Elena Verna

Growth, Dropbox

You can find more about me here: https://elenaverna.lovable.app/

Interim, Head of Growth

Huge news! To celebrate International Women’s Day, we’re making Lovable completely FREE on March 8th!!! No opt-ins, no gatekeeping. No fluff talk. Just BUILDING and SHIPPING. Because unlocking new skills beats flowers & chocolates every.single.time.

That's right - It’s free for *everyone* building with us as part of SheBuilds, in partnership with Anthropic!

Ladies, it’s time to build. Not someday. Not when you’re “ready.” The time is NOW. And men? JOIN IN. We need you! We shall create the future together. 

So go solo, or grab a fellow woman, a friend, a sibling, a parent, your kid, your partner, or a teammate. Build something together. 

Aaand we are offering optional in-person community-led events around the world, with experienced builders on hand to help you ship, not overthink. 32 events across 17 countries, and counting: 
-> Check: shebuilds.lovable.app

Where will I be? In our Stockholm HQ, building (with my daughter). If you want to join me in Stockholm, drop a comment and we'll get back to you if there is room!

But wait, there is more! Every participant also gets $100 in Claude API tokens and $250 in Stripe fee credits. 

Warning: Lovable may be habit-forming. Results include shipping faster, feeling unreasonably powerful, and questioning why you ever waited for permission.

It's time to build.
#womenintech

Lovable is FREE today. Yes, actually free!!! But only for the next 24 hours.

Why? Because the best way to celebrate International Women’s Day isn’t another panel, another hashtag, or another box of chocolates.

It’s access.

Access to new technology.
Access to building.
Access to skills that actually change your trajectory.

Ladies - flowers wilt. Skills compound. Get in there! 

Gents - the future should be built by everyone, and we need you in it. It’s free for everyone today, so lean in and build.

So today, stop being just a user of software. Become a builder. 

Open Lovable. Break things. Build something weird. Build something useful. Build something that makes you proud.

See what’s possible. 

Share this post to let others know! 

The next 24 hours are going by FAST… are you building yet!!?
#freelovableday #womenintech #ai

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We’ve launched a startup program at Lovable! Qualifying startups get 10K in Lovable credits if their VC, incubator, or accelerator partners with us.

Startups, if your roadmap currently starts with “once we hire X,” this is for you. Ship fast, test with real users, and get to real traction today - all on Lovable! Go bug your VC, accelerator, and incubator to join our startup program ASAP. 

VC's, accelerators, and incubators - run, don't walk to apply: https://lnkd.in/g76xfrfk

#startup #growth

March 8th is around the corner… and you know what that means.
For one day, Lovable goes freeeee!

Join us for a livestream straight from our Stockholm HQ where we’re celebrating International Women's day the best way we could possibly imagine: giving everyone the power to build and up-skill. 
-> Join livestream here: https://lnkd.in/gXs7yiUS
With:
- Yours truly 
- Anton Osika - Lovable's beloved CEO
- Helen Lee Kupp - Founder of "Women defining AI"
- Margot van Laar - A Technical leader from Anthropic

So if you’ve ever thought “someone should build this”… this is your sign.
March 8. No paywalls. No “upgrade to continue.” Livestream to inspire you.

Let’s build something ridiculous.
#TimeToShip

I honestly don’t even have the words. Todays event at Stockholm’s Lovable HQ was absolutely incredible. When women come together, things change. Ideas move faster, courage spreads, and the world gets a little closer to what it could be. 

That’s all I’ll say.

Happy international women’s day everyone! 

Please give it up for Whitney Menarcheck (first pic), and Emily Beal (last pic of 3 of us) - the muscle behind it all. Special appearance by my daughter that built an app today too, and SheBuilds alumni! 

I’m so excited for the future. It’s going to be too good. 

P.s. Hope you’re taking advantage of the last few hours of Lovable while it’s free. Go build something.
 
#womenintech
#wearejustgettingstarted

Today we launched Vibe Coders in Residence program at Lovable!!! VCIR is a group of independent builders (and absolutely incredible vibe-coders) collaborating alongside us to push what’s possible as we build Lovable on... Lovable.

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen. Vibe coding has officially entered the job market.

Now, we’re all already vibe coding nonstop, but we wanted to go further. The way software gets built is changing and working with more Vibe Coders let us live in that future. I even find myself vibe coding most of the time now, something I never would have imagined.

Erich Kottke, Shane Spencer, Jon Higginbotham, Bobby Siegfried - I'm so excited to build along side you. Learn from you. And see what is possible! 

Growth=vibe coding now. 

