Kate Syuma

Growthmates

Growthmates is a platform and an advising practice that guides companies in growing meaningful products by leveraging PLG and enhancing UX quality, together.

Growthmates podcast, newsletter, and industry reports featured leaders from companies like:
— Dropbox
— Canva 
— HubSpot
— Adobe
— Amplitude

Clients are coming from companies like:
— Intercom 
— Loom
— Mentimeter
— Beautiful.ai
…and more

Explore collaboration options →  growthmates.club

Founder | Growth Advisor | PLG, Activation, UX

Maven

— NEW course: User-centric Product Growth: Build your Roadmap
— Created the "Self-serve User Onboarding" course
— Course passed 50+ people from Intercom, Gramamrly, Wistia, and more
— Featured on Maven TOP-100 courses in Product Category

Partner | Growth Product

Manychat

Supported the Growth Motion at Manychat by:
— forming and up-skilling the Growth team
— providing advice to the Growth team to inform ongoing Growth initiatives 
— uncovering opportunities for PLG Activation (in-product flows and lifecycle communications)

Growth Advisor

Antler

Supported 10+ startups worldwide as a part of the Antler advisory community. Provided advice on:
— PLG (Product Led Growth): introducing PLG strategy and opportunities for business growth
— Product Discovery and User Research: finding the right methods to inform the product strategy
— Product-led Acquisition, Activation, Engagement, Monetisation: finding relevant leverages and combining them with clean UX to grow the business
— Onboarding flow: uncovering opportunities to uplift Activation
— Business model design: finding the right model for Monetisation (e.g. Free Trial, Freemium)

Advisor

Miro

Supported the Growth at Miro through the stages of a startup to hyper-growth, and business at scale: 50→1800+ employees, 1→50 mln users, 1→11 hubs globally, 3→55 designers, 5→170+ people in the Growth stream. Now Miro is a high-performing B2B SaaS with a $17.5B valuation (January 2022), 99% of the Fortune 100 trust Miro.

📌 Key results:

[1] Co-led and strategized the initiatives in the Growth stream, covering Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Monetisation, and Community Platforms that led to sustainable business and ARR growth. Supported the scale of the Growth stream at Miro from 1 team to a business unit of 5 sub-streams (170+ individuals). 

[2] Scaled the team from 1 to 11 diverse Product and Content designers in the Growth stream.

[3] Led and strategized design efforts for “0 to 1” strategic initiatives, such as Miroverse, Self-serve Monetisation, and Onboarding experience. 

[4] Redesigned the Business model to launch Freemium as a foundation for sustainable PLG (Product-led Growth). 

[5] Established the design processes for effective collaboration: Experiments reflections, Growth Design Jams, Growth Design Sprint, UXR, and Design discovery.  

[6] Co-led the launch of the Localisation program to help Miro become global. 

[7] Established Career development frameworks and improved the calibration process for the 55+ designer org.

Head of Growth Product Design

After combining design leadership with the IC role for a while, I took the responsibility of building the Growth Design Team at Miro from scratch.

📌 Key results:

[1] Scaled and up-skilled the design team from 1 to 7 Product designers (Middle and Senior ICs) for the Growth stream: Acquisition, Retention, Monetisation, Community Platforms, and Professional Services. 

[2] Led the designers across 5 sub-streams to deliver solutions for Product Acquisition, Sharing Experience, Activation, Onboarding experience, Visual Learning Center, Templates experience, Monetisation CR triggers, etc.

[3] Co-led and established the Hiring Framework for the entire Design organisation. 

[4] Co-created with Growth Product Leaders new strategies: Pre-products, Community-led Growth, Viral loops, and Templates. 

[5] Led Miro.design project as a reflection of Miro design team and culture.

Product Design Manager, Growth

📌 Key results: 

[1] Led design efforts for Product Acquisition, Sharing Experience, Activation, Onboarding experience, Visual Learning Center, Templates experience, Monetisation, etc.

[2] Introduced User Research process at Miro to discover and validate experiences for Mind Map, Visual Notes, Smart search, and Notifications. 

[3] Designed end-to-end and launched the first version of Miroverse that became a standalone platform for Community-led Growth.

