Guest: Albert Cheng - Growth and Monetization Leader at Chess.com. Albert is recognized as one of the top consumer growth minds, having led growth and monetization at Duolingo, Grammarly, and now Chess.com. Earlier, he worked on streaming and gaming features at YouTube. Key Takeaways: Explore and Exploit Framework: Use exploration to identify potential growth opportunities and exploitation to maximize those opportunities. Balance is key to avoid stagnation or scattershot efforts. Freemium Model Insights: For consumer subscription products, retention is crucial. Offering a taste of premium features can significantly boost conversion rates, as seen with Grammarly's strategy. AI in Growth: AI can streamline experimentation processes, like using text-to-SQL capabilities for quick data insights, and enhance product features, such as Chess.com's use of AI for game analysis. Experimentation Culture: Transitioning to a culture of experimentation can drive significant growth. Chess.com aims to run 1,000 experiments a year, highlighting the importance of learning from both successes and failures. Hiring High-Agency Individuals: Focus on hiring individuals with high energy, adaptability, and quick learning capabilities, as they thrive in fast-changing environments. Topics Covered: Explore and exploit framework, consumer subscription growth, AI in product and growth, experimentation best practices, hiring high-agency individuals, differences in company operations, motivation and habit formation.
“User retention is gold for consumer subscription companies.”
“Sometimes experience could be a crutch, especially in this world where the grounds are shifting so fast with AI.”
“The way of learning is through those mistakes.”