LFG!
#vibecoding

Everyone is stuck debating whether AI will take their job. The answer is almost certainly yes (I know, I know - it’s terrifying). That part isn’t interesting anymore.
The more important question is this: What if this is also the biggest opportunity of your career?

There’s a short window to get radically ahead by going AI-native. But you need to act now. Not in five years. In the next few months. After that, it will just becomes table stakes and the edge disappears.

Because AI isn’t taking your job. Being complacent about what's happening around you will.

But what I keep seeing instead: people critiquing AI. Pointing out flaws. Mocking outputs. Arguing about em dashes.

That mindset is already obsolete.

AI should be your default starting point, not your backup plan. Writing. Thinking. Designing. Coding. Planning. If you’re manually doing work AI can do faster and better, that’s not craftsmanship. It’s wasted time when no time could be wasted.

Here’s the part people don’t like hearing: the demand for AI-native employees is exploding right now. Companies are starting to care less about fancy titles and padded resumes and more about who can actually ship. People with good taste, real business sense, and insane drive. 

If you’re stuck in a role you don’t love, waiting for permission, budget, or prioritization, this moment isn’t something to fear. It’s your opening.

Stop watching. Stop critiquing. Stop waiting to feel ready. 
Start building. 

Want to know how to get started? read on my blog: https://lnkd.in/ga8KcqCV

And huge thank you to my this week's blog sponsor, Salespeak.ai! Check them out to make sure your product is discoverable by ai. 

#ai #growth

This International Women’s Day, sure, bring the roses. But don’t stop there. Celebrate yourself and/or her by shipping something real. Advancing. Raising the bar. Breaking those stupid glass ceilings. 

We’re turning March 8th celebration into creation with a 24 hour, worldwide SheBuilds Lovable buildathon. No forms. No approvals. Just builders building.

And EVERYONE is invited! SheBuilds is lighting up *every* corner of the Lovable community - in person, online, wherever you are.

Bring your crew. Your boo. Your future boo. Or go solo. 

Build something weird, useful, or wildly ambitious together.

We’re cooking up something big. Save the date NOW: shebuilds.lovable.app

LFG!!!

#lovable #time2ship #minimumLOVABLEproduct

There’s something truly magical that happens when a bunch of people show up with the same energy - curious, supportive, slightly chaotic, and ready to build. That’s what I saw last Sunday at our SheBuilds event at Lovable’s HQ in Stockholm. And I’m still in awe about it.

Community is a funny thing. You can’t force it, you can’t manufacture it in a spreadsheet, and there’s definitely no funnel optimization framework for it. But when it clicks, you feel it immediately.

Honestly, this is what growth in the age of AI is starting to look like. Less obsessing over micro-optimizing funnels, more creating spaces where people can build, learn, and inspire each other.

And selfishly… this version of growth is way more fun.

Feeling really fortunate that I get to help create moments like this. Watching people realize “wait, I can actually build this” never gets old. Helping more women get there is incredibly rewarding. 

Can’t wait to see what’s next. 

Photo credit Susanna LDKY Photography  
#growth

Many companies are so addicted to revenue they’re growing themselves broke.
That's right, I said it. Revenue addiction kills companies. 

It looks something like this: 
Every initiative must show revenue, or else. 
If it doesn’t make $$$ in a week? Kill it.
No new in-quarter revenue? Not a priority.
Can’t attribute it in a dashboard? Doesn’t count.
Great for customers but not the pipeline? Don't you dare to bring it up.

That mindset was already toxic. But during the AI transition it’s becoming fatal.
Because the companies that win this era will invest years ahead of the revenue curve. 

Revenue-addicted companies don’t have the patience for that.

BUT! We are in the middle of a technological shift, and short-term outcomes combined with over-optimizing the existing business will end up being death sentences for many.

The scary part? A shocking number of companies are operating this way.

And how do you fix it, you might ask? You probably can’t.
Fixing it requires massive shifts in leadership mindset/roster and investor pressure. And most companies never make those changes (there, I said it). 

New post on revenue addiction and why it kills companies: https://lnkd.in/e8R_eY2d

And check out my sponsor - Demand & Expand  - an awesome event for B2B marketing & growth teams happening in San Francisco on May 19 & 20. Special offer in my newsletter!

#growth

Product and Growth leader across both B2C and B2B. I help founders, CEOs and other executives with all things growth and product management, including growth loops, acquisition/retention/monetization, onboarding, experimentation, analytics, building durable product strategy and execution, and team management / coaching. Have worked at: ResortPass, Patreon, Lyft, Mozilla, Imperfect Foods, WyzAnt, Shutterfly, Kodak, Expedia, Hotwire and more. 