[4] Designed 100+ experiments with end-to-end experience in Acquisition, Activation, Engagement, Monetization, and Hand-raisers teams

[5] Redesigned the Business model to launch Freemium as a foundation for sustainable PLG (Product-led Growth).

[6] Established the Onboarding process for new designers to support the growth of the design team

Lead Product Designer (Growth and User Research) 

📌 Key results:

[1] As a founding designer in the Growth team and 3rd designer at Miro, covered the end-to-end design for 3 strategic domains: Growth, Enterprise, and Design System. 

[2] Designed end-to-end experience for Pricing & Billing to introduce the Self-serve model.

[3] Designed end-to-end experience for Advanced User Management, Integrations, and Settings panel to improve the experience for Enterprise customers.

[4] Led the design and engineering effort for the first version of the Design system at Miro.

Product Designer (Growth, Enterprise and Design System)

Maugry

Maugry is an IT consulting agency focused on creating mobile applications for new technological projects. 

I was responsible for creating an end-to-end experience for a mobile app (iOS and Android) for the Historical Regional Museum. As a result, I covered CJM, Navigation patterns, Design system, and Visual language and provided the final deliverables to the client.

User Experience Designer

Vitamin Group

Vitamin Group is a design agency focused on creating mobile and web applications for various business needs.

I was doing an internship project focused on UX audit, navigation, and IA improvements for the Business & Data Analytics platform. As a result, I uncovered multiple UI and UX improvements to level up the platform's usability to make it ready for "go-to-market".

UX Designer

Freelance

Partnered with startup founders to design the UI/UX for various mobile apps (iOS and Android).

UI/UX designer

Marketing boutique agency

As a Digital designer, I was working in a boutique marketing agency and focused on creating visual identities, branding, and marketing materials for various companies.

Digital Designer 

Kate Syuma is a Growth Advisor, ex-Miro Head of Growth Design, where she started as a founding member in a Growth Team, and passed through hypergrowth from Startup (50 people) to Series C Unicorn (≈2000 people, $17.5B valuation). 

Currently, as a Founder at Growthmates, Kate creates a platform for learning from industry leaders and an advising practice that guides companies in growing meaningful products by leveraging PLG and enhancing UX quality, together.

Learn more on growthmates.club

At 27, I left my 6-figure role at Miro without a plan B.

Here’s what happened next →

- I made an announcement on LinkedIn 
- Gained eyeballs from companies like Intercom and Grammarly
- Said no to full-time. Used the moment for soft pitches
- Manychat became my first advisory client
- The rest became long-term relationships
- Launched a podcast and invited them to share knowledge
- Built credibility + experience through it
- Invested time in a high-value lead magnet (Growthmates Playbook)
- Launched it free → ~2,000 subscribers joined
- Turned them into warm leads → which led to clients

If you’re in the same place, here’s a 60-day roadmap 👇

Weeks 1-2: Clarity

- Choose 1–2 themes you’d happily study for years.
- Not “what’s trending.” What you can’t stop researching.

This becomes your voice.

Weeks 3-4: Announce yourself

- Post your “I’ve left / I’m building” announcement.
- Don’t make it vague. Defining your clear positioning is key.
- Eg: I positioned myself as an expert in PLG ✕ UX intersection.

Weeks 5-6: Run a referral sprint

- Reach out to 10 people you know and trust.
- Ask for introductions to 1–2 people who’d benefit from your skills.
- Warm intros have a high chance of conversion.

That’s how you land your first clients without aggressive cold DMs.
This moment is a magnet for opportunities.

Weeks 7-8: Build your first asset

- Create a lead magnet (playbook/teardown).
- Make it Free - this is about awareness building.
- What matters is proving people want your way of thinking.

Main takeaway?

- Announcements done right = free and relevant inbound.
- Invest time in high-value assets for your audience.
- Relationships scale further than transactions.

Sometimes, no plan B is all you need to figure it out 😉

P.S. Planning to become a solopreneur? 

