Lomit Patel

Chief Marketing & Growth Officer | Author | Startup Advisor | ex Roku, IMVU, Texture

I help startups turn community into a durable growth engine — not a marketing channel.I’m a growth and marketing executive with 20+ years of experience helping category-defining companies scale revenue efficiently — without losing trust, focus, or signal. I’ve led growth across consumer and emerging platforms, including Roku, IMVU, Texture, TrustedID, Tynker — and now serve as CMO of TYB.At TYB, I focus on community-led growth, customer participation loops, and systems that compound trust, revenue, and retention over time. My work sits at the intersection of community, growth, and AI — using automation and disciplined experimentation to reduce noise and build systems that scale.I’m also the author of Lean AI, a bestselling AI growth marketing playbook in Eric Ries’s The Lean Startup series.Career highlights• Scaled revenue from $1M → $100M+, driving hypergrowth with efficient CAC &amp; ROI• Delivered 5 consecutive years of record-breaking growth at IMVU (#2 highest-grossing gaming app)• Played a key role in 4 startup exits: Roku (IPO), Texture (Apple), TrustedID (Equifax), Tynker (BYJU’S)• Managed $50M+ in annual marketing spend across acquisition, retention, and monetization• Led GTM strategy &amp; launches across emerging tech, including Web3, NFTs, and digital currencies• Built and led high-performing hybrid &amp; remote growth/marketing teams of 20+I believe the next era of growth won’t be won by louder marketing — but by earned trust, strong communities, and systems that quietly compound over time.Always happy to connect with founders and growth teams exploring community-led growth.Views are my own.

Chief Marketing & Growth Officer

Manage the growth and marketing teams (user acquisition, engagement, retention, monetization), including budgets, strategy, channels, branding, PR, research, and data analytics.

The strongest beauty brands don’t sell skincare.

They sell restraint.

rhode skin didn’t launch with 40 SKUs.

They launched with discipline.

Fewer products. Clear positioning. Cohesive aesthetic.

In a world of overstimulation, simplicity became the differentiator.

You don’t buy Rhode for options.
You buy it because it removes friction.

For founders, the takeaway.
Curation is a growth strategy.

When your brand edits aggressively, consumers trust more deeply.

At what point does “more choice” start eroding brand power instead of expanding it?

CMO @ TYB | Scaling Community-Powered Brands with AI | 4x Exits | Author, Lean AI

One of the best parts of working at TYB is partnering with founders who are building brands with real community at the center.

Many of the brands on TYB today were founded by women who get something important about modern growth.

The strongest brands are built with their communities, not just marketed to them.

It’s amazing to see communities forming around brands like:

✨ Emily Weiss – Glossier, Inc.
✨ Selena Gomez – Rare Beauty
✨ Laney Crowell – Saie
✨ Shai Eisenman – Bubble
✨ Jen Atkin – OUAI
✨ Lindsey Carter – SET ACTIVE
✨ Elizabeth Stein – Purely Elizabeth
✨ Amy Liu – Tower 28 Beauty, Inc.
✨ Shakira – isima
✨Olamide Olowe - Topicals 
✨Siffat Haider - Arrae 
✨Babba (Canales) Rivera - Ceremonia
✨Sofie Pavitt - Sofie Pavitt Face
✨Julie Schott - Starface World

And of course, Ty Haney, who created Try Your Best (TYB) after building Outdoor Voices and is now also the founder of Joggy.

These founders and so many more on TYB aren’t just launching products. They’re building brands people genuinely want to be part of.

Grateful to support so many incredible female founders in the TYB ecosystem and excited to see what you build next.

Who are some other female founders building brands with strong communities that we should all be paying attention to?

 #IWD26

I am an experienced marketing and growth leader, having scaled venture-backed hyper-growth startups such as Tynker, Roku, IMVU, Texture, and TrustedID. I'm also a well-known public speaker, advisor, Forbes Council Member, and the author of "Lean AI," which is a bestseller in "The Lean Startup" series by Eric Ries.

____________________________________
My posts are my own and do not reflect the opinions of my current, past, or future employers.

The most valuable conversation I had at AppsFlyer MAMA San Francisco had nothing to do with marketing.

