# All of our Growth articles

[**The 30 Best Pieces of Company Building Advice We Heard in 2025**  
A roundup of the standout startup wisdom we collected last year.](https://review.firstround.com/the-30-best-pieces-of-company-building-advice-we-heard-in-2025/ "The 30 Best Pieces of Company Building Advice We Heard in 2025")

[**You’re Not Ready for a Head of Growth: Run This Founder-Led Growth Playbook Instead**  
Founders are responsible for figuring out how their business is going to grow. Use these tactics — specifically designed for founders — to uncover your most impactful growth levers.](https://review.firstround.com/founder-led-growth-playbook/ "You’re Not Ready for a Head of Growth: Run This Founder-Led Growth Playbook Instead")

[**How to Build a Billion-Dollar Marketplace — Do’s and Don’ts from the Growth Expert Behind Grubhub, Pinterest, and More**  
Casey Winters, the growth expert behind Grubhub, Pinterest & Eventbrite, shares proven strategies for scaling marketplaces from 0 to $1B.](https://review.firstround.com/how-to-build-a-scalable-marketplace-dos-and-donts-from-the-growth-expert-behind-grubhub-pinterest-and-more/ "How to Build a Billion-Dollar Marketplace — Do’s and Don’ts from the Growth Expert Behind Grubhub, Pinterest, and More")

[**How Notion Does Marketing: A Deep-Dive Into its Community, Influencers & Growth Playbooks**  
We peel back the layers of Notion’s multifaceted marketing strategy, diving deep into three distinct channels that have helped power its meteoric rise: community, influencer marketing, and growth and analytics.](https://review.firstround.com/how-notion-does-marketing-a-deep-dive-into-its-community-influencers-growth-playbooks/ "How Notion Does Marketing: A Deep-Dive Into its Community, Influencers & Growth Playbooks")

[**The Secret to Running Effective Growth Sprints — Follow This Process to Learn Faster**  
With every growth experiment, you're not just trying to optimize your return on ad spend, lower your CPA, or bag a few new logos ahead of the next fundraise. You're fundamentally learning and making progress toward a simple question: How are we going to grow this business?](https://review.firstround.com/the-secret-to-running-effective-growth-sprints-follow-this-process-to-learn-faster/ "The Secret to Running Effective Growth Sprints — Follow This Process to Learn Faster")

[**‘Give Away Your People’ — How Managers Can (and Should) Prep for High Performers to Leave**  
Seasoned startup operator Clarissa Shen offers a fresh perspective on Molly Graham’s ‘Give Away Your Legos’ framework by sharing her own tactics on how to proactively manage for high performers to leave.](https://review.firstround.com/give-away-your-people-how-managers-can-prep-for-high-performers-to-leave/ "‘Give Away Your People’ —  How Managers Can (and Should) Prep for High Performers to Leave")

[**“Sweat the Details” and Other Commandments for Mapping Out a Career in Product**  
Veteran product leader Jiaona Zhang walks us through the biggest lessons from her entire career in product at Dropbox, Airbnb, WeWork and now Webflow, from breaking into the function as a first-time PM to tactical tips for navigating transitions into more senior roles.](https://review.firstround.com/sweat-the-details-and-other-commandments-for-mapping-out-a-career-in-product/ "“Sweat the Details” and Other Commandments for Mapping Out a Career in Product")

[**X1's Path to Product-Market Fit — How the Consumer Credit Card Company Pulled off a Pandemic Pivot**  
In our "Paths to Product-Market Fit" series, X1 founder and CEO Deepak Rao sits down with First Round partner Todd Jackson to share the dramatic story of how his company pivoted during the pandemic and found product-market fit with a bold launch strategy.](https://review.firstround.com/x1s-path-to-product-market-fit-how-the-consumer-credit-card-company-pulled-off-a-pandemic-pivot/ "X1's Path to Product-Market Fit — How the Consumer Credit Card Company Pulled off a Pandemic Pivot")

[**The Startup Founder’s Guide to Hiring a Data Scientist**  
Are you ready to hire a data scientist? Mengying Li, Growth Data Science Lead at Notion, shares her framework for testing whether you should invest in this key hire and how to find the right data science skillset for your startup.](https://review.firstround.com/the-startup-founders-guide-to-hiring-a-data-scientist/ "The Startup Founder’s Guide to Hiring a Data Scientist")