Elena Verna

Growth, Dropbox

You can find more about me here: https://elenaverna.lovable.app/

Interim, Head of Growth

Lovable is turning 1🥳 and we just crossed $200m ARR 🤯. It’s wild. And not because the number is big, but because of how it happened. No giant sales org. Not a huge team (we are still under 100 peeps total). Not based in the heart of Silicon Valley. No endless paid marketing campaigns burning cash. Just product doing the heavy lifting like it always should.

Turns out when you focus on shipping fast, surprising people, and making software feel human again, the market pulls you forward. Builders talk, show/share what they make, and spread the word. The only other things that reliably worked for us were influencer marketing and giving the product away through freemium and every hackathon running on Lovable. It’s messy, nonlinear, and way more fun than the old playbook.

What I’m most proud of: this isn’t a growth theater. This is actual usage compounding. Real people building real things and telling their friends because they wanted to.

If you’re still treating growth like a channel optimization problem, you’re already behind. The most reliable engine is product that creates stories worth retelling. That’s what got us to 200m. And honestly, it feels like we’re just getting started.

#growth #lovable

Annual planning be like:
1. december: we start acting like psychics who specialize in ARR
2. we are given a number to hit
3. we build the plan
4. we rebuild the plan. and again. and again. and again. and again.
5. pre-reads, meetings, alignment about alignment. daily standups. 
6. we lose track of which version is “the plan”
(Its mid-Jan already) 
7. 40 slides. 6 pillars. 12 bets.
8. v27_final_final_FINAL.pptx becomes scripture
9. internal comms enters, now we need a comms plan for the plan
10. board hears the plan, no turning back
11. targets assigned like a chore wheel
12. Q1: always foundational work. Q2/Q3: the big stuff is coming. growth!
(last year? deleted from memory)
13. Q1 is running behind. 
14. big bets pushed to q3/q4 (q2 = still “foundations”)
15. we feverishly watch for “green shoots”
16. tech debt appears, migrations “almost done”
17. “need more time”
18. hockey stick expected to begin in Q4
19. “we can still hit the budget!”
20. there’s no way we can hit the budget. 
21. some executive exits
22. we promise to be realistic next year
23. someone proposes a new planning framework to fix everything
24. it’s December again. we become ARR psychics. 
#planning

I’m about six months into Lovable, but it honestly feels like six years. In a good way. I haven’t felt a learning curve like this since I was still climbing early-career rungs.

(I joined when we were just under $45m in ARR. We just announced hitting $200M - just 4 months after hitting $100M 😅)

My previous growth playbook carried me through roles where most of my job was tuning funnels and scaling established loops. Not here. Maybe 30-40% of what I knew still applies. The rest I’ve had to unlearn.  

Here’s what I’m seeing:

- Growth is now about launching new “features” and product surfaces, not just fine-tuning what exists.  

- Traditional marketing is still useful, but it’s no longer the main lever - product, virality, creator economies and community matter more.  

- The growth surface has collapsed: fewer knobs on the UI, more focus on model quality, embedded growth in product itself.  

- We’re racing on a moving treadmill: product-market fit isn’t a one-time milestone, it’s a continuous state in this AI era.  

- Roles are blending; structures are messy; you *must* author your role and navigate the ambiguity.  

Bottom-line: The current environment rewards people who can create clarity instead of waiting for it. 

⚡️Want to learn more about landing a job in AI company? Join a FREE webinar Sidebar is hosting with me this upcoming Monday!  Details on my blog post. 

Read more on my blog: https://lnkd.in/eXYVn5j3

Webinar sign-up: https://luma.com/l4575cls

#growth

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SheBuilds on Lovable buildathon applications are open again!!! A buildathon created for women, by women. Will you be there!!?

SheBuilds on Lovable is for every woman who’s had a product idea strike while feeding the kids, between meetings, on a run, during school pickup, and thought, “if only I had the skills, time, or help.”

Good news: The time is *now*. And no coding skills are required!

You will join hundreds of other women, get 48 hours, build your idea, and we give you unlimited credits to make it happen. Together. We will support you. We will lift you up. YOU. WILL. SHIP!

I want women shipping apps that solve real problems they care about. Tools that help your community, your household, your kids, your parents, you business (and yea, make money). 

🔥 Because when women build, world gets better. 

Ladies, let's go build something nobody saw coming 💃 

Important deets:
1. 48 hour buildathon is Dec 15-17
2. applications close in 48 hours, on Nov 26th.

3. APPLY HERE: ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gpzsUR-R ⬅️ 
(if you've applied before, apply again!) 
-> you must have a Lovable account to apply

4. we’re selecting ~200 participants across 3 categories: business app, consumer app, and social impact 

5.  prizes: 5K lovable credits, mentorship from me, memories to last a lifetime, and a community that will absolutely change your trajectory

Season 1 was a blast. Season 2 is going to be even better. Don’t miss it!

P.S. Who runs the world???

#lovable #womenintech

Introducing… Lovable Missions - the easiest way to learn how to vibe code an app from scratch! Because if you’ve ever opened Lovable, saw the prompt box, and immediately wondered where the adult supervision went… this is your moment.