It reminded me of something I’ve noticed after 20+ years in the growth industry.

The relationships you build end up mattering far more than the tactics.

At AppsFlyer MAMA, I ran into friends like Dennis Mink, Steve P. Young, and others I’ve known across multiple chapters of this industry.

Companies change.
Platforms evolve.
New growth tactics show up every year.

But the people who have been part of the journey often stay the same.

And there is something funny that happens in conversations with people you’ve known for a long time.

I call it the 80/20 flip.

The first 20% of the conversation sounds like every other industry event:

• What channels are working
• How AI is changing growth
• What the latest KPIs look like
• Where the market is heading

Then something shifts.

The remaining 80% becomes about life.

Family.
Kids growing up.
Career pivots.
Health.
Lessons learned the hard way.

That’s when you realize the relationship is no longer transactional.

It’s real.

Early in your career, networking can feel like collecting contacts.

But over time you learn something more valuable.

Your inner circle compounds just like great investments.

These are the people who:

• Give you honest perspective
• Help you filter industry noise
• Remind you that every market cycle eventually passes

The growth and marketing world moves fast.

But the relationships that ground you often last decades.

That’s the real ROI of events like AppsFlyer MAMA.

Not just the tactics.

The perspective.

For anyone early in their career, my advice is simple:

Don’t just network for the next opportunity.

Build relationships with the people you want to still be learning from 10 years from now.

Those relationships matter far more than any growth hack.

Who is someone in your industry you’ve stayed friends with for 5+ years?

Tag them below. 👇
Those relationships are worth celebrating.

#MAMASF

Most DTC brands misunderstand loyalty.


They equate loyalty with points, perks, or programs, but it goes beyond that.

For DTC Shopify brands, customer loyalty is about earning repeat preference when switching is easy. This is especially true when competitors offer lower prices, ads are ubiquitous, and customers can leave with minimal friction.

The real test of loyalty lies ahead. In 2026, the brands that succeed won't necessarily have the most sophisticated loyalty programs. Instead, they will:

• Show up consistently across fragmented channels
• Use AI to reduce friction, not manipulate behavior
• Deliver reliability in the mundane moments
• Treat loyalty as a system, not just a campaign

After over 20 years in growth and DTC, I've observed an uncomfortable truth: 

Most loyalty strategies focus on optimizing repeat transactions rather than fostering repeat belief. And it is belief that compounds.

I recently published a deep dive article that covers:

- Why traditional loyalty programs are failing
- What customer loyalty truly means for DTC Shopify brands
- How trust, experience, and consistency outperform discounts
- A practical framework brands can implement immediately

If you're building or scaling a DTC brand on Shopify, this perspective will transform your approach to retention. 

Curious to hear how others are currently addressing loyalty: Are you investing more in programs or in experience and trust? 👇 

#ecommerce #brands

Customer loyalty for DTC Shopify brands is a brand’s ability to earn repeat preference through trust, consistent experience, and reliability—not just 

Open article: Customer Loyalty for DTC Shopify Brands in 2026 by Lomit Patel • 7 min read

Customer Loyalty for DTC Shopify Brands in 2026

Clicks are dead. Community is alive.


In my first 150 days as CMO at Try Your Best (TYB), I realized something big: growth doesn’t come from paid media. It comes from trust, participation, and community.

We built a community-led, content-powered GTM system that:

- Measured zero-click attribution
- Created compounding growth loops
- Delivered 330% YoY growth

Here’s the truth: B2B and B2C buyers don’t convert through clicks. They convert through familiarity, engagement, and social proof, often in dark social channels like DMs, group chats, and feeds.

I captured everything in a playbook: how we uncovered our organic baseline, stopped mistaking retargeting for growth, and built a system that scales without relying on paid media.

If you’re a CMO or growth leader, this is how modern GTM really works.

How are you building growth through community and content, not just clicks?

Read the full article below👇

Clicks are dead, and dark social is alive. As CMO at TYB, I built a community-led, content-powered GTM system that scales without relying on paid medi

Open article: Community Over Clicks: A CMO’s 150-Day GTM Playbook for B2B & B2C by Lomit Patel • 4 min read

Community Over Clicks: A CMO’s 150-Day GTM Playbook for B2B & B2C

The strongest beauty brands don’t follow inclusion trends.

