistakes founders make on the timing of growth hires?
3.) How to Hire: The Process:
- Structurally, what is the right way to hire for a growth team? What does the interview process look like? What do you want to get out of each meeting?
- Should case studies be used, if so, should they be used for the company hiring or of the company where the candidate is from?
- What does the comp package look like for different growth hires?
- Who should be brought into the growth hiring process? What stage should they be involved?
4.) Onboarding: Setting Growth Up for Success:
- What is the ideal first 30,60 and 90 days for new growth hires?
- What can leaders do to ensure they are set up for the maximum chance of success?
- What are three of the biggest red flags bad growth hires show in the first 30 days?
- What are the biggest mistakes founders make in the onboarding process of growth hires?