Here are the 17 Growth Mentors of November

1. Aaron Enten

Describe yourself

My expertise is in customer discovery, needs identification, and stakeholder incentive alignment for medical devices and technologies. I’ve completed a PhD in Bioengineering (focus on tissue engineering) and MBA in technology commercialization and innovation management. I have worked as a project manager, CxO for Hire, and have started multiple companies and seen successful exits.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I want to ensure as many people interested in this space can be as successful as possible by sharing my experience and expertise.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A Growth Mindset is an alignment of your motivations to create a solution that solves the needs of a marketplace.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

I am an expert in Medical technology needs identification and stakeholder incentive alignment.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

My most recent startup tackles a behavioral problem with a technological solution in a medical space. We bridged the gaps in the currently existing market to provide better care and increase accessibility to preventative specialty exams.

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2. Alisa Chalakhyan

Describe yourself

I’m an entrepreneur with 5+ work experience in startup founding and funding, operations and risk management.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I’m been mentoring early stage startups in Armenia over the past years and want to expand the scope to work with more founders.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

While many see growth as company’s external expansion and client generation, I’m very prone to first look into company’s internal expansion and its ability to do this fast and efficiently.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Funding and getting investment – I’ve done this previously as well as I am now starting a new role as a VC so with time will be getting even more knowledge and network to help others.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

Reaching out to the most “unreachable” people through my network. In 2019 (when I was still 20) I managed to reach out to Barack Obama, Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg through my personal connections.

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3. Alper Taner

Describe yourself

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In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

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In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

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If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

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Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

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4. Clemence Lepers

Describe yourself

I’m a creative marketer with 10+ years of experience across the entire digital funnel. What do I do? Help companies of all sizes and shapes to conquer the hearts and wallets of their customers! I’ve lived/worked in 5 countries, speak 6 languages (incl. 3 fluently, insert humbleness here) and love surfing amongst other things.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

To grow people, not only businesses!

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Using data and leveraging experimentation to tackle the most difficult problems businesses have to deal with:

• How do I get people in the front door?
• How do I get them to an aha moment as quickly as possible?
• How do I deliver core value as often as possible?

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Copywriting. Name one sales collateral or marketing channel that’s doesn’t require (great) copy at some point in the process… Landing pages. Cold emails. Paid ads. Social media content. Video scripts. Copy is everywhere. If you can write in a natural and engaging way, you’ll be able to stand out from a myriad of competitors who are terrible at conveying ideas effectively.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

How do you hit 6 million customers for a brand new shopping mall that’s located in a highly-competitive environment where all your competitors have 10x your marketing budget? Allocate a large chunk of your budget to build a 2-month long summer festival with a real indoor beach and daily activities for kids who are on holidays to draw families in.

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5. Harry Royden McLaughlin

Describe yourself

Born into the banking industry I pivoted into Startups and never looked back. I help companies grow, and grow quickly. From growth hacking, to unpaid marketing channels, to deep-in-the-weeds funnel optimization, I have probably done it all.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I found out that I was very good at it due to my past experience, so I started helping friends out, and then other people started reaching out, and I realized I really enjoy helping companies grow.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Constantly learning, constantly testing, throwing out all assumptions, and making data-driven decisions.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Funnel optimization.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

1.4 million users signed up for my waitlist… A company I used to consult bought a dead competitor’s app out of bankrupcy and wanted to revive their userbase. So, I first created a teaser campaign that when live on Christmas day, teasing the apps come back to its userbase, this got significant buzz and PR. After a few weeks of teasers, I launched a viral waitlist campaign where people could move up in line for first access to the App by inviting others to the waitlist. The people who invited the most friends I then invited to become beta testers and who then became a large group of highly motivated advocates. By the end of the campaign, I had 1.4 million people on the waitlist, which I believe is still the largest waitlist campaign ever executed in Canada to this day.

