Growth Studio

Growth Studio helps early stage and high-growth founders scale from $3m to $25m ARR through strategic growth direction and execution. 

We start with deep customer research to build your growth roadmap, then take ownership of implementation—managing your paid acquisition, optimizing conversion funnels, designing growth experiments, and orchestrating your retention strategy. 

Built by operators who've scaled companies to $XXM+ ARR, we provide the strategic leadership of a CMO plus hands-on campaign management, all without the overhead of building an in-house team.

Founder

Samantha Leal • Growth & Marketing Advisor

I help early-stage startups with acquisition, retention, and monetization strategies to scale to 8-figures.

If you're a founder, here are some of the areas that I can help you with:
• Growth Loops
• Acquisition Strategy
• Paid Social
• Lifecycle / Email Marketing
• Customer Research / JTBD development
• Content Marketing
• Conversion Rate Optimization
• Engagement & Retention
• Monetization
• Team building / Hiring


Companies I've worked with:
- Kinedu (500 Startups, StartX): Leading early childhood development app that empowers parents with personalized, science-based activities and tracking tools to optimize their baby's cognitive growth.
- Leadsales (StartX, Latitud): B2B sales automation platform that transforms cold leads into warm conversations through intelligent outreach and engagement.
- Terapify (YC, 500 Startups) - The leading spanish-speaking mental health platform connecting Latin American users with licensed therapists through online therapy sessions.
- Prequel - Education company building the common core of life skills that schools aren't teaching, empowering kids aged 9-18 to launch businesses, build products, and achieve real-world success.
- Curious Cardinals - Online platform connecting high-achieving college students from top universities with K-12 students for personalized mentorship and academic enrichment.
- Huex Labs - Enterprise AI solutions provider specializing in automating complex business processes through custom machine learning models.
-Mely AI - Cutting-edge AI platform that streamlines customer service operations through intelligent automation and natural language processing.

Growth & Marketing Advisor

Prequel

Leading all marketing and growth efforts for Prequel.

We often underestimate what kids can do, but at Prequel, we not only empower them – we are setting a new standard.

At Prequel, we help 9-18 year olds accomplish what their parents think is impossible.

Head of Growth & Marketing

Prequel is a group of EdTech brands that aims to help the world's most ambitious kids learn 21st century skills that prepares them for the new global economy. Our brands include: AlphaX, Beta Camp, and Apollo School.

Head of Marketing

Synthesis

Scaling the best ideas from Ad Astra, the school our cofounder started with Elon Musk at SpaceX. Synthesis teaches kids 8 to 14 collaboration, critical thinking, and decision-making skills by challenging them to wrestle with complex simulations of real-world problems.

As the Director of Marketing I was responsible for setting the strategy and overseeing marketing functions including user acquisition, customer LTV through communication strategies, lifecycle engagement campaigns, conversion efforts, and product marketing.

Within 8 months, as a team of 3 in the marketing team, managed to spearhead their growth efforts and scale the number of paying subscribers by 340%

Director of Marketing

YSpace, York University

YSpace is York University’s entrepreneurship hub creating positive change by fostering a community of innovators, entrepreneurs, and changemakers. 

As a Growth Consultant, I provided strategic and tactical guidance to specifically assigned ventures on their user and revenue development goals.

Two of the companies I mentored, ended as the top 5 finalists on YSpace Tech Accelerator Demo Day.

• Huex Labs - developed AIDA, a voice-enabled conversational AI to enable food chains and brands to better serve their customers in live business environments.

• Mely AI - an enterprise AI-powered solution, with a proprietary technology to extract key information from complex documents and specialized in Supply Chain and Logistics.

Growth Consultant

Kinedu

Kinedu's mission is to unleash early childhood development at scale by fostering quality learning experiences at home, school, and everywhere in between. 

Trusted by more than 8MM parents worldwide, Kinedu's iOS and Android app is available in 3 languages (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) and provides personalized, engaging video-based developmental activities for children under the age of 4.

Joined Kinedu in early 2014 as the 1st marketing hire and employee #4.

Responsible for all consumer growth-related functions including user acquisition, customer LTV through communication strategies, lifecycle engagement campaigns, conversion efforts, product marketing, partnerships, and pricing.

VP of Growth Marketing

Joined Kinedu in early 2014 as the 1st marketing hire and employee #4.

- Define marketing objectives and strategies to support the company’s goals.
- Plan and execute marketing, email, and social media, and user acquisition campaigns
- Design, build and maintain social media presence and community management
- Measure and report performance of all digital marketing campaigns, and assess against goals (ROI and KPIs)
- Analyze user behavior, conversion data and customer journeys, funnel analysis and multi-channel attribution
- Identify trends to optimize spend and performance
- Design and implement new growth strategies
- Plan, execute, and measure experiments and conversion tests
- Collaborate with Product and Design teams to optimize user experience and increase conversion rates
- Customer insights, and feedback loops

Content

Hey, I'm Sam 👋
When I discovered growth marketing, something clicked. It perfectly blends what fascinates me: understanding people and building systems that make businesses grow.

Over the past decade, I've helped startups scale from 0 to 8-figures by looking at growth holistically. For me, it's never just about finding one magic lever - it's about building a complete system that works. From scaling products to 8M+ users to helping founders navigate their path to $XXM in revenue, I've learned that sustainable growth comes from understanding the full picture.

What sets my approach apart? I look at your entire customer journey - from acquisition to activation, conversion to monetization. It starts with deeply understanding your customers and product, then building a growth system that connects all these pieces. No generic playbooks, no isolated tactics - just strategic moves that compound over time.

I'm known for moving fast and diving deep. Instead of following generic playbooks, I help startups find their unique path to scale by deeply understanding their customers. The result? Growth strategies that actually work for their specific business.

