20Growth: How to Build a Paid Marketing Machine: ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) 101 | The Rise of User Generated Content and How to Use It | TikTok Ads: Expectations vs. Reality | Hiring for Growth: When and Who with Sandy Diao

In this episode of 20 Growth, Harry Stebbings interviews Sandy Diao, a growth leader who has scaled products to millions of users at companies like Descript, Meta, and Pinterest. Sandy shares her journey into growth, emphasizing the importance of understanding customer context alongside data when forming growth hypotheses. She discusses common mistakes founders make, such as copying competitors without considering their unique market and challenges in building effective growth organizations. Sandy also provides insights on channel fit, ROAS, and the balance between breadth and depth in channel strategy, as well as the role of SEO in a changing world of growth and AI. The conversation covers paid marketing, brand marketing, the significance of product launches, and the right time to make the first growth hire.