Is Your Startup Ready to Hire A Growth Consultant?

So founders, you’ve probably heard a lot about growth in the startup world. It’s all over LinkedIn, VCs are talking about it, maybe your investors want to know when your company is going to start a growth team.

And perhaps in all of this, you’ve heard of growth consultants. You’re intrigued, but you’re not sure if one would be the right move for your startup.

We can help. Consider this your complete guide to when and why your company should hire a growth consultant.

What is Growth Anyway?

We’re tackling this first because if you’re hiring a growth consultant, you need to know what they’re really doing. And most definitions of “growth” are vague at best.

Sure, you could go with the definition that “growth” is “any activity that grows the business.” But, in the tech and product world, that definition is missing a ton of nuance.

At GrowthMentor, we define growth as:

A holistic, systems-minded approach to solving problems for the right people, grounded in data-backed feedback and iteration.

Here, the “right people” simply means “the audience who will A. see the value in your solution and B. is able and willing to pay for it.”

So growth really comes down to problem solving and making continuous small improvements on how to solve those problems over time.

What’s a Growth Consultant?

It follows that by that definition of growth, a growth consultant will be someone who approaches problem solving in a holistic, iterative way that’s based on data.

The definition part is simple. What growth consultants actually do, however, is a bit of a different story.

What Do Growth Consultants Typically Do?

You’ll notice in the definition above, we didn’t limit growth to one certain area, like marketing or product.

That’s because growth can apply to both of those areas and beyond. If it can get customers in the door and money in the bank, there’s probably someone offering growth consulting for it.

So the question of “what does a growth consultant do?” compared with a non-growth consultant becomes less about a specific specialty, and more about the differences in their processes.

And two of those primary differences are:

1. Starts with systems
2. Driven by experimentation and iteration

Let’s dive into why they matter:

Starts with Systems

Any growth consultant who works with you will immediately want to look at your end-to-end customer journey. Growth marketers will want to poke around in the product, growth product managers will want to know what marketing channels you’re using.

It’s all part of that holistic thinking growth folks are known for. To a growth practitioner, your customer journey isn’t a linear funnel. Instead, it’s a series of loops where each part interlinks. Change how one part works and you’re bound to affect the others. In growth, the goal is to have a positive effect.

So your growth consultant will want to know what the bigger picture looks like in your company to see how things work together.

Which means at the start, your consultant may ask questions you think are irrelevant to their specific area. But in reality, they’re mapping your company’s blueprint, looking for possible growth drivers, and determining how their activities might affect other parts of your business.

Driven by Experimentation and Iteration

You’ll hear the term “data driven” thrown around a lot these days.

In the growth game, it’s not just about being data driven. It’s about being experimentation driven.

The difference is easiest to illustrate with an example, like this one:

The data driven approach: We’ve experienced a drop in user activation. According to data, the drop seems to be occurring at this new step in onboarding. Therefore, we’re going to change this onboarding step and fix our user activation issue.

 

The experimentation driven approach: We’ve experienced a drop in user activation. By our data, we think it could be due to this new onboarding step.
However, we also changed our acquisition messaging recently.
So, we’re going to start by running an A/B test on this onboarding step, and see if that improves activation.
If it doesn’t, we’re going to operate on the hypothesis that our messaging change may have affected activation somehow instead and run messaging tests to determine the real root cause. While we’re running our tests, we’re also going to make sure that our DAU and monetization metrics don’t suffer either.

See how the experimentation driven mindset focuses on the whole, rather than just the one part? And it’s iterative. You don’t assume you know exactly what’s happened right off the bat. You cross one thing off the list and move to the next possible cause until you’ve found the answer.

Thus, a good growth consultant will apply that same iterative, experimental approach to every project they undertake while working with you.

When Should You Hire a Growth Consultant?

If you’re intrigued by this systems-driven, experimental approach, you’re definitely not alone.

Unfortunately, just because the area of growth sounds interesting doesn’t mean your company is ready to hire a growth consultant.

As referenced in a great article by Andrew Chen on when to hire a head of growth, different company stages require different approaches to growth.

Source

Pre-PM fit, most growth efforts are the random “hacky” type that got growth conflated with “growth hacks”.

So by hiring a growth consultant at this stage, you’re gambling a good bit of money that the consultant will maybe hit on something that works.

