Matt Lerner is the Founder and CEO at SYSTM, a startup coaching consultancy that helps high-potential companies grow their business. Matt also authored the book “Growth Levers”, which shares his framework that's helped over 200 seed-stage startups grow as much as 100x. Previously, Matt was on the early growth team at PayPal, a partner at 500 Startups, and a guest lecturer at Stanford Business School.
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In today’s episode, we discuss:
- Understanding the key drivers of startup success
- Applying the Growth Lever framework
- Several case studies
- Customer-centric growth tactics
- Adapting growth levers for different business models
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Referenced:
- Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/
- Bold Commerce: https://boldcommerce.com/
- Calm: https://www.calm.com/
- Caribou: https://www.usecaribou.com/
- eBay: https://www.ebay.com/
- FATMAP: https://fatmap.com/
- Growth Levers and How to Find Them: https://www.systm.co/growth-levers-matt-lerner-book
- PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/
- Peter Karpas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkarpas/
- Popsa: https://popsa.com/
- Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/
- Sonic Jobs: https://www.sonicjobs.com/
- SYSTM: https://www.systm.co/
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Where to find Matt Lerner:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewlerner/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/matthlerner
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Where to find Brett Berson:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson
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Where to find First Round Capital:
- Website: https://firstround.com/
- First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/firstround
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FirstRoundCapital
- This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(03:11) The hidden truth about startup success
(05:10) Popsa's journey: A case study in growth
(07:31) Breaking down the growth lever framework
(11:30) Understanding the customer's journey
(14:14) The art of customer interviews
(18:07) Unlocking growth through customer insights
(24:23) The triple threat: Founder failure modes
(27:32) The power of founder-led growth strategies
(32:42) Unlocking growth bottlenecks
(36:40) Timing and implementation of growth strategies
(39:43) Founder red flags
(41:32) Crafting effective growth experiments
(43:14) Why customer mindset is the ultimate growth driver
(46:19) The power law of business
(48:59) Why startups don’t need paid marketing
(50:47) Growth levers for sales-driven companies
(53:43) Matt's own application of growth principles
(55:39) Growth levers in B2B sales
(57:05) Finding customer "locksmith moments"
(64:08) The mentor who shaped Matt's thinking