Drop your questions in the comments. I’ll share what I wish I’d known. 🔥

Growth Advisor, ex-Miro | Founder at Growthmates | PLG · Onboarding · UX

I’m 29. I run a one-person business from Amsterdam 👋

Before this, I spent 6 years as Head of Growth Design at Miro.

Now I wear every hat myself:

- Founder of Growthmates 
- Growth advisor for startups & founders
- Running a course on PLG & user-centric growth on Maven
- Helping teams improve activation & retention

Here’s what that looks like day to day 👇

- I keep my schedule intentionally spacious:
- 10 am - Reading (fuel for ideas for me)
- 11 am - Emails & comms
- 12–1 pm - Content work
- 1–2 pm - Lunch
- 2–3 pm - Client sessions
- 3–5 pm - Creative work (course materials or a free slot on Fridays)

Max 90 minutes of calls per day. The rest is deep work.

The tools I use: 

- Notion - content schedule & client agendas
- Granola - meeting recaps & summaries
- Loom - async collaboration (no endless Zooms)
- Figma - content assets and slide decks
- Mobbin - UX inspiration library
- Slack - chats with my content team
- Calendly - meetings made easy
- Framer - my website
- LinkedIn - my main growth & sales channel

I don’t pay for any kind of ads to promote my business. Instead, I:

- 100% build in public → content is my lead engine 
- Share insights on product growth openly here
- Break down frameworks I use with clients

Running solo looks like a 'dream' from the outside.

But it has its own share of ups and downs, like:

- You have no safety net.
- Every win (and mistake) is 100% on you.

Still, I wouldn’t trade it.

Because every day feels aligned with the life I actually want to live.

P.S I’ll be answering any questions you have about solopreneurship in the comments. Fire away 🔥

7 Landing page evolutions that made Notion a $10B brand.
I analysed 6 years of Notion’s landing page from 2019 to 2025.

Now I’m giving it away for FREE.

📌 What’s inside:

→ Every landing page from 2019–2025
→ Section-by-section breakdown of each page
→ Evolution from indie → enterprise → AI era

🎁 Want access to the full teardown?

🚨 𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄: I can’t send DMs to everyone, so now it's in my weekly newsletter. The board is at the bottom of the free edition, and I’ve also recorded a full Loom walkthrough for the paid section. Subscribe to my newsletter here -  https://lnkd.in/e7vkGvaj  💜

Main takeaways from Notion’s evolution in the last 6 years:

1. The hero is the strategy.

Every version began with a single sentence that reflected the company’s entire growth stage.

2. Proof changes with scale.

Tweets → logos → case studies → videos. Social proof evolved with audience trust.

3. Product always comes back.

Even when abstract storytelling took over, Notion always returned to showing the product at the next maturity level.

4. Emotion never dies.

Late 2025 reintroduced “The Happier Workspace.” Every product eventually realises that feelings sell.

5. Clarity beats complexity.

Whether it was AI or team messaging, every redesign was really about making the same promise clearer.

This teardown is perfect if you’re:

- Repositioning your SaaS
- Auditing your own landing page flow
- Studying PLG design evolution

PS: If you love studying product evolution, check out Mobbin’s Version History - you can explore how products like Airbnb, Duolingo, Notion, and more evolve in real time 😉

♻️ Share this with someone working on a SaaS website. 

#productgrowth #plg #ux #industryexamples

Everyone loves the idea of solopreneurship.

Here are 10 harsh truths you don’t see until you’re in it 👇

10. Uncertainty will be your daily friend. Accept it. Don’t treat it like an enemy.

9. You will feel lonely quite often. There’s no team to chat near the watercooler.

8. You’ll spend more time virtually than in-person. It’s not always the best - you’ll miss in-person interactions and want to add more of them.

7. There will be days when you think about your work from 6AM. until midnight, because it’s “yours,” and you deeply care.

6. There will be vacations that look more like “workations,” and you will feel jealous of friends with full-time jobs who can unplug entirely for 2 weeks.

5. You will wear every hat. You’ll be your own marketing, sales, finance, design, product, content, and social media person. If you don’t delegate smartly, it will hit you hard.

