20Growth: How to Use Influencers to Scale Growth Insanely Fast | How to Optimise User Onboaring for Growth | How the Best Growth Teams Create Organic Growth and Community | Why LTV/CAC Models are BS with Ketty Slonimsky
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this episode, Harry Stebbins interviews Keti Slunitsky, Chief Growth Officer at Palta, the platform behind successful apps like Flow (77M MAU), Simple, and Zing.ai. (02:30) Keti reveals how Palta operates as a venture builder, targeting red ocean categories with existing $100M+ ARR players and outbuilding them through superior products and rapid scaling. The conversation explores Palta's centralized growth function, their sophisticated web onboarding strategy that captures 80% of subscribers while avoiding Apple's 30% fee, and their creative factory approach that produces hundreds of ad variations weekly. (39:00) Key themes include the evolution of growth from small optimizations to building defensible moats, the importance of analytical yet sales-oriented mindsets, and why paid acquisition strategies must run parallel with organic growth loops from day one.
• Main Theme: Building scalable growth machines in mature markets through data-driven experimentation, sophisticated funnels, and cross-portfolio learning while maintaining focus on core use cases and natural retention patterns.
Speakers
Keti Slunitsky
Chief Growth Officer at Palta, the platform behind apps like Flow (the #1 female health app with 77M MAU), Simple, and Zing.ai, where she leads a centralized growth function across the portfolio. Previously served as the first VP of Product and Growth at HelloSX, a £900M ARR bootstrapped D2C health tech business. She has over 20 years of experience in growth, having started in marketing before transitioning to conversion optimization (now called product-led growth) 15 years ago. Keti has also advised companies including SonderMind, Runner, Guardio, and Cheddar.
Harry Stebbings
Host of the 20Growth podcast and managing partner at 20VC. Harry focuses on analyzing how the best growth leaders build teams, run experiments, and execute at the highest levels. He regularly interviews top growth professionals and venture capitalists to uncover actionable insights for ambitious professionals seeking mastery in their fields.
Key Takeaways
Success in Growth Requires Both Analytical and Sales Skills
Keti emphasizes that effective growth professionals must be both analytical and "salesy" simultaneously. (06:21) This combination is crucial because growth often involves warming up cold leads through sophisticated funnels - like Palta's web onboardings that can span up to 100 landing pages before users even download an app. The analytical side helps with data-driven decision making and experiment design, while the sales component ensures you can craft compelling narratives that convert users who have never seen your product. This dual skillset is particularly important in mature markets where you're competing against established players with significant resources.
Web Onboarding Drives Superior Unit Economics
Web onboarding captures 80% of Palta's new subscribers across most portfolio companies, avoiding Apple's 30% fee while driving higher retention and allowing premium pricing. (13:58) The strategy works because credit card payments on web naturally drive higher attention spans, users perceive pricing differently on web versus mobile, and attribution is clearer for user acquisition optimization. However, Keti warns against over-investing in funnels at the expense of product development, as this can lead to a "funnel business" that VCs won't back and unlikely to achieve IPO-scale valuations. The key is balancing sophisticated acquisition mechanics with genuine product value.
Test Everything, But Apply Palta Models for Early Guidance
When testing new ideas early-stage, use existing portfolio models and benchmarks while maintaining healthy skepticism about projections. (31:27) Keti explains they apply Palta's LTV models to new ventures but keep significant buffer space - if they're seeing 140% ROAS initially, they prepare for it to potentially drop to 110% or even 90% as real data emerges. Different channels bring vastly different user quality, with TikTok often delivering lower LTV users that can push unit economics below breakeven. The lesson is to use historical data as guidance while running rigorous tests and maintaining conservative assumptions about long-term performance.
Creative Volume and Velocity Trump Quality in Paid Acquisition
Success on platforms like TikTok requires launching around 1,000 creatives per week, with Meta needing hundreds of variations to achieve scale. (33:37) Palta operates a "creative factory" using AI tools like Midjourney and Veo, with 70% being permutations of successful concepts and 30% entirely new formats. The strategy involves varying hooks, bodies, and CTAs across all dimensions to find winning combinations. Static ads shouldn't be underestimated - Flow achieves 50% of their results through static creatives, which are cheaper and easier to produce than videos. This high-volume approach is essential for algorithm optimization and discovering what resonates with different audience segments.
Hire Young, Hungry Growth Talent Over Silicon Valley Veterans
When building growth teams, prioritize hungry, smart, and proactive individuals over expensive Silicon Valley veterans who may lack motivation for hands-on work. (43:26) Keti argues that seasoned professionals from best-in-class companies often don't have the dedication needed for lean team environments and basic infrastructure building that early-stage companies require. Instead, look for builders who thrive in ambiguity and are willing to rebuild systems quarterly as markets evolve. The ideal candidates are those who can adapt quickly, run experiments at speed, and aren't afraid to do "dirty work" - essential qualities that become more valuable than prestigious resumes in fast-moving growth environments.
Statistics & Facts
- Palta is projected to hit $550 million in revenue this year while growing 50%+ annually, with portfolio companies like Flow having 77 million MAU and 6 million active subscribers with 80%+ second-year retention. (08:42)
- 80% of Palta's new subscribers come through web onboarding across most portfolio companies, with Flow being the exception at a 50/50 split between web and mobile acquisition. (24:26)
- TikTok requires 3x more creatives than Meta to achieve scale, with Palta's creative factory producing around 1,000 creatives per week using AI tools when scaled up from their baseline of hundreds per week. (33:37)
