Hey folks! 👋

Here’s what you’ll find in today’s edition of the Product-Led Geek:

• Discover the 12 core traits of high-impact growth teams: Uncover the specific habits and practices that set apart the top performers from the rest.

  Identify your team's growth archetype: Find out if your team is stuck in "Stagnant Learning" or poised for "Activated Learning" and what that means for your growth.

  Take the Product-Led Geek Learning Velocity Index: Get a personalised assessment of your team's capabilities and receive actionable insights to boost your growth velocity.

Shortcuts:

GEEK LINKS | GEEK OUT | GEEK OF THE WEEK

Total reading time: 5 minutes

Let’s go!

TOGETHER WITH DOVETAIL

Dovetail’s biggest launch is coming in October - and you’re invited!

Get ready for the next generation of customer insights. Dovetail is launching tons of new features and THREE new products that each leverage AI to its cutting-edge capacity. To celebrate this momentous milestone, you’re invited to:

• Exclusive in-person and online launch events

• Sneak peeks and early access to the new products

• Q&As with our product team and founder

Plus special promotions and premium content. If you want to know what the future of AI-powered customer insights looks like - sign up to our waitlist and we’ll keep you in the loop for our events and more!

Please support our sponsors!

GEEK LINKS

5 bookmark-worthy links:

• The DNA of a Great Pricing Page

• What People Want To Read

• The Emerging Startup Playbook

• Leveraging Opinionated Defaults to Power Growth

• Playing Game One

GEEK OUT

12 Characteristics of High-Impact Growth Teams

Following up on my last newsletter where I introduced the concept of Leveraged Learning Velocity, today I want to dive deeper into what sets the best growth teams apart.

Over the years I've identified 12 key characteristics that consistently show up in high-performing growth teams.

These teams have mastered both the art and science of rapid learning and the ability to leverage those learnings for maximum impact.

You can break these 12 things down into our two categories: Learning and Leverage.

LEARNING Characteristics

They Experiment Frequently

High-velocity growth teams are experimentation machines. They don't waste time debating hypotheticals, and they are very selective when it comes to leaning into intuition. They rapidly test their assumptions, collect data, and iterate based on what they learn. The gold standard here is running 8+ experiments a quarter.

They Proactively Discover User/Customer Insights

These teams don't wait for problems to arise or rely solely on quantitative data. They actively seek qualitative insights directly from their users and customers, fuelling a deeper understanding of user needs, pain points, emerging trends, and opportunities for innovation. The best teams are doing this on a weekly basis or more often.

They Consistently Analyse Experiment Outcomes

High-velocity growth teams learn from every outcome - win or lose. By consistently analysing both successes and setbacks, they gain a deeper understanding of what drives growth, can more easily identify areas for iteration and improvement, and continuously refine their approach.

They Rapidly Adapt Execution Based on Learnings

These teams don't cling to outdated plans or resist change. When they uncover a new insight—whether positive or negative—they can adjust their plans and reallocate resources with remarkable speed. The most agile teams are able to adjust their plans within a week.

They Respond Positively to Failed Experiments:

High-performing teams don't just tolerate failure; they embrace it as an essential part of the learning process. They conduct blameless post-mortems to dissect what went wrong, extract valuable lessons, and apply those insights to future experiments and growth initiatives.

They Share Ideas Freely

Great growth teams cultivate a culture of psychological safety, where team members feel comfortable sharing even their wildest, riskiest ideas without fear of judgment, ridicule, or negative consequences. This open exchange of ideas is a breeding ground for breakthroughs.

LEVERAGE Characteristics

They Make Data-Informed Decisions

Data isn't just for analysts – it's the lifeblood of high-velocity growth teams. They use data to inform every decision, from identifying growth opportunities to validating their hypotheses to measuring the impact of their efforts. In the best growth teams I’ve seen, they’re running 8 or more initiatives per quarter that are directly informed by user or customer data.

They Regularly Reflect on Learnings

The best growth teams don't wait for quarterly business reviews to analyse their progress. They build regular review sessions into their process, whether it's a weekly meeting or a dedicated sprint, to examine what's working, what's not, and why. Top teams do this on a weekly basis.

