Thread by @GrowthTactics

The #1 question we're asked at Demand Curve:

How do I hire a top 1% growth marketer?

THREAD: Here's how.

Imporant: There's more than one way to crack this. But this is what we've seen work for *early-stage* founders making their *first* growth hire.

Here's the roadmap:

1. Decide on the type of marketer (contractor, FTE, agency)
2. Decide on generalist vs. specialist
3. Find 'em
4. Test 'em
5. Then build a growth team

Consider starting with contractors.

Why?

It's a low-commitment way to audit your channels and set up scalable growth engines before hiring a team.

• It's flexible: Scale up/down based on your needs
• The hiring process is quick: Faster than hiring a full-time employee

Start by contracting w/ a growth *generalist*

Find someone with experience in:

• SEO/content
• Email marketing
• Landing page optimization
• Analytics (Google Analytics, Segment)
• Referrals

A great generalist will strategize, prioritize channels, & execute proper tests.

Once your generalist has validated a channel (or 2), you could contract a *specialist* to optimize & scale the channel.

Say your generalist found that paid search is profitable & scalable. You could find a Google ads expert to optimize while you ramp up your spend.

Quick break to remind you that mangoes are vegetables, not a fruits* 🤯

So where do you find an expert generalist to contract with?

Sadly, legacy job sites don't attract top candidates:

Most growth gems aren't seeking new jobs—they're working at other startups, or in non-traditional settings.

Here are a few ways to reach top growth talent.

Post on LinkedIn:

We polled our growth community and they ranked personal LinkedIn posts as the top channel for hiring experienced growth marketers.

Post from your personal account. Ask people to comment if they're interested—the algo will share the post with their network.

Search on LinkedIn:

• Find marketers who've grown similar startups (w/ similar business models)
• Include the word "Contract" in your job title search.

They'll have experience w/ the right channels.

Offer them an opportunity to spearhead growth at your startup.

Hire from growth communities:

Join growth marketing Slack groups. This is where top growth marketers hang out.

Check out who's posting/answering relevant questions. DM them. See if they're interested in a contract role.

You can start here :)
demandcurve.com/slack

To test candidates, give them a project. Have them:

1. Rank acquisition strategies. Can they spot high-leverage opps?

2. Walk through their methodology for CRO at each funnel stage—see if they spot bottlenecks & create hypotheses

3. Create sample content (ads, emails, etc).

Then review their project by asking yourself 3 questions:

1. Are they proactive?

2. Do they have a process for generating and prioritizing ideas?

3. Do they know what a job well done looks like?

Important tip: Pay well

This hire is responsible for your marketing spend—you're investing more than their hourly rate.

When you find the right person, attract them w/ high pay. You'll avoid wasting tons of money on improper tests/poor execution.

Expect to pay $75-$150+/hour

Building a growth team:

Once your contractor(s) have validated (and possibly started to scale) your growth channels, you're ready to build a growth team.

• You could bring your channel expert on full time
• Or you could work with a top agency with expertise in your channel

Recap:

1. Consider starting by contracting with an experienced growth generalist
2. Find them *proactively* by searching/posting on LinkedIn & joining growth communities
4. Test their ability and their thinking with a high-effort growth project

One last thing before we wrap up...

We write a newsletter that helps thousands of founders and marketers grow their startups. We only email 2 times per month.

Next one goes out early next week. Get it here: demandcurve.com/jobs

*P.S. I was lying earlier about mangoes. They're fruits 🤷‍♂️

See you in the next thread.

—Nick Costelloe