Here are the 15 Growth Mentors of May 2022
- 1.Here are the 20 Growth Mentors of January 2022
- 2.Here are the 38 Growth Mentors of February 2022
- 3.Here are the 29 Growth Mentors of March 2022
- 4.Here are the 18 Growth Mentors of April 2022
- 5.Here are the 15 Growth Mentors of May 2022
- 6.Here are the 7 Growth Mentors of June 2022
- 7.Here are the 20 Growth Mentors of July 2022
- 8.Here are the 25 Growth Mentors of August 2022
- 9.Here are the 28 Growth Mentors of September 2022
- 10.Here are the 22 Growth Mentors of October 2022
- 11.Here are the 11 Growth Mentors of November 2022
- 12.Here are the 20 Growth Mentors of December 2022
1. Alex Urquhart
Describe yourself
From engineering, to the tech world, to the nonprofit sector – regardless of the environment, I have always been incredible passionate about innovating and thinking of ways to improve the world around us. I am captivated by the start-up & software industry. I always love the challenge of turning an idea into something real that improves people’s lives, and can be scaled across the world! I have worked for B2B and B2E (Enterprise) software start up companies in both the for-profit and non-for-profit sectors – both of which I have helped “go to market” and expand into new regions/territories. I have built and run sales teams, marketing teams, customer success teams and general marketing strategies the organisation. I love nothing more than working with a super passionate founder who wants to see their dream become a reality!
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
Regardless of the scenario, outcome or state you are currently in, there is always something to be gained that will help move you forward / closer to where you want to be.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Sales/marketing/commercial strategy
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
Problem: Low uptake of product subscriptions. A lot of interest with a massive market, however there was very low conversion and the organisation did not want to lower the price.
Solution: I created a business model of the perceived market along with real feedback from customers that justified a price reduction that should increase revenue by 3x. And it worked!
Now we can scale faster with less effort (less customer expectations) and become more product lead.
View Growthmentor Profile
2. Ben Heinkel
Describe yourself
I’ve taken a SaaS B2B business from a paper napkin design to millions in ARR with funding from top tier European VCs. While my background is technical, I not only have experience leading product teams, but also marketing/growth as well as customer success.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
Over the years I’ve had many founders help me create and grow a successful business, and I am now able to return the favour to the startup community.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
A growth mindset to me is one that is capable of finding new potential growth paths, understanding how to accurately measure their effectiveness and defining processes to predictably repeat those which were successful.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Customer acquisition in the early days of a company. I think this is an extremely important part of the business that usually ends up not getting the importance it deserves early enough, and with enough thought and focus could be the key to a successful venture.
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
Setting up a lead generation process, with the use of some cool tools, to chase down those prospects that were too shy to give us their details but did visit our website.
View Growthmentor Profile
3. Denise Edwards
Describe yourself
Hi there, I would describe myself as a world citizen (having lived in 5 different countries) and working in the tech industry, I love all things tech, VC’s and marketing & sales. I live for helping others succeed (as my friends would describe me). Currently I mentor 2 mentees and I’d love to add value to the community of mentees, to help get them to the next level.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
There’s knowledge that isn’t shared with companies and seeing that I am already helping startups in the field of tech, I’d love to help them grow their company with the adequate knowledge to scale. It’s also a way for me to give back as others have helped me to get where I am today.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
Personally, I believe having a growth mindset means that you are never complacent. You always seek to become better, improve each day. An example for myself is, I invest in my education in the form of mentorships, courses, coaching to continuously improve. I can’t be complacent as I have goals that I want to achieve, and that means that I should continuously invest in myself and improve myself to become better at every level.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Growing your Saas startup
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
I am helping a fintech company, with their marketing and finding their ICP (customer avatar). My client, the Ceo of the company, wanted to focus on innovation managers in Finance companies to start selling their solution to. I wasn’t convinced that that would be the best beach head market we should go for, so I researched what target audience we can start with and it turns out that CEO’s of crypto companies would be the right fit. It turns out, he (my client) had a few calls with VC’s and they were telling him the same thing. He was doubtful in the beginning but after the conversations, he was 100% convinced. I was pretty happy about that 🙂
View Growthmentor Profile
4. Dimitri Visnadi
Describe yourself
Hey, I’m Dimitri a data consultant. My focus is Marketing data and I help companies to put that data to action by designing data strategies and running hands-on data analyses.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
Mentoring is a way of growing. It helps me to reflect on my past experience and current knowledge with the goal of helping others.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
Growth is a process. Working in data, we try to measure growth in different ways so we can understand how much we grew and what has influenced our journey the most.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Data Analytics
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
During an attribution project we didn’t get a valid signal from the data. Either there is simply no signal in the data or something is distorting the signal. So we calculated attribution on a product level for an online travel agency. And see there, the customer journeys are so distinct that picking it apart will give you a clear signal of which journeys contribute the most to the conversions.