If you're at $3M+ ARR and want to scale efficiently while maintaining strong unit economics, would love to chat.

Want to know more? Check out samanthaleal.io

Samantha Leal

Abbe Borg

Irish Tech News

Crypto Journalist & Gamer
www.x.com/diehardbird

Covering crypto by learning and meeting leaders in this new asset class couldn't be more exciting in an otherwise mundane life of an octanegarian.

I am known as "DieHardBirdie" for a decades-long talent of mimicking bird whistling.  I have appeared in documentaries, talk shows, Nasdaq shows and gaming fan sites. As a published writer at oneesports.gg and a passionate crypto enthusiast, you can connect withe on www.x.com/diehardbirdie.

Crypto Journalist

The Soho Loft

Contributor

Diehardbirdie.com

Self publishing analytical articles on leading cryptocurrencies. Got great editors to make them sharp and current. Thanks team

Writer

Golden Snipers

We are breaking barriers. 

We are in our golden years,

determined and focused.

Are you a military veteran 

gray gamer?

JOIN OUR PRO LEAGUE TEAM!

ONE Esports

ONE Esports is a subsidiary of Group ONE Holdings (ONE), Asia’s largest global sports media platform with a broadcast to 150+ countries around the world. Through its marquee sports properties (ONE Championship and ONE Esports) and its passionate millennial community, ONE is a celebration of Asia’s greatest cultural phenomena, Martial Arts and Gaming, and the deep-rooted Asian values of integrity, humility, honor, respect, courage, discipline, and compassion.

Our mission is to discover, create and unleash esports heroes who ignite the world with hope, strength, dreams, and inspiration.

We celebrate the passion and excitement of all things esports and bring the latest news, reviews, features, how-to guides, and in-depth stories on the athletes, teams, and fans.

Abbe Borg, best known as “DieHardBirdie,” is a Sweden-based Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS: GO) senior world champion at 78 years old.

Abbe is also an art lover and origami enthusiast. You can often find him creating interesting sculptures out of old books and crafting beautiful paper flowers for his family and new friends and acquaintances when not gaming.

CrossHairs Documentary due 2025 - gaming during the covid Wars

1 hour documentary CrossHairs in post production.  My adventures as an 80 year old gamer during the covid wars.  

Family
Fun
Game
Play with grand kids
Travel 
Passion for writing
Crypto interests
and a balance in life.

Gaming is healthy.  Guess why?  

My producer Barry Rosen produced TV show Highlander and Zorro.  

Which network do you know with an appetite for my story?

Diehardbirdie Documentary 3

The oldest Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) esports world champion at age 80, I achieved this remarkable feat as part of the Swedish team Silver Snipers. We became senior world champions in 2019 in Växjö, Sweden, excelling in the Counter-Strike category for seniors. I proudly remained the oldest member of the team and an uncontested, undisputed champion through 2022, 2023, and 2024, continuing this legacy into 2025.

Esport Worldchamp CSGO 2022

Prime Video & Amazon Studios

Please watch #DieHardBirdie on AMAZON Prime Video as a documentary. The oldest esport world champ ever - csgo champ at age 80. It just aired 2021. It's a fun short 22 min piece.  Check it out tonight or this weekeend.

https://vimeo.com/483722173/ef16066aa6

My amazon documentary 2 

Endorsements:   

2019-2020 - Lenovo Legion 
https://www.lenovo.com/ 

2020-2021 - Free-to-Mint NFTs for DHB Movement ( Featured Artist) 
https://diehardbirdie.com/ ( OpenSea & LAToken) 

2016-2017 - Bonniers Konsthall (Featured Actor in Insomia) 
https://bonnierskonsthall.se/ 

2016-2018 -  Granby Staden (By Atrium Ljungberg) 
https://www.granbystaden.se/ 

2012-2016 - Viasat.se 
https://www.viasat.com/

Commercial Model /Endorser/Actor/Artist

I am an 80-year-old eSports champion proving that age is just a number! With a sharp eye for strategy and a flair for style, I have not only dominated the gaming world but also made waves in craft artistry, catalogue shoots, and commercial print ads. 

Notable Highlights: 

Featured in commercials and endorsements for Viasat.se, Lenovo Legion, Bonniers Konsthall, and Granby Staden (Atrium Ljungberg). From dominating the gaming arena to shining in front of the camera, DieHardBirdie embodies versatility and charisma. Breaking barriers and redefining what’s possible, I deliver both killer headshots and head-turning moments with equal finesse. Whether in the virtual world or on the commercial stage, I’m your go-to guy! 

For me, focusing on writing and crypto analysis has been an exciting journey in recent years. I’ve been diving deep into Web3 technologies, exploring breaking solutions, and seeking thought leadership interviews with innovators in the space. It's a fascinating time to understand how blockchain and decentralized systems are reshaping industries and creating new opportunities.

Meanwhile gaming has been a surprising but vital part of my journey as well. At 80 years old, being both an influencer and a pro-gamer has its unique perks. Over the past few years, I’ve trained rigorously for tournaments, which led to my historic win at DreamHack Summer 2019, where I became the world’s oldest esports champion at 78. This passion for gaming has kept my mind sharp, and it’s also a great way to connect with a global audience.

Please watch me #DieHardBirdie on my AMAZON Prime Video documentary. It's a fun short 22 min piece on my gaming.  Check it out tonight or this weekeend. Please share with 3 friends how I started gaming and became a #csgo champ at age 78.

Let’s connect and collaborate on exciting projects!

https://vimeo.com/483722173/ef16066aa6  



Departing words:

As Seneca, the Roman philosopher, once said: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” My journey has been a testament to this idea—embracing new opportunities and working tirelessly to turn them into successes.

taplio

The Battle

Samantha Leal

Abbe Borg

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