What you need to know before hiring a Head of growth
If you own a business, you want it to grow. That makes perfect sense. That’s why no one will try to hold you back the day you’ll say: “I’m thinking of hiring a Head of Growth”. Rightfully, why pass on an expert whose main job is to water your business so it can break through the ceiling? Here’s why: because that only works if there is a ceiling to break…
To make sure your business is ready to welcome a Head of Growth, you should make sure you’re in the right time frame & that you’re looking for the right person. Here’s how you can verify that
When is the right time❓
The Office
“Should I hire a Head of Growth at some point” ✅ YES
“Okay, I’ll send out a vacancy right away” ❌ NO
Timing guys, it’s all about timing. Hiring a Head of Growth can do wonders for your growth IF AND ONLY IF the time is right. That role is often chosen in the wrong phase of a business life cycle, which means you’re setting the assignment for failure before it even starts.
To know when to hire a Head of Growth, here are 6 of my best tips.
1️⃣ You have found a Product/Market fit
This is the first and maybe the most important factor. You might want your Head of Growth to help you achieve this, but this could be a long process which means an expensive payroll and often a waste of time. Are you too late? You might actually have missed the boat on optimally growing your product.
2️⃣ You know what your company needs
Growth is broad, but the growth of your company isn’t. Be specific about the channels, the skills, and expectations you need your next Head of Growth to fulfill. You’ll quickly understand that finding someone who ticks ALL the boxes, regardless of the specs of the assignment, is as random as winning the lottery. But that’s ok! Because what you really need is to find someone that ticks only the boxes your company needs.
3️⃣ You already have someone that handles funnel marketing
Along the same lines, a brand marketer often knows a thing or two about data analysis but what you need from a Head of Growth is a data expert. Not only is managing growth a specific job, it is also an entirely different mindset.
4️⃣ You are focussing on strategic development
The best way to get the most out of a Head of Growth is to allow them to focus on strategy, as this is the driver to growth. They might or might not have in-depth knowledge of specific channels so you’ll want to hire channel specialists for the main operational work.
5️⃣ You have a culture of experimentation
If this is not the case, I suggest you try to create one before hiring a Head of Growth. This means a culture with a data-driven approach and a whole team making it roll. You can be sure the Head of Growth will ask for changes, and growth can only happen if everyone is willing to follow through on those developments.
6️⃣ You are willing to give autonomy
The job is relatively new and its layers are often difficult to grasp, so you have to give the person the autonomy to figure it out for you. Steve Jobs once said: “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do”. Got it? Make that your recruitment motto 😎
Who is the right person for the job❓
There is a right Head of Growth for every company. That means you do not want to search for an omnipotent role that will handle every single possible task in the scope of growth. What it really is about is identifying WHO you need.
And that remains a big challenge… because you won’t find the perfect fit if you’ve not yet figured out WHAT you need.
The Head of Growth should be laying out the growth strategy, control the data analysis and manage socials. This can be done by a growth team or fully autonomously.
To ensure you hire someone who’s got those basics on lock, take a look at these hard and soft skills, crucial for your Head of Growth:
▶️ Always looking for the next opportunity
Your Head of Growth will try to optimize metrics but it’s simply impossible to succeed 100% of the time. That’s why it’s also important to focus on finding opportunities, assessing them, and defining priorities.
▶️ Growth is based on data… It’s just all about the data.
And that’s why you absolutely need a data-freak. Someone who reviews a model and then dives deeper in analyzing channels, segments, and customer feedback in order to figure out the next move. However, it’s much more than solely numbers and graphs. The Head of Growth hears… no, he listens to people’s stories, and tries to understand them. Qualitative and quantitative data go hand in hand. This often is the real key to a successful leader of growth.
Your H.O.G should also succeed at failing. Pardon the oxymoron, but let me give you an example. Imagine you try something you’ve successfully tried before, only this time, the experiment fails. You can tell that a few factors could explain that: the experiment focused on a different audience or was conducted in a different space, etc. In this situation, what you don’t want is having to deal with an ego that sticks to his own instincts & doesn’t admit the facts. In my experience, instincts will let you down 2 times outta three when experimenting as a Head of Growth. And that’s fine, as long as there is something to learn from it.
▶️ Putting users first
This might seem obvious, but don’t let it slip from the back of your head. The role of a Head of Growth is to create value and raise awareness for this value in real people. This only works if the H.O.G acknowledges this is the main goal, rather than just putting hard numbers on the table, and if they understand how to provide this value creatively.
▶️ Knows where the answer is waiting to be found
A great Head of Growth does not guess what the right answer is, he collects it. An organization consists in a group of creative individuals. This is a pool of amazing ideas waiting for someone to bring them together. And that is a task for your next Head of Growth.
▶️ Can communicate growth
Sometimes, individuals, whole teams, or organizations do not fully comprehend growth or do not know how they can contribute to it. An excellent Head of Growth will spread the message of growth and make its purpose crystal clear. This accounts for communicating proactively, creating structure, and answering every question. However, it also means understanding the functions of the various people you collaborate with. That will make them eager to adapt to growth processes and tools for efficient collaboration.
By the way, this is crucial to achieving long-term sustainable growth.
▶️ Balance short and long term
Some businesses play by the rule that the Head of Growth should only focus on the long term. Others get impatient if the results take too long to drop. To fulfill both types of expectations, a Head of Growth should be able to find a balance between generating quick profits and developing effective growth tracks.
Don’t just take my word for it: Andrew Capland (Founder of Delivering Value — Coaching & advising B2B growth teams | former growth @ Postscript, Wistia, HubSpot) mentions this as well in an interesting article on the topic.
Food for thought
I truly hope this will help you find the right Head of Growth, at the right time, and for the right reasons.
Before I let you reflect on whether you should pursue hiring one or wait it out, do know one thing: a Head of Growth is no silver bullet, and getting into character in the ongoing play that is the life of your business will need time. So be patient and soon enough, you will benefit from the insights and experiences this person will — like no other- bring to the table.
And to my fellow growth people, make sure you get this word around to help raise awareness around our role & to, ultimately, spare everyone some precious time & awkwardness 🚀
📚 Helpful additional resources
Hire the Wrong Growth Leader Elena Verna
What to look for when you’re hiring a Head of Growth Andrew Chen
How to hire a Head of Growth for your Startup Andrew Capland