View Growthmentor Profile
5. Gavin Tye
Describe yourself
I am an enterprise SaaS salesperson and have been working in startups for more than 8 years selling B2B. During that time, I’ve learnt selling SaaS is really difficult without an effective sales strategy. I’ve learned so many difficult lessons in the pursuit to develop an effective strategy I could repeatably use to close multi-million dollar deals. The unique approach I’ve learned is based on human nature and in my opinion, every found must learn, otherwise, they will struggle to grow their business. I’ve come here to help startups learn and grow their business.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
I am passionate about helping SaaS founders develop their unique sales strategy to accelerate growth and more importantly, improve the sales experience for them and their clients.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
What a growth mindset means to me is continually learning. Regarding sales, I don’t think it’s a skill you learn and be finished. Instead, I believe it’s a practice (just like a doctor practices medicine) and to truly succeed you need to adopt a true growth mindset. A key element to growth is being comfortable walking before you can run so you get the fundamentals right. Once you get the fundamentals right, you are well placed to accelerate growth.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Startup Sales Strategy and there is a fundamental difference between strategy and process.
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
I worked for a high-value SaaS platform called RedEye. Our MRR was between $25k-$40k AUD and my job initially was to go out and try to sell to large organisations. But no matter how interested people were, they just weren’t buying because the ticket price was too high. So instead of selling, I worked on showing massive value by becoming an expert in measuring the complex problems we solve for our clients. It was only when I could demonstrate a 12-20x return on the MRR, would they see the right amount of value and move toward a purchasing decision. After this realisation and change of tactic, I was able to substantially reduce the length of sale and close large deals consistently.
View Growthmentor Profile
6. Jim Kingsbury
Describe yourself
Over many years of leading growth marketing teams at Allbirds, Zappos, The Pro’s Closet, One Kings Lane & Amazon.com (back when it still used “.com” in its name), helping folks on my team become highly skilled growth leaders has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my work. I also find the world of growth marketing to be endlessly interesting and get a lot of energy from diving deep with other enthusiastic growth folks.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
Over the years, helping folks on my team grow into skilled and capable leaders has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my work.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
The learning journey – including the mistakes you make along the way – really is the reward.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Tightly aligning the work of a growth marketing team with broader organizational objectives is super important and super impactful – I’m also pretty obsessed these days with new paid social growth strategies in a post-iOS 14.5 world (and see many great new opportunities).
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
I’m not sure I’d use that expression but back at One Kings Lane, I still get excited when I think about cohort lead gen reporting we dreamed up that mapped out 1-day ROAS, 7-day ROAS, 30-day ROAS & 90-day ROAS that we could then slice & dice by all kinds of different dimensions.
View Growthmentor Profile
7. Lucian Armasu
Describe yourself
Reach out if you need help growing your DTC ecommerce brand beyond 7-figures. I’d like to help you grow to 8-figures and beyond.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
Do more consultations in the DTC/ecommerce space. Coach and learn more from others in the industry.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
A growth mindset means constant learning and always trying to improve your skills or your business.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Paid social strategy.
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
Using alternative campaign objectives for top of funnel campaigns as well as using a mix of content pieces middle of funnel.
View Growthmentor Profile
8. Macauley Kenney
Describe yourself
I’m the COO of SurgiBox, a medtech company developing ultraportable operating rooms for use in austere settings. I’m passionate about scaling mission-oriented organizations in emerging markets, and have devoted much of my career to streamlining company narratives for pitches and public speaking, creating the right hiring process, and understanding the customer pain point. My background is in biomedical engineering, and I have a master’s in Technology and Policy and a Sustainability Certificate from MIT.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
I want to expand on my existing mentoring work and help early-stage startups, particularly those with diverse founders, find success.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
Growth mindset means building the right foundation. It’s about creating sustainable systems that last, not just achieving the immediate goal.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
I would love to work with people on the importance of customer-based design, and how to incorporate that into the workflow without slowing growth. It is so important for long-term success, and often deprioritized.
Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
Our company was recently completing a product testing at a high-profile hospital across the country, and my colleague realized while in-air that a critical part had broken. While the team was scrambling to see if last minute shipping or additional flights were possible, I called up the local 3D print shop near the hospital and had them put in a rush order for the part. The part was ready for pickup before the wheels hit the tarmac.
View Growthmentor Profile
9. Maxime Moyson
Describe yourself
Hi there I’m Max. I’m from France but have been living in Toronto, ON, Canada for the past four years. I’m currently helping entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes launch and succeed on Shopify. I bring 10+ years of experience in Europe and North America, mainly in B2B and Ecommerce and across multiple departments such as sales/business development, implementation, product, and growth. I like looking at complex problems with a product mindset, breaking them into small pieces, experimenting a lot, and creating flywheels that will benefit the business in the long run. I’m also an entrepreneur on the side where I run a candle store on www.candelae.ca.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
Help people grow and succeed
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
One of my favorite mantras is that nothing is impossible until it’s done – and sometimes, done is better than perfect. It’s essential to test and experiment with what you’re doing to see if you’re still on track and still aligned with the environment around you and your business. The ability to learn quickly, especially to reset your mind and challenge yourself by relearning something you knew, would be my definition of a growth mindset.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Design a strong growth flywheel
Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
The data behind the primary tracked metric of the year (online revenue) that fed the company’s digital transformation mission showed that it was realized mainly by a few large customers – leaving the majority of customers out of the picture. I broke down the mission into OKRs and defined experiments that would highlight customer personas. Knowing more about the problems they were trying to solve and how to approach each persona adequately allowed us to build the foundations to scale the business and double down on its digital transformation. Bringing value to the many and not the few.
View Growthmentor Profile
10. Nathan Kirchner
Describe yourself
This is not my first day. I’ve had multiple exits. I know what I know. I know what I don’t. I just want to help, I have no need to be the ‘expert’… I just hope to give you one thing to run with..
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
I’ve been through a lot, I’ve accomplished a lot, I want to pay it forward.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
You live when you learn; you perish when you are already ‘there’
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
How good is your great idea if everyone refuses to use it? Where’s the balance? How do we get there?
Describe an out-of-the-box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
Wow – that question seems arrogant. Who about I feel good because I’ve had multiple highly skilled professionals follow me to 4+ companies? Life is the complex problem & the out of the box solution is how to make this one life we have be a fun ride with gold along the way?
View Growthmentor Profile
11. Nathan Powell
Describe yourself
I’m a UX & Product designer with over 15 years experience. I’ve been a SaaS founder (exited in 2019), written a couple of books and am currently freelancing as a UX/Product designer. I can help you with anything design/UX and product related.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
I’d like to help those who might be stuck in places that I’ve personally struggled with in the past.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
To me, a growth mindset means working on something each day that will move you a step closer to your business and personal goals.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
UX problems related to growth.
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
Skipping paper sketches and working straight from Balsamiq (wireframe software).
View Growthmentor Profile
12. Neil Cocker
Describe yourself
I’m an entrepreneur, consultant, and startup mentor. I’ve been working across Europe, most notably in the Balkans, for several years. My background in the music industry led me to starting a series of tech businesses in the merchandise sector. I’ve bootstrapped three businesses to six-figure revenues, and have mentored hundreds of startups.
