Growth Interview Series : #1 w/ Roy Povarchik
Roy Povarchik gives consulting to startups on growth hacking and content marketing in their journey to build products and services people love, use and recommend to friends.
Could you tell me a little bit about your background in Growth/Internet Marketing?
In 2007 I opened a PR firm for musicians. I started using social media (Back when MySpace was a big deal) to bypass the mainstream media who didn’t seem to care much about alternative artists.
I was about 20 years old, in my second year of my Psychology B.A, and I learnt how to code (basically) and design just to get my work done. From day one I knew that social media is about giving value and relationships, but I was also very focused on analytics and measuring results.
A year and a half later a musician client of mine asked me to use my social media expertise to help his startup the same way I helped musicians. That’s when I started working with startups. I evolved with content marketing as the field grew, adding to it what i’ve learnt form my Psychology degree, design skills and little engineering knowledge.
I was involved with every aspect to their product and user acquisition.
I’m happy they call it growth hacking today, back then I was just the annoying social media guy who kept bugging the designers and engineers with building features and making a better user experience for users so they’d use the product more.
Since then i’ve worked with quite a few startups. Some more successful some total failures. I loved them both.
How you got started with Growth?
I think I was always results and users oriented, and I would never take the results for granted. I would always try to improve what we were doing to get more users and increase their engagement with the different products. When you understand that results can vary depends on your efforts, you get that you have to test your different efforts.
Even when I was working with musicians I was really looking into their audiences in each show. I would look into how many people showed up, segment it to loyal vs. new audience and monitor it according to day of the week, time the show started, holidays etc.
I would A/B test anything we do to get better understanding of what brings in new audiences and how to get loyal fans to bring more friends to the next show.
When I started working with startups I did the same thing. I was always trying to get better understanding of what’s working and what’s not. I would measure our results, talk to users and improve the experience according to it.
For me, the growth process, in its essence is about understanding your users, providing them with real value and establishing a great communication channel with them. Doesn’t matter if it’s your blog, Intercom or Twitter.
What is a routine/day in the life of Roy Povarchik?
My day would usually start at 07:00AM, I will wake up , drink the first coffee of the day, take a shower and walk our dogs.
We have two of the most cutest female dogs ever. One is called Nici (because she looks like a Nici sheep) and the other one if Julie, named after Bright Eye’s main character in the song Lua. (You might think it’s irrelevant, but it’s a good excuse to post their picture and they’re real engagement boosters)
Then, I would spend about 30 minuets going over emails; If the answer takes less than two minuets i’ll answer right away, if not i’ll add it to my daily Trello list to answer later. Then, I go over my Asana projects and existing Trello tasks to prioritize my day’s tasks.
I break my day into 3 segments:
Business owner: All the boring stuff that has to do with running a business.
Project manager: Clients, managing freelancers, planning ahed etc.
Marketing / Sales: Content writing, meeting new startups, mentorship
I start my day with the more boring “business running” tasks so I can get them out of the way. I hate dealing with bureaucracy so I try to finish it off as fast as I can.
Then I dedicate about 2–3 hours a days to reading / creating new content. That includes gathering new ideas for posts , doing research, curating and scheduling content on Buffer, engaging on social media, learning new stuff, etc. On days when I publish new content I would dedicate about 3 hours to content promotion alone. I write about 4 posts (including guest posts) per week, so it takes time.
After that, I would do the ‘project manager / Consultant’ part of the day that includes meeting with clients or working with my team on the different projects we’re running.
I work with startups on all aspects of their growth, so it can mean analytics session, content marketing training and reviews etc.
That part of the day can end anytime between 19:00 — 23:00.
Why is growth hacking interesting?
What makes growth hacking really interesting for me, is that you really learn about people through building better products.
I mean, after you clean up all the different analytic methods, the pivot tables, the funnels and all, you understand that you are really dealing with human behaviours, feelings and needs. You get better understanding on what motivates us and what we really need.
If you break down Facebook’s growth you will get to point where you understand that people need to feel loved, and need to feel like they matter. Not that they have to write a new status updates. That’s just a symptom.
Growth hacking is basically using different methods to communicate with users, get them to trust and use your product and fall involve with it. Sure, we use different technical methods to get there, but in the end, you learn how to create and manipulate an emotion.
What fundamental technical skills would a Growth Hacker need to posses?
That’s a hard question to answer. I think that there are so many skills you can leverage as a growth hacker, and the list just keeps getting longer and longer.
I know some really hardcore tech growth hackers, some who are only great at SEO and PPC and some who perform miracles who expert only in content.
I think eventually you need someone who actually gets people, who is very analytical, creative and need to have an expertise in at least one of those traits but also understand the other options as well.
For example, I’m far from being a great paid acquisition hacker, though I know how to leverage the different acquisition / retargeting and other paid media hacks. That’s why I have someone in my team who’s one of the top experts in paid media.
No one can master all channels at the same level of expertise .
What are some good interview questions when hiring a growth hacker/internet marketer?
I usually give them a very simple task but than I put more focus on their process than the end result.
When I was working with Blonde 2.0 (Viber, Yo, Mobli), they had writing tests for new PR candidates. And I really loved that.
When I started interviewing people for my own team or for my clients I copied their writing sample approach, but with a twist.
I would ask my candidates for a writing sample on a popular topic they chose, but then I would go over the writing process with them and ask them How did they choose their topic, why is that angle better than other angles, keywords, target audience, etc.
Doing this the right way requires you to be analytical, write well, and be familiar with various marketing tools.
For me that was the best way to understand how someone thinks. That they didn’t only work on gut feeling but really got down and did the work.
Do you think internet marketer/growth hacker need to know how to code?
I think that in some time or another they’re going to have to learn some of the basics. Can’t say it’s a must have. You need to learn how to work your way through different technical obstacles, but I think being able to write / do research is more important.
What are the most productive ways to spend time on the internet for a Growth Person?
I would say read growthhackers.com and inbound.org for knowledge resources and inspiration, monitor producthunt.com to stay on top of new cool and useful tools and products, read high-quality blogs and always research for new acquisition channels.
It’s a very generic answer, but I think it sums things up pretty well. Learn, stay on top of things and look for new opportunities. And blog.
What advice to you have for someone who wants to build a career in growth?
READ EVERYTHING NEIL PATEL EVER WROTE!
Just kidding, The first thing I’d tell them is to go and build something — a nonsense product, a blog, whatever. Build and grow it. You need to have your first ‘something’ to experiment with and try to figure out how to grow it. That will get your creativity and curiosity juices flowing.
Next thing, i’d send them to learn how to write well, learn how to document experiment, master analytics, read at least 25 growth case studies to get the point and learn how to A/B test.
Failing to grow a product is the best way to really get you passionate about growth.
What’s the best way to contact you?
I check my email twice a day so I would say email. I’m also very responsive on Twitter @Roypovar, but I would just refer you to my email to have more coherent conversation.