4. There will be days when you think about quitting that damn thing and going back to a familiar path.

3. There might be several mental breakdowns and crises. I lost 5-figure deals and thousands of euros from my pocket by hiring the wrong people - this isn’t a company expense anymore, it’s personal finances.

2. Anxiety in the first year is almost guaranteed. Even with a safety net. Especially without one.
It sounds brutal - and it is.

1. Your income will swing. Some months close to 0. Other months 5 figures in one go. The rollercoaster never stops.

But here’s the flip side:

Every client you land is yours.
Every dollar earned is yours.
Every bit of growth is yours.

And that feeling?
It’s the reason you keep going.

P.S. What’s your biggest fear when it comes to solopreneurship?

—

For more insights on solopreneurship and growth, join 7K on Growthmates — my weekly Substack newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eVf65bAx

Hyper-personalisation is the new PLG.

We’ve entered a new era, and it’s redefining what PLG means.

The old idea of “one-size-fits-all” is dead.

Because we’re not the same.

Some of us are visual thinkers.
Some of us learn by hearing and doing.
Some of us need tight systems and structure.

Yet most SaaS products still treat us like we’re the same person wearing a different hoodie.

But not anymore.

Tools like Lovable, Granola, and Notion’s AI, and recent Miro Canvas 25 are rewriting the rules.

They let you build the workflow your brain wants and AI is playing a huge role in this shift.

People today choose products that 👇

1. Matches how they work

They make fast decisions like:
- I’ll build it - if it fits my needs
- I’ll buy it - if it’s customisable
- If not - I’ll cancel and move on

2. Talks to YOU, not just shows you around

Imagine a product that asks who you are, what you want, then adapts in real time to help you get there.
Modern AI-driven onboarding tools like Cor are literally speaking to you during the first session.

3. Sells through experience

When a product adapts to how you think, the real “aha” moment comes faster.

That feeling of being understood is the marketing loop.

PLG is no longer about building for everyone.
It’s about creating a fit and building for each one.

What’s your take on this?

#plg #industrynews #AI

Hyper-personalisation is the future of PLG

Want to see if AI is hype or real?

Run it on your onboarding.

To save you the effort, I built a simple AI Agent for it.

Copy-paste the prompt into ChatGPT 👇

IMPORTANT: This is a starting point, not a substitute for your own audit. 
Do your own research as well 😉
________________________

You are a senior product growth strategist, UX researcher, and behavioral scientist combined.

Task: Audit the onboarding experience of [INSERT PRODUCT LINK] using the 6-Step Growth Framework:

1. Value Clarity
2. UX & Flow
3. Retention Drivers
4. Efficiency
5. Conversion Leaks
6. Sustainable Loops

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Value Clarity (Step 1)

- Is the product’s core value proposition immediately clear within the first 3 screens?
- Where does the ‘aha moment’ occur? Too late or well-timed?
- Rewrite any unclear/generic copy into sharper, user-centric statements.

2. UX & Flow (Step 2)

- Break down each onboarding screen/action.
- Label friction type: time, cognitive, emotional.
- Rate severity: Low / Medium / High.
- Suggest redesigns: shorter flows, defaults, progressive disclosure, tooltips.

3. Retention Drivers (Step 3)

- For each step, identify the primary emotion triggered (trust, curiosity, overwhelm, motivation, loss aversion, endowment).
- Note if it drives momentum or risks drop-off.
- Recommend nudges/micro-interactions (progress bars, small wins, endowment effects, friendly copy).

4. Efficiency (Step 4)

- Count number of clicks, inputs, and decisions to reach first value.
- Identify high cognitive load moments.
- Suggest simplifications (defaults, batching, sequencing).
- Compare to best-in-class PLG onboarding (Notion, Canva, Figma, Linear).

5. Conversion Leaks (Step 5)

- Pinpoint 3 highest drop-off risk points.
- Explain why (poor CTA hierarchy, delayed value, overwhelming ask).
- Suggest quick wins (copy tweak, flow reorder, UI fix).

6. Sustainable Loops (Step 6)

- Does onboarding seed habits, community, or intrinsic motivation?
- If not, propose sustainable loops (gamification, streaks, social proof, collaboration hooks).

