Is effective growth work fundamentally art (creative) or science (analytical/data-driven)?

Adam Grenier · Mar 15, 2023

Growth is a mix of art and science: the art is user psychology and connecting with customers at peak perceived value, and the science is the data, machines and systems that make it repeatable

The core of growth is understanding customers and reaching them when perceived value of the product is highest, then building technology and systems to capture and repeat that

5:35 20Growth: The Inside Story to Uber's Hypergrowth Scaling; What Worked, What Did Not? | Spending a $1BN Budget at Uber and Why China was the Wild West for Uber | Why You Do Not Need a Growth Team with Adam Grenier

Stephane Kurgan · Jul 28, 2023

Mobile gaming requires the mathematician to meet the magician — analytical and creative talent combined

It was the operating saying at King, and working there taught him to work with creatives as well as business people

Scope: framed as a King-internal saying

42:37 20VC: Four Criteria to Assess Great Founders, Why and How the Best Leaders Make the Wrong Decisions 40% of the Time, Lessons Scaling King from 100 Employees to 2,400 and Making $1BN of EBITDA with Stephane Kurgan, Venture Partner @ Index Ventures

Matt Lerner · May 31, 2024

At its highest form growth blends art and science; science without art produces optimized but unpleasant experiences, and art without science produces entertaining campaigns that don't sell

Over-optimized travel booking flows hit optimal conversion and AOV but are yucky experiences, while gazillion-dollar Super Bowl ads often fail to sell more product because they don't resonate with customers

Scope: the hard part is getting artistic and scientific people to work together

9:16 20Growth: The Six Channels Startups Need to Dominate to Grow, Why the Best Growth Talent Never Comes from Marketing or Product, Who and How to Hire Growth Leaders and Teams and Why in a World of AI, Growth is More Science than Art with Matt Lerner

Hila Qu · Jan 18, 2023

Product-led growth is fundamentally data-led growth, and more people in growth should recognise the importance of data

46:33 Product led growth is fundamentally data led growth

Martin Gontovnikas · Feb 14, 2024

Growth is applying the scientific method to KPIs; data does not tell you what to do, so creative growth people who invent new experiences will always outperform data-driven ones

Improvement comes from understanding the customer persona through qualitative interviews and then inventing unique experiences, not from reading the data

9:07 Creative invention beats pure data driven growth work

Matt Lerner · May 31, 2024

If forced to choose, growth is science rather than art

Science without art can still deliver business results, whereas art without science rarely does and when it works it's down to luck

13:24 Science outweighs art when forced to choose