They define them.

Fenty Beauty by Rihanna launched with 40 foundation shades.

That wasn’t marketing.
That was a statement.

They didn’t expand later.
They started expansive.

Inclusion wasn’t a campaign.
It was the product architecture.

The takeaway:
When your values are embedded in your SKU strategy, culture responds.

What does your product lineup say about who you prioritize?

The strongest accessories brands don’t sell bags.

They sell practicality without apology.

BAGGU made reusable bags cool before sustainability became table stakes.

Bold prints.
Affordable price.
No luxury positioning.

They made “everyday” feel designed.

The lesson:
Utility scales when it feels intentional.

If your product solves a boring problem, brand is what makes it memorable.

Are we underestimating how powerful “simple” can be?

Most people are framing this wrong.

Gen Z isn’t spending more on luxury because they’re reckless.

They’re spending differently because the definition of value has changed.

In an always-on world shaped by social platforms, purchases are no longer just about utility. They’re about identity, belonging, and visibility.

A $600 bag today isn’t competing with other bags.

It’s competing with attention, social capital, and personal branding.

That’s why we’re seeing something that looks contradictory on the surface:

Gen Z cutting back on everyday items while still willing to splurge on things that enhance how they show up online.

This isn’t irrational behavior.

It’s rational behavior in a new economy called the identity economy.

And this has big implications for brands:
• You’re no longer just selling products. You’re selling signals
• Loyalty isn’t driven by discounts. It’s driven by participation
• The strongest brands won’t just market to customers. They’ll build with them

The winners in the next decade won’t be the brands with the biggest ad budgets.

They’ll be the ones that help consumers feel seen, connected, and part of something bigger.

Because for Gen Z, the real ROI of a purchase isn’t just ownership.

It’s identity.

Interesting read that sparked this perspective: https://lnkd.in/eXSQzTxa

Marketing budgets are easy to approve when growth is strong.

They’re tested when margins tighten.

I’ve learned that the real question isn’t whether marketing “works.”

It’s whether marketing strengthens the financial fundamentals of the business.

CFOs don’t think in impressions or platform-reported ROAS.

They think in:

• Contribution margin
• Operating leverage
• Cash flow
• Return on invested capital

If you want CFO buy-in, you have to speak that language.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

1. Treat marketing as capital allocation, not spend.
Every dollar has an opportunity cost. Show how yours compounds.

2. Validate incrementality, not attribution.
Platform dashboards are not financial proof. Always-on lift testing forces discipline and protects capital.

3. Build trust and community as economic assets.
High-trust ecosystems reduce CAC volatility, improve retention, and strengthen pricing power. That shows up in revenue durability.

4. Use AI to improve allocation decisions.
AI is not a feature. It’s a capital efficiency engine when governed correctly.

At startups I’ve helped scale, once marketing budgets reached eight figures annually, we institutionalized always-on incrementality testing across major paid channels.

Not to optimize dashboards.

To govern capital.

When marketing proves it improves margin resilience and cash flow predictability, alignment stops being political.

It becomes mathematical.

The CMOs who earn long-term executive trust don’t argue for bigger budgets.

They design systems that make capital more efficient.

That’s when marketing stops being a cost center.

And starts becoming a structural advantage.

👉 If you’re navigating CMO–CFO alignment right now, I go deeper into this framework in my latest HackerNoon article below.

Curious how others are approaching this conversation inside their organizations?

I was using AI for growth 5 years before ChatGPT made it mainstream.

Back then, most people thought AI was hype. Today, it’s my most productive teammate.

I joined the Intelligent Artifice podcast with Shamanth M. Rao to share my 2026 playbook for AI-powered growth and what most teams still get wrong.

In this conversation:

• Replacing team workflows with AI execution
• Running multiple AI models as a “panel of judges”
• Cutting reporting from weeks to minutes
• Using AI for high-stakes due diligence
• How leaders should think about AI adoption

The future won’t belong to teams with more resources.
It will belong to teams that learn faster.