Write things at fishmanafnewsletter.com
Talk about fatherhood and company building at startupdadpod.com

Results delivered by me and my teams:
- 4x revenue growth at Imperfect in one year
- Growing Patreon to $1B in annual GMV (10x from when joined) and taking the business international
- 1.5x'd ResortPass annual revenue in 3 months
- Built new product strategy and execution process for Mozilla
- Starting and leading Lyft's growth org for the first 3 years; taking us from 1 city in 2012 to 70+ cities.
- Building company, product or growth strategy for: Lyft, Patreon, ImperfectFoods, ResortPass, ManyChat, and more.

Adam Fishman

Amit Shah's wife became CEO right after their second child was born. They were limping through with a setup that wasn't sustainable.

While drowning at home, they made a decision to completely change their approach to childcare. On today's Startup Dad I talked with Amit Shah, the COO of Virta Health about what it's like for two C-level executives raising two kids under 5.

They prioritize a few principles above all else:
-> The one calendar rule - if it's not on the calendar, it doesn't exist.
-> Sunday night planning sessions to look ahead the next 2-3 weeks
-> A "move the ball forward" philosophy; whoever is available does the next thing that needs doing
-> Invest in support systems and structure (nanny, community, family)
-> Hard boundaries around travel - only one parent can be gone at a time; someone is home every night

So what'd they give up? Their social life took a hit. Networking dinners are out. Happy hours rarely happen.

But Amit was clear that modeling the right behavior is just as important as saying it:

"I look back on my life and turns out I did what my dad said, but I'm more similar to what he did. Kids pick up what you do in equal parts with what you say."

So he and his wife focus on demonstrating the values they want for their kids - kindness, curiosity, and persistence - rather than just talking about them.

Listen and watch our full conversation on Startup Dad; you'll find it on Youtube, and everywhere you get your podcasts. Links below.

Advisor for Product and Growth | Investing with 20Growth | FishmanAFNewsletter.com | StartupDadPod.com

I talked with Lee Robinson about what it's really like to become a dad while working at two of the fastest-growing startups in history.

Lee joined Cursor eight months ago as a new father. Before that, he spent five years at Vercel where he was working as VP of Developer Experience when his daughter was born. Both companies are unicorns; known for their intensity and rapid growth.

On today's Startup Dad we talked about the biggest surprise he experienced becoming a Dad while at Vercel and Cursor - not the chaos of it all, but how becoming a parent completely shifted his worldview.

-> He now sees parents everywhere differently. He used to cringe at crying babies on the plane and now he gets it in a way that he never could before.

-> His empathy expanded exponentially. He looks at his own parents with new admiration and understanding.

-> He discovered that ambitious parents aren't succeeding despite having kids but they're often more effective because of clear boundaries and priorities.

Lee's framework for managing it all is health first, then family, then friends, then work. This cascading priority system actually makes him better at his job because he's prioritizing getting the foundations of his life correct.

And he echos this in his feedback for prospective parents:
"Get your house in order first. Work on your relationship. Make sure the other parts of your life are stable before adding the beautiful chaos of a child."

Listen to our full conversation about navigating fatherhood at high-growth startups, introducing AI to young kids, and why many of his worries never materialized.

You'll find me and Lee everywhere you get your podcasts - Youtube, Spotify and Apple. Links below.

Should I leave my stable job to start a company? Block just laid off nearly half its workforce and all the FAANGs have done rolling layoffs. It’s possible that a 10-person, profitable startup might turn out to be *more* secure.

On today’s Startup Dad I talked with Jacob Bank about leaving Google when his daughter was 6 months old to start Relay.app.

I thought that sounded risky; Jacob didn’t. After talking to him; I’m inclined to agree.

He shared a framework to consider before making that leap:
-> Can you afford 2x the runway you think you need? (Startups take longer than you expect)
-> Will this role actually grow your skills, or just your salary? (Experience beats title inflation)
-> Do you control your time, or does your calendar control you? (Flexibility ≠ working less)

For him, the answer was “yes” and then he learned through the process that small teams are actually *better* for parents than big companies.

His 10-person team has zero standing meetings. Everyone's senior. Everyone's a parent. Work happens async (mostly).

Our conversation was filled with other amazing nuggets: his concept of “double dipping” for turning chores into quality time with your kids, how to bring your kids into your work problems to show them your world, and his “imagine if I did that” framework for handling tantrums.

Listen or watch our full conversation on Startup Dad; you’ll find it on Youtube and everywhere you get your podcasts. Links below.