My main skill as a mentor is saving you thousands of hours, and potentially thousands of $ and £ by challenging you (in a friendly way) to examine how close you are to Product Market Fit. I’ve no interest in working with founders who are convinced they’ve already solved the market problem with their product, and just need to scale it (hint: 99.9% of them are wrong). 🙂
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
I’ve mentored hundreds of startups over the last few years, and find it incredibly rewarding. I do a mix of paid and free mentoring. Paid is often through existing programmes (accelerators, universities, MentorCruise etc), and I gave away over 100 free hours of online startup mentoring during the first year of the pandemic. https://neilcocker.com/2020/09/09/how-i-streamline-and-automate-giving-one-free-mentoring-session-every-day/
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
Being curious, being humble, being willing to change course as many times as possible to get where you want to go. And realising that it’s not always the destination that is the important part.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Understanding the difference between a good idea, and a good business. We’ve been fed too many blogposts that tell us that if we just wake up at 5am, drink a protein shake, do 2 hours of power yoga, then “crush it” all day long, then we’re bound to be successful. This is bullshit. The market only cares about you if you’re solving a problem for them. It doesn’t care how much you “believe in yourself” or how hard you work. If you’re truly solving a problem then you can sleep in until 10am, eat what you want*, do no exercise*, and still win.
* I do not necessarily advocate this course of action!
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
I devised and implemented this, which has often been called “the best cold email ever”: https://ramptshirts.com/blog/2018/01/12/wrote-sent-best-cold-email-ever/
View Growthmentor Profile
13. Nick Swekosky
Describe yourself
As a Product Manager, I have led the ideation, technical development, and launch of web, mobile, and API-driven products. I have developed the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for companies with B2B and B2C business models. In my free time, I publish a newsletter that curates the top product and growth articles of the week.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
I want to become a growth mentor to help unblock execution issues, provide helpful advice and learning resources, and augment the ability of the growth professional to nurture positive behaviors for their customers in a B2B or B2C setting 🙂
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
A growth mindset means taking a qualitative or quantitative approach to nurturing behaviors in your customers that will augment acquisitions, retention, or monetization for your business.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Retention and engagement. Retention drives your acquisition funnels/loops, leads to more monetization touchpoints, and defines the core behavior your business must nurture to facilitate long-term impact.
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
After completing interviews, I led the creation of a revenue-generating, analytics product for marketing professionals overserved by generalized business tools like Google Data Studio and Microsoft PowerBI.
View Growthmentor Profile
14. Tijmen van der Meer
Describe yourself
I love working with founders, creators, and business owners that want to give something back to the world. Companies like Bomberbot (teaching computational skills to kids, Vandebron (local, green energy in NL), and growing the business of photographer Pie Aerts (conservation of wildlife). I like to partner on a strategic level and love a good challenge. I am well known for my problem-solving talent. I advise on the complete growth process, from creative ideation to technical implementation.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
Referred by friend Camiel Roex, it sounds like a good community and learning experience building personal brand is also a nice benefit.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
A growth mindset means you find your flow and do not obsess over the result. You can look a the bigger picture. Flow is reached when you find that sweet spot between your comfort zone and innovation. You are daring to fail, as long as you learn. You should challenge yourself enough, and the fact that you fail is a sign you are in that sweet spot where flow is found. If you do not fail, you are probably too comfortable. I am willing to challenge you and myself. Together we will fail and grow.
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
Strategy
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
At Vandebron react.js was used. I told them they needed server-side rendering. A lot of content was not indexed. The in-house team of developers (5+) did not know about this problem. I addressed this in my job interview and was hired. The marketing team had no idea either.
View Growthmentor Profile
15. Valentina Ricupero
Describe yourself
I am sharing my +15 years experience in Sales, Innovation and Customer Success to accelerate your growth.
Build high-performance teams by applying design thinking and agile methodologies.
Be an innovator to deliver the maximum value to your customers.
Scale your customer-facing processes to target enterprise customers and increase revenue.
In just one sentence, why do you want to become a growth mentor?
To accelerate growth for others by leveraging my experience.
In your words, what does a growth mindset mean to you?
Keeping the beginner mindset, building resilience, constantly looking for feedback, focusing on improvement. I wrote an article about it: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-i-built-growth-mindset-my-life-valentina-ricupero/
If you could mentor a startup on one topic, what would it be?
How to be a great leader. Because everything strats with you.
Describe an out of the box solution to a complex problem that made you proud of yourself?
Creating and prototyping a new paid service (strategy workshop) for an enterprise customer. Instead of drafting the whole service and officially offering to the them, I have built a set of small tests to confirm their interest. I did the same internally, to test the interest of our management. Once the prototype passed one test, I moved to the next step. Eventually I successfully ran the workshop and standardized the service, which was included in our offer.
View Growthmentor Profile
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.