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6. Hugo Galvenius

Describe yourself

I have advised companies of all sizes on digital marketing strategy, e-commerce and data analytics. I always strive to deliver simple, actionable and scalable advice or solutions to growth challenges. With degrees in engineering and business, my skills are best applied on technology enabled business models. I’ve previously been at Google and Klarna and I’m now at Yubico.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I have experience consulting companies of all sizes on digital marketing, and I’m passionate about helping exciting startups grow!

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Never finished, always striving for radical or incremental improvements. A healthy disregard for boundaries. Prioritisation is key, opportunity costs are real. If you’ve done something manual 2x, it should probably be automated.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Digital marketing strategy. I’ve been involved in 30+ brands’ digital marketing strategy and have seen what strategies work and what don’t work.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

An algorithmic approach to determining digital marketing budget, incl. split between channels and marketing objectives, that is endorsed by both a CMO and a CFO.

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7. James Eder

Describe yourself

As an Entrepreneur I started my first company when I was 22 back in 2005. With out funding from scratch I Co-Founded Student Beans and grew the business to become profitable with over 50 employees and over 1m users. From grass-route marketing to sales engaging with some of the biggest brands in the world from Apple To Dominos.

I left day to day back in 2015 after 10 years at the helm to start another company called Causr – a location based Linkedin to connect professionals on the go. This didn’t work out so I’ve got the lessons learnt from there.

I’m now a professional Coach & Mentor helping other Entrepreneurs around the world on their journey. I specialise in everything from Early Stage growth & boot strapping to putting the systems and structures in to scale.

I look forward to seeing you on a session soon.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

Having experienced both successes and failures in the startup community I’m keen to give back to others who are on their own journey and make a difference for the next generation.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset it all about seeing everything as an opportunity to test test test. How you can find what works for you, what channel is best, what you can try and try again to help you succeed leaving no stone unturned. Especially at the beginning to consider as well perhaps things that might not scale but can get you your first customers on the way to success.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Boot strapping, resilience and mindset. The entrepreneurial journey isn’t easy especially as a Solo founder. Having been a startup founder with a successful business that didn’t get funding is extremely rare and is often the less trodden path so I believe I can really help and support those in a similar position.

Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

When I launched Student Beans we wanted to have student brand managers across the UK but couldn’t afford to role this programme out comprehensively to 18 cities at the same time. We originally asked Proctor & Gamble to sponsor the programme – initially they said no – instead of charging them they ended up providing training, paying for accommodation and travel taking away all the costs of delivering the programme from us and giving us leverage when we recruited our ambassadors. It was a win win for everyone. This programme over 2 years helped us sign up over 200,000 users. P & G got a recruitment pool and access to our talent who they helped select.

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8. Jenifer Ho

Describe yourself

I’m a passionate modern marketer with 17 years experience in growth and demand generation. I currently am the VP, Marketing at Elation Health and formerly led the Business Growth team at Lyft. I’ve been lucky to be part of multiple IPOs, most recently successful exits with DocuSign, Fastly and Lyft.

In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?

I want to give back and help mentor others. And connect with other folks in growing start ups.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset is the marriage of data and creativity. It’s understanding the in’s and out’s of the business and applying creative strategies to find new ways to attract, engage and retain customers & users.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

How to be a good human being (only kidding, sort of). I’d pick Demand Generation / Growth Marketing.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

Problem: people want a demo; they are requesting a demo but inconsistent follow through from SDRs so less demos are completed. Solve: automate! Ability to schedule in the same transaction & take inputs to decide what’s the best journey for the person.

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9. Koen Van Lysebetten

Describe yourself

I love short HIT workouts, I play Call off Duty and I love to read biographies. I prefer mountains & lakes over beaches. In the morning, I start my day with a cold shower, followed by a refreshing and healthy energy lift of Matcha-Latte.

I’ve started & scaled growth teams for multiple eCommerce businesses, run hundreds of experiments across every area of the funnel, and made a million mistakes along the way. Anyone can get lucky and launch a successful experiment. Yet, very few can consistently create sustainable growth. With my recent new role as Head of Growth at Gimber and member of the G-Family, I’m focussing on building a growth strategy that will power long term growth and turns GIMBER into the WIKIPEDIA of non-alcoholic beverages.

