Elena Verna: evaluation

Transcript context

…I find there's often correlation between those two things, things that are maybe the most challenging in the moment end up being the most fulfilling down the road. We've been talking a lot about growth. I'd love to dive to a few topics around growth. You spend most of your career in B2B growth and especially like product-led bottom up growth companies, companies like Miro, SurveyMonkey, Mongo, Amplitude. So two questions. One is just, what is it about B2B growth that keeps pulling you in versus consumer products because oftentimes, that's where people want to go, where it's shiny and exciting? Then two, what have you seen change most in B2B product growth strategy? What's getting harder, what's getting easier, that kind of thing. Great question. I think B2B products can be and should be shiny and fun. The question is, why aren't they? Why have B2B space evolved in such a different way compared to B2C? Well, B2C product, you have to be shiny and exciting because you're marketing to user directly. In B2B, we've created the superficial ladder that enterprise buyer makes the decision for B2B products and they, not looking for shine, they're looking for utility, they're looking for efficiency, they're looking to solve a problem for their organization, but they're not even the users of the product in the first place. So the first wave of B2B products has been these cold interfaces, these enterprise feature checklists, these unusable products that anytime a user goes into it, they cannot wait to get out of it because they're not the ones making a decision. They're not the ones actually signing the check. They submitted their requirements elsewhere. What's amazing is that that's starting to break down, and in the last decade, that has changed tremendously. So now, most of the decision making power of what's going to be used in B2B has been pushed back on prosumer, on that employee to make that choice. So a lot of the new wave of B2B products are shiny and fun, and they're consumer-like in terms of how they work, what feelings they invoke in you, how much habits they built with you, and how much they're part of your life. So I'm excited to work in B2B because we're finally correcting the industry. Instead of going and fulfilling some enterprise blind checklist, we're actually working towards creating fantastic experiences, and not only working it from efficient, now we're working on effectiveness. It's not that I'm able to do the job at the good cost, it's that I'm able to make you better and then make your life better. You as an employee, you'll be better. You'll be more productive. You'll be more powerful. You'll be more successful. I love that that transition is happening. I think we have so much to learn from B2C space, and I'm very excited that we finally have moved into direction of consumerization of B2B. What are some examples of B2B product consumerization? It's like an onboarding experience, the design. What are some elements that you found to be effective for bringing consumer experiences into B2B?…

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