Deliverables

- Summary Table → Step | Issue | Friction Type | Severity | Recommended Fix.
- Benchmark Analysis → Compare strengths/weaknesses vs PLG leaders (Notion, Canva, Figma, Linear).
- Top 3 Quick Wins → Practical changes that could improve week-1 activation by ≥20%.
- Strategic Roadmap → Prioritised fixes (High impact/Low effort → longer-term redesigns).
________________________

Run it on your product. 
Run it on your competitor’s product.

You’ll stop guessing why users churn, and start fixing what matters.

♻️ Repost to save this prompt for later.

#plg #AI #onboarding

I'm excited (and quite nervous) to share something we curated for the last 2 years.

⚡️ Meet “Self-serve User Onboarding” Course ⚡️ 

It’s a practical program co-created with Viktoria Kharlamova 🚀 — my former Miro colleague, with whom I experienced the journey from startup to a $17.5B unicorn.

When we first launched this course in a live format two years ago, almost 100 professionals from around the world took part — from companies like Grammarly, Intercom, Supermetrics, and more.

Now, we’re making it available to even more people in a self-paced format.
Over the past few years, the market has changed dramatically.

But one thing hasn’t changed — onboarding remains the TOP-1 driver of growth.

→ 40–60% of people leave after a poor first experience
→ Activated users have 2× higher long-term retention
→ 70–80% of them convert to paid

We’ve packaged proven frameworks that actually work across SaaS, B2B, and B2C products.

Plus, the research from 80+ companies like Notion, Canva, Dropbox, and more.

👇 What’s inside:

- 19 lessons with a clear framework for analyzing and designing onboarding
- Recorded video lectures
- 30+ real-world case studies (including Miro, Canva, Notion, and more)
- 10+  templates for Research, CJMs, and onboarding flows
- Metrics checklist to prove onboarding’s value to your team and founders
- Library of onboarding flows teardowns
- Lifetime access to all materials

👇 Who this course is for:

→ Product Managers, Product Designers, Founders, Marketers 
→ Anyone who wants to reduce churn and accelerate growth.

— 

Previously, our live course cost €890.

Now, you can take the program at an early-bird price of €297, exclusive to the first joiners.

🔗 Check the full program and enroll: https://onboard.report/

♻ Repost to help more teams create better onboarding experiences.

#onboarding #activation #plg

The future of SaaS is INVISIBLE UX 🔥

For years, intrusive upsells have been the default SaaS playbook:

- “Upgrade now.”
- “Try this new feature.”
- “Don’t miss out.”

The logic? Push harder → convert faster.

But in reality, users come to your product with a job to be done.

And every time you block that flow with noise, you add friction.

Friction = frustration → churn.

I’ve lived this myself. 

tl;dv - AI Meeting Assistant constant interruptions of "try this feature" with overlapping popups made me leave. 
Confetti doesn't make it better if the timing is wrong.

Meanwhile, a great example of invisible UX is Tally:
- Minimal design with one clear action
- No upgrade popups, ever
- Trust in the user to upgrade when the time is right

Best part? They ask “why upgraded” as a nice learning mechanism.

That “quiet growth” helped them scale past $2M ARR, bootstrapped (bravo Marie Martens and Filip Minev).

Here’s the lesson 👇

Loud products burn trust, chasing short-term wins.
Quiet products build trust that compounds into long-term growth.

We’re moving from growth by force → to growth by trust.

And the sooner you adapt, the better.

P.S. Do you agree the pop-up era is officially over?

Familiar faces? This is how I got to SaaSiest today, last minute ⚡️

I had a typical “focus” day planned.
No big meetings. Just deep work.

Then (10 minutes after breakfast), a friend messaged:
“I’ve got 2 tickets to SaaSiest.”
Me: LET’S GO 🔥

8 minutes on a bike from my neighborhood… and I was there.

Here are my highlights from 2 favorite talks 👇

Kyle Poyar — fellow creator, author of the brilliant Growth Unhinged:

↳ Hybrid pricing is a winner for AI products.
↳ Value/outcome-based pricing is a huge opportunity.
↳ Always think of pricing BEFORE building/launching.
↳ Understand customers' perspective (consistency, attribution, etc.)
↳ “We will not see profitable AI companies unless they are thinking of proper pricing models.” 