In just one sentence, please tell us why you want to become a growth mentor?

I want to deliver more value to their current role, increase impact, to ensure they advance in their career. I draw on my fourteen year career in tech, eCommerce & early startups to provide perspective, keep them focused on solving the right problems, and guide them through difficult situations.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Growth is all about amplifying value, increasing the speed to value and continually deliver value over time. Someone with a growth mindset is able to build a sustainable growth engine that is built on value and then tries to quantify that value with a north star metric.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Growth strategies & execution for DTC brands & eCommerce

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

“In a previous role as Head of Growth at an International eCommerce company , I was able to turn with my growth team a neglected channel into a powerhouse of revenue. I was able to grew the subscriber list with over 1,000 subscribers per country per day in which the client was active. Resulting in a 60% list growth in four months. Furthermore, I increased email open rates from 7.2% to over 50% Last but not least we generated an increase in revenue from email marketing of 66%”

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10. Lena Sesardic

Describe yourself

I’m a product manager turned entrepreneur turned freelance writer. I have 7+ years of experience in startups/startup-like teams and love change and growth. I’m also obsessed with marketing & personal branding and love to share my knowledge and experience transparently.

In just one sentence, please tell us why you want to become a growth mentor?

I want to help people 1:1 with specific challenges to give back to the community and continue to develop my mentor style.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset means putting no limits on what you want to achieve and always striving to be outside your comfort zone.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

LinkedIn personal branding because I’ve built a strong brand on the platform myself. I love helping others optimize their LinkedIn profile and come up with an awesome content strategy that helps them reach their goals while being their true selves.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

Problem: venture teams at accelerators struggle to organize their hypotheses & customer interviews and don’t have time to adopt existing tools with steep learning curves.

Solution: I built a tool using Google Sheets because it mimics what teams were already trying to do (but better) and there’s no learning curve because everyone knows how to use Google Sheets and it feels familiar.

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11. Maria Jose Sanchez

Describe yourself

I’m an innovative person with entrepreneurial soul, a bit techie, I love new technologies, passionate about digital businesses and platform strategies, communications, digital innovation and digital transformation. I’m in love with the startup ecosystem and I’m a kind of intrapreneur in my corporation.

In just one sentence, please tell us why you want to become a growth mentor?

I’m passionate about helping others to perform themselves and growth by sharing my experience and knowledge (for example, I’m mentor in my company).

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

It’s to be customer centric, always looking for the success and satisfaction of my customers. It’s to become a honest trusted partner for them, building engagement and value relationships, providing real added value but being sincere when you cannot. It’s also to have strategic and fast thinking, being analytical with attention to details, but never forgetting medium and long terms.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Business growth, team creation, team management and leadership, strategy management. It’s what I’m doing now and where I have more experience.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

Application of Blockchain to the cash supply chain. Application of RPA to some of my operation processes

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12. Michelle Hsu

Describe yourself

Hello, I’m Michelle! B2B SaaS marketing strategist and Founder of KJMH Digital.

At the intersection of marketing and technology is a balancing act of art and science. What works today might not work tomorrow. It’s why I take a holistic, integrated marketing approach when I build marketing foundations and ensure they align with all facets of a business.

Outside of the B2B SaaS world, I’m passionate about health and wellness, sustainability, and thoughtful productivity.

In just one sentence, please tell us why you want to become a growth mentor?

I’ve already been doing free strategy calls with founders and marketers at early-stage start-ups, this would be a great community to broaden my impact and share my integrated marketing expertise!

