Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
00:45:50 · Hector Serrano
[00:45:50] S1: These creators are very used to just being used and, like, just it's everything they do is like a transaction. They make a video, they get paid, and they never talk to a person again. And we live in a, like, day and age where everything is digital, everything's virtual, most people are working remote, most creators are remote, and they create community the same way just like a regular person would create community. And we just make sure, like, that we connect from the get go and, like, it's like, at the end, it's like friends. We're, like, working together. I don't see them as just like, hey, creator that I'm gonna extract some videos from and never talk to again. I get on a call with them, like you said, and I have this whole slideshow, but before I go to my slideshow, like, ask them about themselves, like, how they got into content, why they enjoy it, and just like have a conversation, try to get to know them. And then from there, the flow of the of the slideshow is I have an intro slide where I talk about myself. I talk about my background as a creator. So, like, they respect me, and they know I'm not just some random dude talking to them. And then from there, I'll also intro our media buyer, who's Eric. Shout out to Eric. And then from there, I explain the product. And then from there, I explained how Trybe works. So I, like, I let them know, like, what they can expect in terms of the flow from them making the video to it getting accepted, to it getting ran as an ad. I tell them, we pay them out every seven days, which like another hack as well. Like, you wanna keep your creators motivated and the higher dopamine rush they can get and the more money you can get them early on, the better. So, yeah, we pay out seven days. We tell them that. Then from there, we show them some example ads, and then I get them onboarded and fully going on the call. It's almost like you're closing you're closing like a sales deal. You don't wanna get them all excited and then you let them get off and then you have to chase them down. It's like, you wanna be very strategic with your time and their time. So I try to, like, meet them, introduce myself, get them onboarded, and get them going so that they know, like, hey. You can start making a video right now.
00:47:41 · Lenny Rachitsky, Hector Serrano
[00:47:41] S0: So a big lesson here is treat them treat them like humans. Care about them. Help them feel like they're a part of this thing, not just feel like you're okay. You're gonna make money. Just shut up. Don't worry about it. You're gonna make money. [00:47:51] S1: And I think this is actually really good alpha as well is that I think the the companies that will wing long term are the companies that have the best relationships with creators because words word gets out really fast. And if you're a brand that treats creators bad, doesn't pay on time, doesn't pay them whatsoever maybe, or you just block them, etcetera, word will get out and creators probably won't wanna work with you or you won't get the best terms or you won't get the best quality creators. So I think one really big thing we focus on at Wispr is like not even just with creators, but any external agencies or anyone we work with, we always wanna treat everyone with a lot of respect. And and, yeah, I think I think it's the companies that do that the best will will win long term as well. [00:48:31] S0: What does the early team look like to start this initiative? Is it just a Hector that is running this solo, or is there a larger team that you'd start with?
00:48:31 · Lenny Rachitsky, Hector Serrano
[00:48:31] S0: What does the early team look like to start this initiative? Is it just a Hector that is running this solo, or is there a larger team that you'd start with? [00:48:38] S1: Honestly, it's it's pretty lean. So our marketing team as a whole is pretty flat. Obviously, we're growing a bit faster now with Wispr. I think we've passed, like, a 120 full time employees now, which is pretty crazy. Because I joined, I think we were, like, four at the time. I I remember mess... I messaged Tanay the other day. Was at the office, and I was like, holy cow. Like, I just had, like, a moment where I was like, there's so many people around. Like, this is crazy. Blah blah blah. But, yeah, right now, we're a pretty lean team, and we were even more lean before. But for Trybe specifically, to get something like this running, all you really need is someone like me to kinda be the coms with creators, come up with new concepts, approve videos, kinda get everything kick started, and then you need a media buyer. It's pretty rare to find someone who's a creative and also a media buyer. I don't really like numbers that much. I'm not really much a numbers guy, and I don't like staring at meta ads manager. I've heard it's a headache, so I'm happy I don't have to do that. But, yeah, we have Eric on the media buying side of things, and he, like, structures our ad account and everything. [00:49:37] S0: So when this media buyer, is this kind of like a performance marketing person that just lives in Facebook's ad system? Or
00:49:37 · Lenny Rachitsky, Hector Serrano
[00:49:37] S0: So when this media buyer, is this kind of like a performance marketing person that just lives in Facebook's ad system? Or [00:49:44] S1: Yeah. Exactly. So... Yeah. Yeah. Eric's basically just lives in our... On the media buying side of things on Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etcetera. [00:49:53] S0: Got it. So you're kind of like the creative, you're like this the content supply and then this person takes it and then is responsible for running the ads, watching performance, optimizing the spend. [00:50:04] S1: Yeah. [00:50:05] S0: Got it. Okay. And then is there anyone else that you find important valuable on that team early on and even later on?
00:50:05 · Lenny Rachitsky, Hector Serrano
[00:50:05] S0: Got it. Okay. And then is there anyone else that you find important valuable on that team early on and even later on? [00:50:11] S1: Early... Like, if we go back to the early early days, the marketing team was Daniel, our CMO, Matt, who was our head of growth before Eric came, and then it was me just, like, as a sole creator, kind of just making the ads myself. So... And then we had some external agencies here and there. And then slowly, we added on design. We added on an in house, like, director to help produce films and launch videos. Then we introduced, like, PR recently. And, like, even even now, I think we're still pretty lean. I think it might be, like, 15 people on the marketing team, like, full time. We have a creator partnership leads for, like, influencers. We have a celebrity talent manager who, like, helps us close celebrities and and things like that. So even then, it's still pretty lean, and everyone is, like, experts in their domain, and it's all very flat. We all just have free reign. We all do what we're best at. There's no real... There's no really middle management. And then tour... Our tour CMO, Daniel, who's an absolute legend, he just had a bunch of direct reports. So I feel sorry for his calendar, but, yeah, that's that's kind of how everything is structured. It's, like, very flat, nominal managers, and everyone just does their work. [00:51:22] S0: Is the core kind of takeaway from this conversation that when you're doing paid today, that UGC videos are the way to go versus your own ads that you're just kinda creating.
00:51:22 · Lenny Rachitsky, Hector Serrano
[00:51:22] S0: Is the core kind of takeaway from this conversation that when you're doing paid today, that UGC videos are the way to go versus your own ads that you're just kinda creating. [00:51:34] S1: So are you kinda comparing to, like, what I was doing versus what we're doing now? [00:51:37] S0: You know, just, like, when you think paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, most people think I create a video promoting my product or create, like, an ad unit that is, hey. Wispr Flow isn't the best thing. And what you're doing here is you're having other people create the videos and then running that as the ad.