Sri Batchu

Guest: Sri Batchu - Head of Growth at Ramp. Sri has held significant roles at Opendoor and Instacart, contributing to their growth, and now leads growth at Ramp, one of the fastest-growing SaaS and FinTech companies. Key Takeaways: Growth Strategy Sequence: Start with founder-led sales, hire initial salespeople, engage in low-cost marketing (content, community), and PR. Only later, invest in paid marketing and SEO. North Star Metrics: Use a simple, intuitive metric that aligns with business value and is directly impactable by the team. Examples include monthly active orders (Instacart) and sales qualified lead pipeline (Ramp). Fail Conclusively: Design experiments to maximize treatment effect, ensuring that if they fail, they do so conclusively, preventing repeated efforts on the same hypothesis. Velocity Culture: Emphasize reducing cycle time and bias to action. Use tools like Airtable for sprint planning and Mutiny for personalized web experiences. Hiring Strategy: Identify top companies for specific roles and target their best talent. Pay top performers significantly more to retain and attract high-impact individuals. Topics Covered: Growth strategies, north star metrics, experimentation, velocity in company culture, hiring practices, payback period vs. CAC, tools for growth teams.