Each week I reverse engineer the products of leading tech companies. Get one annotated teardown every Friday.
Growth Dives June recap
Growth Dives: June recapAnd some BIG news What a month. Three reflections and two big updates to share this week — and you’re the first to hear them (aside from my mum, who hears everything immediately). We hit 1,500 subscribers 🎉Early growth was fast, Q1 slowed down, and now we’re picking up again. We reached 1,000 subscribers in 3 months, and 1,500 six months after that.
Our one-year anniversary is coming up on 23 August 2025 🥹 Thinking of doing a little something to celebrate — if you’ve got ideas, hit reply. I might just buy a BIG cake. More than growth, I’m starting to measure success by consistency and enjoyment — but it’s still nice to see the line go up. I went viral 🌪️I re-posted some insights from my March Duolingo article in a carousel format on Linkedin. Seven days later we had: 225,000 impressions, 1.1k likes, 43 reposts. Depends how you define viral, but this is my best post of all time in terms of impressions. Better than the Figma pricing drama.
LinkedIn is weird like that. One post gets 200 impressions. Another, 200,000. Off the back of it, I did a quick Tour de Rosie post on my career so far — you can read that here. Even old friends learned something new:
Growth Dive minis are here to stay 🐣I had worried that shorter content wasn’t going to be ‘deep’ enough - I had a hypothesis that I’d see more unsubscribes on that type of content. The result? Not true. I’ve done three mini dives so far (~300 words, 1–2 min read) and they’ve matched the metrics of longer ones:
A few of you wrote back to say you liked the shorter format too:
So, I will continue to do bite-sized content every now and then to make sure you can get ideas for your next sprint — without having to read 2000 words. I’m moving to SubstackOne thing I’ve learned over the past 6 months is that I don’t like fiddling with templates and landing pages. Growth is so much easier to do for clients, but when it comes to your own brand and product, I just want something easy. Writing is what I love, not templates. So I want to optimise for writing instead of branding. And when my mum sent me this screenshot of how the Kit template showed on her phone, it was the last straw:
So I’m moving to Substack in August. It’s just simpler. I’ve worked with clients on Substack before and seen how easy it is to write and post without hassle. Expect a full post soon comparing the writing/editing UX across platforms — it’s fascinating how each one is built for a different kind of creator. If anyone feels strongly about this move (i.e. you’ll unsubscribe if I move), I’m keen to hear why! And the biggest update— I’ll be joining a new team in AugustI’ve been consulting for 2.5 years, and I always said I’d go in-house again if the right thing came along. Well, it has. On 3rd August, I’ll be going full-time with a product I’ve been excited about for a while. Some of you might be thinking: Why, Rosie?! Well, three reasons:
I’m sure I’ll freelance again in the future but right now, this feels like the right next chapter. I’ll still be writing, posting and sharing what I learn — same cadence, same content. Just with more behind-the-scenes insight now that I’m back in the trenches. Can’t wait to get stuck in.As part of the move, I’ll continue to write and post, so nothing will change on that front. Same cadence, same content. Just with more behind-the-scenes insight from being back on the ground. CAN’T WAIT. But first: a dream trip 🚴In July, I’ll be in France for the full month, following Le Tour de France.
(Yes, I have a spreadsheet. Yes, it’s colour-coded.) Don’t worry, I’ve prepped some great posts for while I’m away — and when I’m back in August, I’ve got a long list of topics I can’t wait to dig into:
Which one are you most looking forward to? Let me know, and I’ll bump it to the top of the list. Also, new ideas are always welcome! Thanks for reading — and as always, feel free to hit reply if you have any burning questions or want advice on your specific product. A la prochaine, Rosie 🕺 |
Growth Dives
Each week I reverse engineer the products of leading tech companies. Get one annotated teardown every Friday.