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

I believe in growing with a purpose. Oftentimes, in B2B SaaS we focus on things like 10x growth without factoring in if/how different parts of the business (sales, product, engineering, cs, etc) can handle that growth. Growth marketing can only be effective when a strong business and marketing foundation is established. So a growth mindset to me means having the capability to hold a diverse range of knowledge/thoughts and distilling them for various experimentations to see what works for the company.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Marketing foundation – specifically for content marketing, demand generation, and integrated marketing. I’ve seen and heard of too many companies tackling marketing strategy and/or tactics without a methodical approach. By having a clear and strong foundation in place from strategy, process, templates, tactics, to metrics that matter, companies will be able to see marketing efficiency and ROI.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

I was projecting managing global marketing campaigns and it was taking a while to source an official PM tool for the marketing department. So I ended up creating my own project management system within Google Sheets for the team to use and coupled it with Trello. It helped the team to get organized, align with the tasks/deadlines ahead, and push campaigns out the door efficiently.

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13. Nataly Onkina

Describe yourself

Hey, I’m Nataly – Product Manager and Growth Marketer with solid experience in Marketplaces, Platforms, and SAAS. For over 10 years I’ve been helping tech startups to find their market fit, improve unit economics, understand their client needs, and launch new markets. I was an early employee at Preply (tutoring marketplace), and am the first Product Manager at Calmerry (online therapy solution). I am passionate about sharing my knowledge with others and help them shape their professional future.

In just one sentence, please tell us why you want to become a growth mentor?

Shaping the leaders of tomorrow by changing someone’s world.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Your abilities aren’t set in stone, with work your skills can improve over time.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

How to solve the “chicken and egg” problem in Marketplaces (I solved it 3 times in different domains).

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

No-code CRM for a team of 10 people. Once I needed to organize a work of a newly established customer success team without having a specific workflow for them and with zero development resources at that time. I was not at a loss and organized their work using google spreadsheets only. It was a huge set of workflows like in CRM but in google space. Sure it was a crutch, but the team was able to start achieving their goals and improve the product conversion without a delay.

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14. Nicole Coustier

Describe yourself

I’ve consulted in the startup world for 16 years (medtech/healthtech), and I’ve helped to commercialize scores of products successfully. For the last 4 years, I’ve been helping VC and founders make more informed decisions and avoid mistakes that stunt product uptake by validating/refining their assumptions about the various stakeholders in the US healthcare market.

In just one sentence, please tell us why you want to become a growth mentor?

I worked for 16 years solving problems that could have been addressed far more upstream in business planning and early financing stages. I would prefer to help people prevent making these mistakes, rather than getting paid to solve the same problems over and over.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Growth mindset is embracing the belief that we all have the unlimited capacity to learn and apply learning to achieving our goals.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Addressing their internal confidence blocks and surfacing novel answers to their product or market challenges. It always comes down to mindset!

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

An innovator created a fantastic AI tool for kids and was struggling to make inroads in the healthtech space. Through mentoring, I suggested the innovator pivot their product to the edtech space instead, creating better uptake and traction. It was so fun to see the product take off!

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15. Saakshi Jain

Describe yourself

Hi! I am Saakshi. I am an ex-founder & an award-winning marketer with over 15 years of experience. I’m an active startup coach who is well versed in all aspects of startup strategy – including product, marketing, and growth. I have deep experience in building both B2C & B2B SaaS companies. My startup was recently acquired by a Canadian company. Currently, I advise or consult over a dozen YC & VC backed startups I help them scale up, gain the right mindset, tools & system to tell their story and ensure maximum growth. I have worked with corporates with million-dollar budgets & also with bootstrapped startups. I have experience in North American, European & Asian Markets so I can pretty much help almost all companies looking to go international.

In just one sentence, please tell us why you want to become a growth mentor?

I have over 15 years of experience in scaling businesses & I have built my own startup so I do deeply relate to all the startup challenges & that’ why I would want to give back to the community.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

A growth mindset relates to the idea of continuous improvements. There needs to be a pragmatic approach to understand the long-term strategy & break it down into actionable steps. Constantly experimenting with different channels, learning, unlearning, iterating & repeating to constantly deliver results is all that constitutes a growth mindset.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

I would want to mentor them on the building blocks of marketing & growth. I strongly believe that if we lay the right foundation, we can definitely scale any type of product irrespective of the industry and the geography.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