Curious — how are you using AI as a teammate today?

https://lnkd.in/eTKxVmBH

CAC has risen 60% in the past five years.


Most Shopify brands are still spending like it hasn’t.

For years, the DTC growth playbook was simple:
Acquire → Convert → Repeat.

As long as paid social was cheap, the math worked.

But today many brands are pouring more and more budget into acquisition while ignoring the bigger lever: retention.

The result is what I call the leaky bucket problem.

You keep spending to acquire customers…
but they don’t stay long enough for CAC to pay back.

The data is clear
• A 5% increase in retention can drive 25–95% higher profits
• Repeat customers spend ~67% more than new customers

Yet most marketing budgets still skew heavily toward acquisition.

The brands winning in 2026 are changing the question.

Instead of asking

“How do we acquire more customers?”

They’re asking

“How do we turn customers into fans?”

Because fans

→ Buy more frequently
→ Stay longer
→ Bring others with them

That’s when growth starts to compound instead of reset every month.

The real shift isn’t acquisition vs retention.

It’s using retention to make acquisition more efficient.

I break this down in more detail here:
https://lnkd.in/g6zea4zh

Curious how other operators are thinking about this
Are you investing more in acquisition or retention in 2026?

#marketing #ecommerce

Open article: Shopify Retention vs. Acquisition: Where to Invest in 2026 by tyb.xyz

Shopify Retention vs. Acquisition: Where to Invest in 2026

Most growth dashboards are drowning in metrics slop.

I’ve seen it dozens of times. A weekly sync where the team is staring at a spreadsheet with 80+ columns.

Clicks. Impressions. Session duration. Referral loops.

Here is the hard truth: When you measure everything, you understand nothing.

In 20 years of leading growth for startups, the winners always share one trait. 

They don’t have the most data. They have the most focus.

They identify their Primary Growth Lever. The one metric that, if it moves, ensures the entire flywheel is spinning.

In my latest article, I break down how to take a red pen to your strategy and find your North Star:

1) Marketplaces: Why you must obsess over throughput, not just users.

2) B2B SaaS: Why usage depth is a better leading indicator than ARR.

3) Community Commerce: Shifting from conversion logic to belonging logic through participation.

If you are ready to cut the noise and apply Lean AI principles to your execution, this is for you.

Stop measuring the slop. Start moving the needle.

Read the full article below 👇

Most marketing teams are optimizing for a playbook that is rapidly evolving.

Clicks are changing.
AI answers are rising.

Discovery is expanding beyond websites.
It is increasingly happening inside models.

Engineers have Cursor.
Lawyers have Harvey.
Designers have Figma.

Marketers NOW have Profound.

Profound just raised $96M in Series C funding at a $1B valuation to build the infrastructure for the AI-native internet.

This is not another AI writing tool.
This is not another analytics dashboard.

Profound Agents are autonomous marketing systems that actually own jobs-to-be-done.

They

• Create intent-driven content
• Monitor performance signals
• Update assets dynamically
• Adapt as AI search evolves

They monitor.
They decide.
They execute.
Without waiting for you.

For lean teams, that is how you 10x productivity without 10x headcount.

Here is the bigger shift most CMOs are underestimating.

The biggest risk right now is not under-investing in paid media.
It is under-investing in AI visibility.

In a zero-click world, distribution is no longer just about buying attention.
It is about being understood and recommended by AI systems.

This moment feels a lot like paid search in 2008. Early investment in new discovery channels compounds.

We are expanding from SEO to AEO.
From ranking pages to earning answers.
From capturing clicks to engineering trust inside models.

The next essential role in marketing will not just be Head of Growth.
It will be a Marketing Engineer.

The next 3 years will redefine how brands are discovered.

So here’s the question

Will AI recommend you?

Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gYpdDwAZ

The DTC Reset. From Momentum to Maturity.

We are witnessing a massive shift in the consumer brand landscape.

For years, the market rewarded "growth at all costs." We saw valuations that treated DTC brands like software companies, fueled by venture-subsidized acquisitions.

Now, the story has run out of runway.

But here is the truth the headlines are missing. Restructuring isn't a sign of failure. It is a sign of maturity.

