Hey, I’m Sam
I’ve spent the past decade helping startups scale from 0 to 8-figures, leading marketing for products that reached 8M+ users. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this:

Most startups don’t have a marketing problem. They have a customer understanding problem.

I’ve seen it happen over and over:

- A startup hits $2M ARR and suddenly, what used to work: founder-led sales, scrappy paid acquisition- stops scaling.
- They try the usual fixes: more ad spend, new channels, hiring an agency - but nothing moves the needle.
- They burn cash testing random tactics without actually knowing what makes customers buy, stay, and refer.

That’s where I come in.

I don’t believe in blind optimizations or playbook strategies.
 
I believe in getting inside your customers’ heads, so we can build a growth system that’s actually designed to work for your unique audience and business.

What Makes Growth Studio different?
Most agencies move too slow.
They hand you off to junior teams who’ve never actually scaled a business.
They build “strategies” in a vacuum - without ever talking to your customers.

That’s not how we operate.

We work directly with founders to get to the root of why their growth has stalled - and move fast to fix it.

✔️ We start by deeply understanding your customers - what they need, what makes them convert, and why they stick around.
✔️ We take full ownership of your paid acquisition & growth strategy - no outsourcing to a junior team.
✔️ We act as an embedded growth partner - not a consultant handing over a deck.

This isn’t about quick wins. It’s about building a scalable acquisition system that compounds over time - so you can grow without the guesswork.

Learn more: https://joingrowthstudio.com

Samantha Leal

I publish Drunk Business Advice, teach people about newsletters, lead Stealth Mastermind, and (shockingly) advise executive students at Harvard. I recently transitioned my life from "doing the thing" to "teaching the thing". What's the thing? Still trying to figure that out.

Kristin Kenzy

“That’s what I’m f*cking talking about!”

God I love her so much.

I miss the days when I didn't have to come up with a catchy one-liner for LinkedIn.

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This is my last post about figure skating for a while, I swear. 

(Sorry, but this it the brief moment every 4 years that people actually give a hoot about my sport, so imma milk it thankyouverymuch.)

Nothing else in my whole damn life has shaped me more than this weird, silly, beautiful, traumatizing sport. And for others in my sport... I see you.

To wake up at 4:30am and train before school... if you even go to school at all.

To cheer for your best friends because you genuinely love them, while silently hoping they'd fall on their ass because you're also competing against them.

To embody the system of "preparation, execution, review" before you even hit puberty.

To always be injured. Always.

For a brief moment in time, every four years, the world cares. But that's not why you do it. You do it because you can't imagine NOT doing it.

Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to present: 

The Birthday Poop

(i.e. what happens when you try to make a peanut butter sheet cake for your husband’s birthday, and the middle falls out, forcing you to get way more creative than you were originally planning to be.)

One year ago today, my friend Bill Lynch sent a group text to me and my husband wishing him a happy birthday.

Thus exposing that I had, indeed, forgotten my husband’s birthday. F*ck.

So let me be the FIRST to wish my husband a happy birthday before Bill ruins it for me again.

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Weird observation:

As I've gotten older, I've become LESS reliable.

In my youth, I'd rather throw myself into a pool of porcupines than let someone down. I was known as the "get shit done" girl.

These days, I still get shit done for most part, but I let A LOT of people down along the way. I don't like it.

Filing taxes in Spanish while cooking omelets and tackling coat thieves is PRECISELY the career I had in mind.

Well done, LinkedIn.

Well f*cking done.

Every time the teacher said “I’m going to put you in groups for this next assignment,” I’d stare at her like this. 👇 

(While thinking, "Just let me arrange my blocks in peace, you wretched woman.")

It’s not that I’m anti-social. It’s not that I don’t play well with others.

It’s just that when something is important — I simply prefer to do it myself.

In yesterday's issue of Drunk Business Advice, I touted the merits (and some of the pitfalls) of solopreneurship. Not subscribed? Why the hell not? It's free. Hit "view my newsletter" under my name to join the party.

For someone who writes about business and entrepreneurship, you’d think I’d be able to spell “entrepreneurship” in my sleep.

Nope. I always mix up the “u” and the “e” in the second half of the word.

(Actual screen shot of me working on Sunday's issue of Drunk Business Advice.)

If, like me, you also can't f*cking spell, hit "view my newsletter" under my name and subscribe. For free. 

Also, this is my version of a "vulnerable LinkedIn post", since that's trending right now. Apparently.

taplio

The Battle

Samantha Leal

Kristin Kenzy

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taplio

The Battle

Samantha Leal

Kristin Kenzy

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Kristin Kenzy's LinkedIn Performance

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