I cofounded a bootstrapped startup wherein unlike any other company I had worked before, we almost had a zilch marketing budget however, since we were operating in B2C space, we knew getting the word out to as many people as possible is the only way we can scale. I partnered with over 100 colleges in India. We struck barter deals with their students wherein they were supposed to promote our food-tech app on their social media & if there’s any user who signed up using their unique link then we would give them exclusive discount vouchers. We garnered over 5000 organic posts & so many tags that it did wonders for not only our signups but also for our Instagram following. These students were given the brand guidelines & they were left free to do their own kind of posts. We were so surprised to see all kinds of creative content which we could repost. The user-generated content also helped us gain massive IG popularity. We saved on time, effort & drove 240X more downloads than our target with over 38K followers.

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16. Saurabh Srivastava

Describe yourself

Hey, I’m Saurabh. I’m a user-centered Innovation manager, UX strategist and a researcher from India. I’m eager to partner with you (driven out of pure passion), on your journey to create novel and usable technologies for the users.

I’m a growth enthusiast with a career of over a decade in the field of UX Design/Research. I seek to scale up promising ideas in a sure-fire, most economical, methodological and user-centered way.

In just one sentence, please tell us why you want to become a growth mentor?

Founders often land up in situations/circumstances where they need someone to listen to them, show interest in their problems and guide them with the best workable solution. Mentoring for me is driven out of sheer passion – To give back to community and being able to help someone. I always try to work towards goals of my mentee, be it a business advice or technical review. In return, I look forward to gain valuable insights from my fellow mentors/mentees which is priceless.

It is truly gratifying to share my learning from 12+ years of career in UX Design/Research, authoring 50+ publications/patents and working on cutting edge innovative technologies. I have been instrumental in creating user-centered innovation, while focussing on value for both growth & monetization.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Growth mindset to me is being agile and efficient – The best utilization of time, resources and efforts available today to create immersive experiences for the user. Experiences which could be scaled in the future.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

UX Strategy for ideas from acquisition, high engagement and retention. To me, it’s the core aspect for a successful business today.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

In an innovation process, business/technology groups often get too fixated on their priorities, ignoring the actual needs of the users. Throughout my career (more than a decade) in innovation and product development, I have strongly represented user needs, created UX strategies and streamlined the innovations for great user experiences and usability.

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17. Sonam Dave

Describe yourself

Hi, I am Sonam. I am currently working with Incivus and building my marketing team. I am passionate about building brands that have a great brand recall. A storyteller by heart and a marketer by profession, I have over 12 years of experience in building global brands for companies in IT, recruitment, outsourcing and financial services. I have built and lead global teams, and gained value out of optimising internal and outsourced resources. People who work with me know me as someone who leaves people with an experience of “being the most important conversation for her” each time they have spoken to me. I am a chai (tea) lover, thrive in a mess, an avid reader, part-time storyteller for children and a Schitt’s creek fan!

In just one sentence, please tell us why you want to become a growth mentor?

In all my jobs in my career so far, I have always mentored freshers and experienced marketing professionals to achieve growth, to build sustainable strategies and achieve desired results. I enjoy helping and mentoring people to grow, and hence would like to reach out to people outside my organisation as well.

In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?

Growth mindset is knowing that it is not always talent that wins wars. It is acknowledging the fact that you may(or may not) have the talent to perform a task, but if you have the willingness and the ability to make an effort, you will be able to accomplish it.

If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?

Integrated Marketing Strategy. I am passionate about strategy, about finding the why/what/how and then executing it to achieve results.

Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?

Problem: Set up lead generation for a new service in the property preservation space without any prior background. Solution: Learnt the basics of the space, identified the target audience and launched a no cost email marketing and social media campaign and signed up a client – all in a span of 15 days.

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Interested in becoming a growth mentor?

What we’re looking for:

• Growth marketers, product managers, and designers, with extraordinary track-records of success
• Inspirational founders that have “been there and done that.”
• Friendly people that take joy in helping other people.
• At least 5 years of demonstrable experience working in growth.
• GrowthMentor is a #givefirst platform. You should be cool with mentoring for free until you have three reviews.