We are entering the era of the Operator-led Brand. When a category leader pauses product launches, trims corporate overhead, and refocuses on unit economics, they aren't retreating. 

They are stabilizing the foundation for the next decade of growth.

In my experience scaling brands, the winners of this reset will do three things:

1. Prioritize Unit Economics: Trade top-line "noise" for bottom-line control.

2. Double Down on Retention: Realize that LTV is the only metric that matters when paid media stops being cheap.

3. Protect the Core: Use community as a lifeboat, not a marketing gimmick.

Community is the only asset that allows a brand to survive a broad market correction. It is the difference between "renting" an audience from ad platforms and "owning" your future.

Seeing leaders make the tough, disciplined calls to get back to their roots is exactly how legacy is built.

The playbook for 2026 is clear. Build belief, run tight, and only grow when the economics say you can.

I’m curious. Do you see this "reset" as a collapse of the DTC model, or a much-needed correction for the industry?

🚀 Every great product also needs a great GTM strategy to scale.


AI is rewriting how brands are discovered. Paid search alone is no longer enough. The next decade of marketing belongs to companies that build AI visibility, orchestrate creator-led trust, and engineer authority systems that AI recognizes and amplifies.

Profound’s $96M Series C launch provides a real-world example of how to execute this new GTM playbook. Their creator-led approach shows how thoughtful orchestration can establish category authority and scale trust in a zero-click world.

In my latest newsletter, I break down:

- Why the shift from SEO to AEO is the biggest change in marketing
- How creator orchestration is now a core part of distribution infrastructure
- The “2008 Paid Search” moment happening today and how brands can capture first-mover advantage

Read the full analysis and framework below. 👇 

Congrats to Profound for showing what marketing built for the AI era really looks like, a launch that demonstrates how strategy, trust, and execution come together to scale innovation.

The strongest fashion brands don’t sell trends.

They sell accountability.

Reformation made sustainability visible.

Carbon stats.
Supply chain transparency.
Clear messaging.

They turned ethics into aesthetic.

The takeaway:
When your operations are part of your story, brand feels earned.

How many brands hide the process instead of highlighting it?

The era of traditional search is ending. The era of answers is beginning.


My latest HackerNoon article is on why AEO is replacing traditional search and why GTM leaders need to rethink their strategy for 2026 and beyond.

Traditional SEO optimized for clicks.
AEO is optimized for answers.

AI does not rank pages. It extracts and serves the most precise insight. Your content is not competing for a position. It is competing to be the answer itself.

Zero-click search is now the norm. Most search interactions deliver answers directly, no click required. That flips every GTM playbook on its head.

AI is not just a channel. It is the interface your audience now expects. If your content is not structured for AI, it is invisible.

AEO is not just SEO for AI. It is a new mindset. Prioritize intent-first conversations, structured insights, and content AI can trust and cite.

The way decision makers discover, validate, and trust brands is changing. If you are still optimizing only for rankings, you are optimizing for yesterday.

Is your organization adapting to AEO?

What is your biggest challenge moving from SEO to AI-first discovery?

#AI #AEO #Marketing

The strongest apparel brands don’t sell fabric.

They sell confidence infrastructure.

SKIMS didn’t market shapewear.

They normalized it.

Inclusive sizing.
Real skin tones.
Functional design.

They turned a hidden category into a visible movement.

You don’t wear Skims to be someone else.
You wear it to feel more like yourself.

For founders: 
When you remove shame from a category, you unlock scale.

What other industries are waiting for that reframing?

The strongest mass brands don’t compete on price.

They compete on speed and cultural fluency.

E.L.F. BEAUTY moves like a creator, not a corporation.

TikTok-native launches.
Dupe culture embraced.
Community-first tone.

They didn’t fight the internet.
They built inside it.

For marketers:
Relevance beats prestige in the algorithm era.

How many legacy brands are still optimizing for image instead of engagement?

In fashion and beauty, brand heat now moves at the speed of culture. E.L.F. Beauty proves that relevance, creator fluency, and community momentum outperform legacy prestige positioning.

In the algorithm era, engagement is the new luxury. The brands that win are built inside the feed, not above it. 👇

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