We don’t recommend it. You’re much better investing in good user research, product, and marketing folks to refine your offer and messaging until it resonates with the right audience.

Post-PM fit, you have a stable user base, you know what problems you’re solving and who you’re solving them for. You’ll be ready to expand your user base, add new product offerings, refine your messaging and explore new marketing channels.

This is when a growth consultant can really help you. Their activities will differ based on your company’s maturity level. But their work should have a net positive effect, making the investment worth it.

How to Find a Good Growth Consultant

So if you’re part of the post-PM fit crowd and want to proceed with hiring a growth consultant, you’re probably wondering where to find one.

Let’s walk through some of your options:

Your Network

If you’re in the tech and digital products space, chances are someone in your network has connections to a growth consultant.

So ask for recommendations on LinkedIn! This can be an easy way to get connected with someone you know you can trust. Though, as with any network connections, we always recommend doing your own research and vetting as well.

There’s also always the content-vetting route: follow growth practitioners on LinkedIn. If you resonate with their content, see if they have growth consulting options available (which will be more likely than not if they’re consistently creating LI content).

Business Consulting Firms

Because growth consulting has risen in popularity in the last few years, many business consulting firms are now offering growth consulting services.

Fortunately, this means if a firm has a good reputation and real growth experts on their team, you won’t need to do much extra legwork. But, make sure the firm’s growth experts have real growth backgrounds, and it’s not just a group jumping on “growth consulting” as a buzzword.

MarketerHire

Price: For their minimum 10 hour package, rates range from $3000-$6000, depending on expertise. They do state they do not charge hiring businesses placement, termination or long-term contract fees.
Payment Plan Options: Hourly package rate
Vetted?: Yes, viewable on their website.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Growth specializations: Growth marketing

MarketerHire is a platform that specializes in connecting businesses with freelance marketers and marketing assistants. As part of their marketing skill offerings, they provide growth marketing services.

Official Website

Traktion

Price: Freelancer rates are not advertised on their site. However Traktion states in their FAQ they make money via a flat commission fee from freelancer earnings and do not charge fees to hiring businesses.
Payment Plan Options: Not advertised
Vetted?: Yes, viewable on their website.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Growth specializations: Growth marketing

Traktion is another marketer hiring platform, under the umbrella of Investis Digital. Like MarketerHire, they offer growth marketing services as part of their marketing skill options.

Official Website

PassionFruit

Price: Freelancer rates and other fees are not advertised on their site
Payment Plan Options: Not advertised
Vetted?: Yes, viewable on their website. Passionfruit cites a 12% talent acceptance rate.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Growth specializations: Growth marketing

Passionfruit primarily focuses on marketing and design experts and cites a low final talent acceptance rate. Similarly to other platforms, they provide growth marketing services as an option.

Official Website

GrowthCollective

Price: Growth marketer rates range $50-$150+/hr, and GrowthCollective states in their FAQ they make money via a flat commission fee from freelancer earnings and do not charge fees to hiring businesses.
Payment Plan Options: Weekly or monthly pricing
Vetted?: Yes, viewable on their website.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Growth specializations: Growth marketing

GrowthCollective is another marketing focused hiring platform that cites fast hiring as their main advantage. They offer growth marketing as part of their marketing subspecialties.

Official Website

GrowthExpert

Price: Growth manager rates range from $500-$2000 per month on monthly retainer (or an alternate $50-$125/hr block of hours option), and growth leadership rates range $1000-$2000 per month on monthly retainer (or an alternate $125-$300/hr block of hours option). GrowthExpert does not charge fees to hiring businesses or take a commission from experts hired through the platform.
Payment Plan Options: Hour blocks, monthly retainers, or long-term contracts
Vetted?: Yes, which you can read here. GrowthExpert has a .5% acceptance rate for talent.
Matching Services Provided?: Yes
Growth specializations: Growth leadership (Head of Growth/CGO), growth management, growth marketing

Now maybe you don’t have the time to find and vet someone through your own network and you’re antsy about approaching a business consulting firm that may not specialize in real growth tactics. Or you need more than just growth marketing from your growth consultant.

This is exactly why we created GrowthExpert.

