20Growth: Biggest Growth Lessons from Reddit and Zynga on Scaling to Millions of Users | Why, When and How To Hire Your First Growth Hires | The Biggest Mistakes Founders Make In Hiring, Onboarding and Integration for Growth Teams with Vaibhav Sahgal, VP Consumer Product @ Reddit

Vaibhav Sahgal is VP of Consumer Product @ Reddit where he has been for close to 5 years. Prior to his leading consumer product, Vaibhav spent 3 years as Head of Growth at Reddit. Before Reddit, Vaibhav spent an incredible 8 years at Zynga across different roles including Director of Product and GM for “Words with Friends”.

In Today’s Episode with Vaibhav Sahgal We Discuss:

1.) Entry into Product + Growth:

• How did Vaibhav come to lead some of the best growth orgs in the world at both Reddit and Zynga?

• What are 1-2 of Vaibhav’s biggest takeaways from working with Mark Pincus @ Zynga?

• What is the most painful growth lesson that Vaibhav learned that he is also pleased to have learned?

2.) WTF Really is “Growth”:

• How does Vaibhav define growth today? What is it not?

• How does Vaibhav fundamentally differentiate between value connection and value creation?

• Is growth an art or a science? What tactics have died a death? What remain stronger than ever?

3.) Hiring Your Growth Team:

• How does Vaibhav advise founders on when is the right time to hire your first growth professionals?

• Where should they sit within the org? In product? In marketing? Standalone growth team?

• What are the biggest mistakes Vaibhav sees founders make when hiring their first growth hires?

4.) The Interview Process:

• How does Vaibhav structure the interview process for all new growth hires? What are the steps?

• What are the must-ask questions when hiring for growth? What are good answers?

• How can founders use case studies and data to determine the quality of a growth candidate?

5.) The Onboarding and Integration:

• What is the optimal onboarding process for all new growth hires?

• What are signs in the first 3 days that a growth hire will vs will not work out?

• What can leaders do to ensure growth hires are integrated with the rest of the teams?

• What are the biggest mistakes founders make when onboarding growth hires?

Items Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Vaibhav’s Favourite Book: Andrew Chen: The Cold Start Problem