Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
Leveraging growth advisors, hiring well, mastering SEO, and honing your craft | Luc Levesque (Shopify, Meta, TripAdvisor)
15 Jun 2023
Brought to you by Mixpanel—Product analytics that everyone can trust, use, and afford | Attio—A powerful, flexible CRM for fast-growing startups | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments—Luc Levesque is Chief Growth Officer at Shopify and has advised companies like Canva, Twitter, Pinterest, and Patreon on growth and product strategy. Previously he served as an executive at TripAdvisor, where he built and led the growth team that helped it become the world’s largest travel site. Luc was then recruited by Mark Zuckerberg to Facebook, where he was an executive and held senior product and engineering leadership roles. In today’s episode, we discuss:• Why you need to become world-class at hiring• Tips for finding a great growth advisor and assessing their impact• Why truly great companies focus on impact• Common mistakes to avoid when building a growth team• The importance of passion and continuous self-improvement• Signs your company should explore SEO as a growth channel, and strategies to do so• Why Mark Zuckerberg personally recruited Luc and what it taught him about the recruiting process—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/leveraging-growth-advisors-hiring—Where to find Luc Levesque:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/luclevesque• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luclevesque/• Website: https://luclevesque.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Luc’s background(03:31) Luc’s first MT review at Facebook(07:09) Impact vs. industriousness(09:20) Facebook’s relentless, personalized approach to recruiting talent(13:12) Luc’s hiring playbook(16:56) When to focus on growth and the importance of product-market fit(18:04) What to look for in a growth advisor(23:15) The large impact Luc made from a small conversation(26:52) Advice on compensating advisors(31:35) How to find a good growth advisor using VCs and your network(33:33) The importance of having an in-house person and growth advisors as support(38:15) Tips for becoming a growth advisor(41:59) The power of SEO (45:29) The two buckets of SEO(49:21) Channels of growth(51:49) The potential impact of ChatGPT on Google and SEO(56:04) Advice on hiring an SEO person(58:19) How long it takes for SEO to make an impact(1:00:07) Self-reflection, cold plunge, and other tools Luc uses to excel in his personal and work life(1:06:46) Luc’s famous dinner guild(1:10:33) Lightning round—Referenced:• Luc’s blueprint: https://coda.io/@luc-levesque/blueprint-for-leaders-managers-communicate-your-quirks/my-blueprint-9• Jeff Bezos’s morning routine: https://finty.com/us/daily-routines/jeff-bezos• Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain: https://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113514• Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less: https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Brevity-Power-Saying-More/dp/1523516976• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion: https://www.amazon.com/Influence-New-Expanded-Psychology-Persuasion/dp/0062937650/• Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity: https://www.amazon.com/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599• Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: And Other Tough-Love Truths to Make You a Better Writer: https://www.amazon.com/Nobody-Wants-Read-Your-Tough-Love/dp/1936891492• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles: https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1936891026• The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf and the Game of Life: https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Bagger-Vance-Novel-Golf/dp/038072751X• Huberman Lab podcast: https://hubermanlab.com/welcome-to-the-huberman-lab-podcast/• The All-In Podcast: https://www.allinpodcast.co/• Renu cold plunge: https://www.renutherapy.com/—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
No persons identified in this episode.
This episode hasn't been transcribed yet
Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.
Popular episodes get transcribed faster
Other recent transcribed episodes
Transcribed and ready to explore now
SpaceX Said to Pursue 2026 IPO
10 Dec 2025
Bloomberg Tech
Don’t Call It a Comeback
10 Dec 2025
Motley Fool Money
Japan Claims AGI, Pentagon Adopts Gemini, and MIT Designs New Medicines
10 Dec 2025
The Daily AI Show
Eric Larsen on the emergence and potential of AI in healthcare
10 Dec 2025
McKinsey on Healthcare
What it will take for AI to scale (energy, compute, talent)
10 Dec 2025
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View
Reducing Burnout and Boosting Revenue in ASCs
10 Dec 2025
Becker’s Healthcare -- Spine and Orthopedic Podcast