At GrowthExpert, you get the same strict double-vetting process we apply here at GrowthMentor, but for fractional talent you can hire by hour blocks, monthly retainers, or extended contracts. You can even hire entire plug-and-play growth teams that are ready to roll within 48 hours.

Unlike other platforms, GrowthExpert focuses primarily on growth talent. So whether you need a head of growth, a growth manager, a growth marketer, or a growth product manager, we’ve got you covered.

And did we mention it’s free to post your job?

Getting started is simple. All you have to do is post your job, and if it’s a good fit for our talent pool, we’ll share it with them. Interested experts can request an intro and we’ll introduce both parties. If it’s a good mutual fit, you’ll work with the expert the same way you would any other contractor.

There are no commission, no fees. You can learn more about why in GrowthExpert’s manifesto.

Or, if you’re sold, schedule a call to get matched to the growth consultant you need.

When a Mentor Might be a Better Fit

With all that being said about consultants, there are times, like the pre-PM fit case above, where your company isn’t ready for a consultant. Alternately, you may want a way to test the waters, figure out if your company is prepared to start a growth effort, without signing a (potentially expensive) contract.

The great news? There’s another option: you can chat with a growth practitioner who mentors.

This gives you a chance to see what working with a growth-minded consultant would be like, without the commitment of a contract.

Plus, since mentors tend to teach mentees “how to” instead of the “do it for you” approach of a consultant, you’re likely to learn a thing or two about how to think like a growth practitioner yourself.

Now, finding a mentor who fits this bill can be difficult. Growth is a wide umbrella, but the specializations narrow the field fast. Adding a mentorship expectation tightens the scope even more.

And if you’ve considered a consultant, you probably don’t have weeks or months to search for and build a relationship with a potential mentor.

Which is why we recommend skipping all that by joining GrowthMentor.

As the name suggests, we specialize in growth. Search “growth” on our “browse mentors” page, and you’ll get 557 mentors:

273 mentors note growth marketing as one of their skills, 48 list “head of growth” on their profiles, 14 list “growth manager”, and 24 list “growth product.”

Not only do you have a vast array of experience at your disposal, you can start talking with a mentor the same week you join. Meaning you get the insights you need faster.

And here are the kinds of mentors you can chat with:

Our Growth Mentors

Mentoring Style: The guide. Will listen to your situation carefully, work through solving the problem with you, and help you get clarity on the decision you have in front of you.
Book A Call With John If:

• You’re looking for a collected, insightful approach to the world of CRO and experimentation.
• You need help designing experiments or measuring hard-to-quantify metrics like customer satisfaction.
• You need experienced guidance on how to build experimentation culture and innovation into your business.
• You’d like for your mentor to be laser-focused on problem solving, but have an optimistic calm vibe while doing it. And your goal is to walk away with clarity and confidence in your decisions.

Mentoring Style: The cheerleader. Will help you break down your process into manageable steps and build your confidence to tackle them.
Book A Call With Justyna If:

• Your startup is feeling “stuck” at 1 and you want to get unstuck.
• You want to absolutely crush your personal branding on LinkedIn.
• You want to shake up your thinking with creative approaches.
• You want an energetic mentor who can shoot straight, lay out frameworks, brainstorm out of the box ideas while still cheering you on towards success

Mentoring Style: The librarian. Will listen intently to your challenge, work collaboratively through what your next steps should be, and you’ll walk away with solutions + extra resources in hand.
Book A Call With Tomek If:

• You’re building a team, especially for the first time, and feel uncertain about what to look for in each role.
• You want a growth-minded approach to your product strategy with a twist of growth marketing thinking.
• You need help with getting your OKRs straight.
• You’re nervous about a mentoring session and need an emphasis on patience and “no stupid questions.” Or you want a mentor who will build a plan and solutions with you.

Mentoring Style: The coach. Will provide actionable ideas for steps you can take to face your challenge in a energetic, confidence-boosting manner.
Book A Call With Katya If:

• You’re a startup in the edtech or greentech space that wants to get started with growth.
• You want a growth marketing approach grounded in a content marketing background.
• You’re interested in having a mentor active in the accelerator world through accelerators like Rockstart and Forward.
• You want a high energy mentor who will explain their thought processes and give you opinions on frameworks.

So, for the most growth-focused selection of mentors out there, join GrowthMentor.