They Proactively Share Learnings Across Teams

High-performing teams understand that knowledge is a multiplier. They don't hoard their learnings; they actively share them with other teams and departments. Whether it's through regular reports, internal presentations, or automated updates in Slack, they make it easy for others to benefit from their insights.

They Enable Cross-Team Efforts based on Learnings

Rapidly disseminating and implementing learnings across the organisation creates a powerful multiplier effect. When a successful experiment in one area quickly informs and improves other teams' work, it accelerates overall growth and avoids redundant effort. Gold standard is being able to see implemented work in other teams within 2 weeks of learnings being shared with them.

They Build Effective Knowledge Systems

To truly make learning a competitive advantage, you need to make it stick. High-velocity growth teams implement systems and tools to capture their learnings systematically. They go beyond that in creating systems for surfacing learnings in the right context and disseminating them so they can be leveraged by others. Best in class is the use of a dedicated knowledge management tool where learnings are tagged and easily searchable, and relevant past learnings are automatically surfaced when planning new experiments.

They Involve Leaders in Learning Discussions

The most successful learning cultures are driven from the top down. In the best teams, leaders don't just talk about the importance of learning; they actively participate in the process. They regularly solicit insights from their teams, ask insightful questions, and create an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing both successes and failures.

The Learning x Leverage Matrix

Now that we've explored these 12 key characteristics, you might be wondering how they all fit together.

That's where the Learning x Leverage Matrix comes in.

The matrix is divided into three key quadrants (the fourth is unrealistic) each representing a distinct team profile:

1. Stagnant Learning

   • What happens when both learning and leverage are low?

   • How might this impact your team's growth trajectory?

2. Wasted Learning

   • What if your team is great at learning but struggles to put those insights into action?

   • Could your team be sitting on a goldmine of untapped potential?

3. Activated Learning

   • What does it look like when a team excels at both learning and leveraging insights?

   • How might this create improved growth impact in your business?

The fourth quadrant (low learning with high leverage) isn’t really feasible.

Introducing: The Product-Led Geek Learning Velocity Index

Now, you might be wondering,

• How does my team stack up against these characteristics?

• Where does my team fall on the matrix?

• What might be holding us back from reaching the "Activated Learning" quadrant?

That's exactly why I've developed the Product-Led Geek Learning Velocity Index.

This index is a simple self-assessment tool designed to help you gauge your team's ability to rapidly leverage learnings for growth impact.

It's based on these 12 key characteristics, providing you with a clear picture of your strengths and areas for improvement across the crucial dimensions of LEARNING and LEVERAGE.

By using this index, you'll be able to:

• Assess your team's current learning and leverage capabilities

• Identify specific areas where you can improve

• Get actionable insights to boost your Leveraged Learning Velocity

Take the assessment (it’s completely free and takes just 2 minutes), see where your team stands, and start your journey towards becoming a high-learning-velocity growth team.

You’ll get instant results as well as an email for reference.

The ability to learn and adapt quickly isn't just an advantage – it's a necessity.

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences as you use the index.

Feel free to reach out and share your insights or ask any questions.

Here's to faster learning, leverage and growth!

GEEK OF THE WEEK

What's the most impactful piece of user feedback you've ever received?

THAT’S A WRAP

Before you go, here are 3 ways I can help:

Take the FREE Learning Velocity Index assessment - Discover how your team's ability to learn and leverage learnings stacks up in the product-led world. Takes 2 minutes and you get free advice.

Book a free 1:1 consultation call with me - I keep a handful of slots open each week for founders and product growth leaders to explore working together and get some free advice along the way. Book a call.

Sponsor this newsletter - Reach over 7000 founders, leaders and operators working in product and growth at some of the world’s best tech companies including Paypal, Adobe, Canva, Miro, Amplitude, Google, Meta, Tailscale, Twilio and Salesforce.

That’s all for today,

If there are any product, growth or leadership topics that you’d like me to write about, just hit reply to this email or leave a comment and let me know!

And if you enjoyed this post, consider upgrading to a VIG Membership to get the full Product-Led Geek experience and access to every post in the archive including all guides.

Until next time!

— Ben

PS: Thanks again to our sponsor: Dovetail