Anna Boyarkina — my amazing ex-colleague from Miro, part of the founding team:

↳ Scale customer learnings with AI.
↳ Build a knowledge base that powers messaging and fuels product ideas.
↳ Distribution models, not product building, are the bottleneck.
↳ Show customers the “castles,” not just “building blocks”.
↳ Hyper-efficient, personalized demos = faster wins.
↳ Co-design solutions with customers.
↳ Run bootcamps with high-touch onboarding sessions.

Was it all planned? Not at all.
Was it valuable? 100%.

Another (personal) takeaway:
→ Create some space for spontaneity. It can surprise you.

P.S. Big thanks to Thomas Sjöberg and the SaaSiest team for bringing such an inspiring community together!

#saasiestamsterdam #ai #saas

Last week, I analysed Canva’s upgrade flow. The revelations were eye-opening:

On the surface, it looks great.
Clean UI, strong CTA, colorful visuals.

Exactly what you’d expect from a design-first company.

But dig deeper and you see the cracks:

- Static feature lists that don’t build conviction
- Previews that look nice but don’t drive commitment
- A paywall that interrupts before users feel real value

The cost? Millions spent acquiring users who never make it past day 30.

Here’s how I’d improve it:

1. Replace static lists with guided micro-interactions (Background Remover → Magic Resize → unlock Pro).

2. Turn passive previews into before/after sliders so users feel the upgrade.

3. Swap the locked paywall for a “Brand Kit Simulator” that applies a user’s actual brand elements in real time.

4. Show a side-by-side “free vs pro” comparison to make the value obvious.

These aren’t base-level tweaks.

They’re grounded in psychology: Curiosity Gap, Aha! Moment, Endowment Effect, Ownership Bias.

The surprising part?
This entire analysis wasn’t done by me.

It was generated by Beacon AI.

Think Grammarly, but for UX.

1. Plug in your analytics, research, and design system
2. Get psychology-based recommendations tied to growth
3. Apply changes instantly in Figma or Cursor

I’m dropping the trial link in the comments for you 💜

P.S. Huge shoutout to Mohammed Abdoolcarim for building this and helping designers level up.

If you want to give it a try — check comments 👇

#ai #ux #growth

2 years into solopreneurship. Here’s everything I’ve learned so far ↓

This isn’t a “start your business in 30 days” kind of story.

I’m not a startup guru, and I don’t have a playbook for everyone. 

I’m just a human who decided to bet on herself, learned through mistakes, and found both freedom and fragility in the same breath.

When I left my 6-figure role at Miro, I thought I was choosing freedom.

No plan B. No investors. No roadmap.
Just a quiet conviction that I wanted to build something on my own terms.

What followed wasn’t a straight path, more like a rollercoaster.
- One day: full of clarity.
- Next day: pure chaos.

And somewhere between those extremes, I found alignment.

I’ve learned that solopreneurship isn’t about endless freedom.
It’s about OWNERSHIP.

In the new issue of "The Creator Path", I put together the lessons I wish I’d known earlier: an honest look behind the curtain of going solo:

- From Miro to my first clients: the real story behind going solo
- 10 harsh truths you only see once you’re in it
- A 60-day roadmap I wish I had when I started Growthmates
- Mindset shifts that turned chaos into stability

Because sometimes, having no plan B is exactly how you discover your real plan A.

🔗 Read the full story on my Substack: https://lnkd.in/gHv9xTkH 

— 

Thinking about going solo - or already in it?

Drop your biggest question in the comments. I’ll share what I wish I’d known when I started👇

I used to rush through life. Now, I pause each month to NOTICE. 🍂

September always feels like a rebirth for me.

As a teen, I used to feel excited waking up and meeting my classmates again at the start of the learning season. 

But for several years, I lost that feeling. 
Only this year, I realised that this feeling is coming back: 
the same childish feeling, full of curiosity.  