-> https://lnkd.in/eVinJDdS

We basically turned app building into GPS for builders: copy prompt, turn left, add a feature, arrive at app greatness.

Just pick your route: 
-> Landing page to catch that sweet sweet traffic before it runs away
-> Kanban board for the type A folks who color code their color coding
-> Lead capture for harvesting them MQLs 
-> AI chat bot that won’t gaslight you
aaaand more!

How it works: Grab an example app, follow the step by step prompts or watch the video, tweak it however you want, and prepare to shock yourself.

Warning: vibe coding is dangerously addicting. Side effects may include zero sleep, unsolicited app demos to friends, and the sudden belief that you possess superpowers.

Go build something. Now. 

P.S. This app is 100% vibe coded on Lovable. #EverythingIsPossible
#lovableway

behold… your 2026 annual planning bingo card.
I'm sorry to say, but... our business problems aren’t unique. neither are the solutions we keep pitching every december (just more AI this year than ever before). 
how many bingos can you hit? 
#corporatelife #tech

FishmanAF Newsletter

Author, FishmanAF Newsletter

Splash Inc.

Advise the SplashSports founders and team on all things product-led growth.

Advisor

Startup Dad Podcast

I’m the creator and host of the Startup Dad podcast -  a weekly conversation with leaders, entrepreneurs, founders and executives where instead of talking about how they’re “killing it” at work we talk about fatherhood and parenting.

Host

Table22

Table22 helps hundreds of hospitality merchants around the U.S. to build and launch subscription businesses to their consumers.

Board Member

20Growth

Investing alongside 8 of the top operators in Growth.

Investor

Modern Animal

Reforge

Built Growth Leadership; one of the most popular courses at Reforge with the highest NPS of any program.

Reforge Partner

Executive In Residence

Mozilla

Working with the Firefox team to unlock growth.

May'24: Interim SVP of New Products
Oversee the new and emerging product areas at Mozilla, including innovation, safety and identity, and AI.

Feb '24 - May '24: Growth and Product Strategy Advisor
Working with executives at Mozilla to shape their growth and product strategy and translate that into great execution.

Interim - SVP of New Products

TrustedHousesitters

Worked with the THS team to solidify growth strategy, identify growth loops and assisted in their successful fundraising narrative.

Ziina زينة

Advise Ziina on growth and product - acquisition, growth loops, retention and overall product experience

Product and Growth leader across both B2C and B2B. I help founders, CEOs and other executives with all things growth and product management, including growth loops, acquisition/retention/monetization, onboarding, experimentation, analytics, building durable product strategy and execution, and team management / coaching. Have worked at: ResortPass, Patreon, Lyft, Mozilla, Imperfect Foods, WyzAnt, Shutterfly, Kodak, Expedia, Hotwire and more. 

Write things at fishmanafnewsletter.com
Talk about fatherhood and company building at startupdadpod.com

Results delivered by me and my teams:
- 4x revenue growth at Imperfect in one year
- Growing Patreon to $1B in annual GMV (10x from when joined) and taking the business international
- 1.5x'd ResortPass annual revenue in 3 months
- Built new product strategy and execution process for Mozilla
- Starting and leading Lyft's growth org for the first 3 years; taking us from 1 city in 2012 to 70+ cities.
- Building company, product or growth strategy for: Lyft, Patreon, ImperfectFoods, ResortPass, ManyChat, and more.

Adam Fishman

80% of heterosexual couples are "woman-led" when it comes to cognitive labor and most don't even realize it.

That fact is from my latest Startup Dad conversation with Allison Daminger - sociologist, author, and associate professor at UW-Madison. She spent 8 years interviewing 170 people (nearly 100 couples) about the invisible work that keeps households running. Not just the physical tasks, but the mental project management: anticipating needs, identifying options, deciding, and following up.

My takeaways:

👻 The work IS actually invisible
Even to the people doing it. Cognitive labor doesn't translate well into hours. It's the mental ping at 10:30 PM that "flu shots need scheduling" or "we're out of toilet paper." You can't turn off these notifications in your brain.

🦸 The "bumbler and superhuman" dynamic is real
In woman-led households, she's described as "type A" and "always two steps ahead." He's "laid back" and "goes with the flow." The same dad who can't notice they’re out of diapers or remember to buy milk often runs complex operations at work requiring extensive executive function.

⛔ It's not actually about personality
Couples rationalize inequality by saying "she's just better at this stuff." But when Allison looked at the data, these "personality differences" were almost perfectly correlated with gender.

🪤 The parental leave trap is predictable
The birthing parent stays home longer, becomes the "expert," and a pattern gets locked in that's incredibly difficult to break. Early days create sticky dynamics that compound over time.

⚖️ Balance is possible but requires intention
The balanced and male-led households Allison studied weren't accidents. They involved ongoing conversations about values, regular check-ins about the division of labor, and a willingness to let the non-default parent build skills… even if it's messy at first.

Links:

Youtube - https://lnkd.in/gb769irz

Spotify - https://lnkd.in/gpCZ-F2E

Apple -https://lnkd.in/gJF8q4g7

Advisor for Product and Growth | Investing with 20Growth | FishmanAFNewsletter.com | StartupDadPod.com

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