The five biggest takeaways from my Startup Dad conversation with Amit Shah, COO of Virta Health:

1. Sometimes you have to struggle for awhile before you can make a change. His wife Bijal Shah became CEO of Guild Education while on maternity leave and he had just come back from his paternity leave. They "limped through" the back half of that year before finally stepping back and rethinking their entire childcare and support infrastructure.

2. They used startup values card exercises to define their family's core values. Amit literally pulled out the same values card decks you'd use in a company offboarding or team alignment session, and he and Bijal sorted through them together to land on what they wanted to impart on their kids. They landed on three: kind, curious, and persistent.

3. Their nanny is the twin sister of Bijal's executive assistant. This is such a wild, specific hack. Bijal's longtime EA has a twin sister who studied early childhood development. They brought her in, it worked, and now the EA who knows Bijal's schedule best and the nanny who runs the household are literal sisters who talk constantly. Amit's own EA is looped in too. It's essentially a three-person ops team running the family's logistics.

4. He reframes "work-life balance" as "work-life alignment" and means it structurally. He has completely eliminated most networking dinners, happy hours, and non-essential social events from his life. No exceptions unless it has a direct work requirement. He and Bijal also committed to having one parent home every night, which means the COO and the CEO are each regularly turning down travel. That level of structural sacrifice is rare at the C-suite level.

5. He holds himself accountable to his kids' values at bedtime every night. When he asks his kids for an example of when they were kind that day, he also has to come up with his own example. And he admitted there are nights where he's embarrassed because he can't think of many. That self-audit loop; where your four-year-old's bedtime routine becomes a mirror for your own behavior as a leader and a person; is a powerful framework.

Check out our conversation:
https://lnkd.in/gPxH-9F9

The biggest takeaways from my Startup Dad conversation with Lee Robinson, VP at Cursor (and formerly Vercel):

1) Health, then family, then friends, then work. It seems counterintuitive for someone at a rocket ship company, but Lee's reasoning is simple: "You can only focus on one crisis at a time." If your health fails, nothing else functions. If your family is struggling, work suffers anyway.

2) Get your house in order before starting a family. Lee and his wife spent years strengthening their relationship before having kids. They never felt "fully ready" but the stability created space for the chaos that kids inevitably bring.

3) The most ambitious people he worked with at Vercel were parents, including their CEO/founder (father of 5!). This surprised him initially. These leaders set boundaries, got things done efficiently, and went home to their families. "They were fueled to do better because of their families."

4) Empathy unlocks when you experience it firsthand. The crying baby on the plane, the parent struggling at the grocery store, the colleague who leaves exactly at 5 PM. Lee described how becoming a dad gave him a "new respect for this whole part of the population doing this difficult thing" that he was previously oblivious to.

5) AI as a personalized tutor, not a threat. Lee plans to introduce AI tools to his daughters around age 4-5 in a controlled way. His perspective: "I want my daughters to realize this world is built by people no smarter than them, and they have the agency to build and shape things."

Listen and watch our conversation everywhere you get your podcasts. Links below.

Every work problem seems pretty trivial after you take your kids to a fancy restaurant and one of them projectile vomits everywhere at the end of the meal.

On today's Startup Dad I talked to a founder who lasted 6 weeks at his "dream job" before realizing he'd made a terrible mistake. It was such a big mistake that he left to start a company with a newborn at home.

Now Mike Rome is a dad of 3 boys (ages 7, 4, and ~3 months) and runs a growing performance marketing studio moonwater.

We talked about why building a business when you have a family is the better move, how he got into it and why it's *not* an automatic pathway to spending more time with your family.

But the projectile vomit story alone is worth listening to the entire conversation.

-> He pitched his wife on the business as an experiment: "If I can match my income and give us 6 months of runway, are you cool if we give this a shot?"

-> His son Gavin was born with a rare heart condition that required years of hospital stays, rigid medication schedules, and middle-of-the-night doses. The perspective it gave him puts those bad days at work in perspective.

-> He applies the ICE prioritization framework to parenting and leverages the power law at home: a $30 mini golf outing with his 4-year-old created more lasting memories than a $500 professional soccer game.

-> He's definitely messed some things up along the way, including confusing being around "physically" with actually being present.

One thing Mike said I liked a lot "Expect each day to be hard and about solving problems. When you stop being surprised by it, everything gets a lot easier."

He also turned me on to the Steve Albini letter to Nirvana (Google it) - how you can stay authentic to your values even when the easier path is telling people what they want to hear.

Listen to our full conversation on Youtube and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Links below.

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