- Conferences in Berlin & Amsterdam (thanks Hatch Conference & The Growth Syndicate for having me)
- New clients with meaningful goals and projects 
- Recording in-person podcast episodes with Nad Chishtie, Ioana Teleanu, Felix Haas, and Michael Riddering (can’t wait to start sharing them)

And somehow still squeezing in Coldplay with 90,000 people 😅 🫶

It felt like the real kick-off after a slower summer - busy, but also energizing.

And to be honest, I love putting it all into one place.
Because otherwise, these moments just slip away too fast.

That’s why I started doing monthly Growthmates recaps - not only for readers, but also for myself. It’s my way to pause, reflect, and see the bigger picture of this creative journey.

If you’re curious about :
- new articles and industry updates I caught 
- resources I created that you could miss
- and what’s coming next (like speaking at Spotlight by Semrush, hosting a lesson with Ramli John ⭐️ next week)

👉 You can dive into the full monthly recap in Growthmates newsletter: https://lnkd.in/ejh_DCtB 

—

What was your September highlight? 
Drop it in the comments - I’d love to read them 💜

Ever wonder what the future really looks like?

I don’t know either — but I know what mine will include 👇

- I’ll keep loving the color purple (lifelong obsession 💜)
- AI will keep shaping our everyday lives
- And on October 29th, I’ll be speaking at Spotlight by Semrush 📆

Fun fact: The poster for my talk was inspired by OneRepublic’s “The Future Looks Good.”
I saw them live in Amsterdam recently — surrounded by 15,000 people singing together.

It reminded me of something simple:

⚡️ When you share your passion, people feel it.

And that’s what I want to bring to Spotlight.

I’ll be leading a mastermind on AI Activation & Adoption — exploring how to make AI experiences truly human.

We’ll dive into:

- Why AI still feels isolated inside most products
- How AI-based onboarding can double activation
- How to make AI a natural part of the core experience
- How behavioral psychology can make AI feel more human

Thanks to Semrush for inviting me — can't wait to see all the incredible speakers joining, including Sara Stella Lattanzio, Elena Verna, Elena Avramenko 🇺🇦, and many others from companies like Miro, VEED.IO, Flo Health Inc., and OpenAI.

—

If you’re coming to Spotlight — come say hi 💜

And if you don’t want to miss it, use code KATE35OFF for a 35% discount 
(link in comment)

#SpotlightConf

Everyone keeps asking: “Will AI kill PMs, Design, PLG, *put your thing*”?

The truth: it won’t.
Instead, AI is about to reinvent PLG from the inside out.

Here are 10 predictions from top leaders I see shaping the future 👇

1] Agentic products - tools won’t just be easy to use, they’ll act on their own to complete tasks.

2] True personalization - AI moves us beyond “segments” into unique journeys for every individual user.

3] Growth out-of-the-box - A/B tests, onboarding flows, and lifecycle campaigns will come built in.

4] Smarter nudges - AI agents will reduce drop-offs and shorten time-to-value.

5] Boosted metrics - activation, retention, and expansion improved in real time by intelligence baked into the product.

6] Sales-level guidance - hyper-personalization once delivered by reps will finally scale inside PLG products.

7] AI onboarding agents - adaptive flows that double activation by adjusting in real time.

8] Self-improving products - continuously analyzing, adapting, and learning without waiting for human tweaks.

9] AI is a must - by 2025, every product-led company will need a strategy.

10] New role of teams - less manual orchestration, more strategy, creativity, and loop design.

This isn’t “AI vs PLG.”
It’s PLG powered by AI: a shift from products being static tools to becoming copilots in growth.

📌 Want the full material with expert insights & examples from Ramli John ⭐️, Elena Verna, Kyle Poyar, Andrew Capland, Ollie Forsyth, and more?
 
Check out my latest Growthmates newsletter: https://lnkd.in/e5Kbv9fs

—

💬 Which of these predictions feels the most real for your product today?

♻️ Share this with someone shaping their growth strategy

#ai #plg #industryinsights

21,000 of you are here now. 
Time to finally get to know each other 😉 (+1,500 since last week!).

Here are 5 facts you probably don’t know about me yet:

1. I grew up in a small suburb of 10k people in Russia.

2. I started working at Miro after my 3rd year at university.

3. I launched Growthmates as a podcast side project — with zero expectations.

4. I’m a first-generation immigrant, living in Amsterdam for the past 4 years.

5. I’ve been into Jungian psychoanalysis for 5+ years (and I’m building a mobile app around it with my husband).

When I started sharing here, I had no idea it would grow into this.

Now, many of you read my work weekly — about product growth, design, and the creative journey behind it all.

But as this community grows, I don’t want it to become one-directional.

I want to understand YOU better:
- Who you are
- What kind of knowledge you want me to create
- What kind of community you’d love to see next

So I created a quick survey — to shape what comes next, together:

Take a 3-minute survey  👉 https://tally.so/r/3NG7KO

🎁 P.S. You’ll get a $200 discount for the upcoming User-Centric Growth Course as a thank you for your time.

—

It all starts with trust.

Which one of these five facts surprised you the most?

Share your questions in the comments — I’d love to connect more and keep building trust in this community. 💬

Busy is a decision.

Every time I said “I’m too busy”, it wasn’t a fact - it was a choice. For a while, I chose rush as my default mode.

At Miro, as Head of Growth Design:

- 7+ hours of meetings a day
- 50+ people I could interact with in a single day
- Even my “no meetings Wednesday” didn’t save me

Creative work? It barely fit in the cracks.

Then solopreneurship came along. At first, I became my own strictest manager, cramming my calendar again. But two years later - I feel very different:

- Max 2 hours of meetings/day
- Zero meetings on Wednesdays and Fridays
- Plenty of space to think

I call it the moment I “bought back” my time. 
Expensive? Yes. Is it worth it? 100%.

Because meaningful things don’t appear in 30 minutes between back-to-back calls. They need room to breathe.

- My course on User-centric Product Growth → 3 months of space to nurture.
- Growthmates Playbook → 2 months of collecting ideas.
- Quitting Miro & starting my own thing → 3 months of reflection.

Big shifts take time, and that’s something only you can choose to make space for.

Now I choose:
 👉 Quality over quantity: fewer clients, deeper impact.
 👉 Group formats: where energy spreads to 20+ people instead of 1.
 👉 Saying no: to protect the energy I want to pour into my existing work.

AI might save us an hour a day, but it can’t give us time back. Only we can.

Living from a sense of plenty shifted everything for me. Instead of scarcity, I remind myself there’s plenty of time, opportunities, and space if I decide so.

So here’s my gentle nudge for you today: 

Notice when you say I’m too busy. 
Is it reality, or just a decision you’re making on autopilot?

🔗 If you’re curious, the full story is in my September Growthmates newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eDvHERt2 

P.S. Thanks Ioana Teleanu for taking this pic of me during our Berlin visit ❤️

In 2023, I became a solopreneur without full clarity on my niche.

Everyone said:

“If you want to make money, go all in on Product Growth.”

But my background was UX. I love design. And following that advice meant leaving behind what made me feel alive.

So instead of choosing, I built my own: PLG ✕ UX.

Here’s what I did next →

- I wrote my first article: “UX + PLG” to test demand.
- It resonated deeply with the design community.
- Product people didn’t reject it - they got curious.
- I realised there was space for this intersection.
- I turned my experience into an advantage, not a limitation.
- That clarity became my positioning and built long-term trust.

If you’re struggling to define your niche, here’s a simple roadmap 👇

1. Find your direction

- List 3 things you’re genuinely curious about.
- Circle the one you’d explore even if no one paid you.
- Define what you’ve already lived that gives you credibility.

2. Test the waters

- Start talking about your intersection online.
- Share insights from your past work to build credibility.
- Pay attention to what really interests people.

3. Define your positioning

- Turn your intersection into a clear statement.
- Example: “I help SaaS founders grow through better UX.”
- Make it simple enough for someone to repeat.

4. Expand through action

- Say yes to opportunities that stretch your curiosity.
- Keep iterating. Clarity comes through movement.

You don’t need to follow what the market wants.
Listen to what drives you, and find the overlap with the market.

That’s where long-term success (and fulfillment) lives.

P.S. Have you ever struggled to define your niche?

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