Carilu Dietrich
Former CMO & Advisor at Atlassian / Hypergrowth B2B Advisor
Former CMO who led marketing at Atlassian through their IPO; has advised CEOs and CMOs of hypergrowth B2B companies including Segment, Miro, 1Password, Bill.com, Productboard, Sprout Social, and Weights & Biases.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Carilu Dietrich, who led marketing at Atlassian through their IPO and has advised dozens of hypergrowth B2B companies, shares what truly drives hypergrowth: organic viral word of mouth from an amazing product, not paid marketing. She introduces the concept of 'riding the lightning' — the compressed organizational timeline of hypergrowth — and explains why companies must continuously hire leaders who have already seen the next stage of growth.
Leadership Principles
- → To achieve hypergrowth, you must have organic, inbound, and viral word of mouth — you can't pay enough to grow at those rates and have a viable company
- → Hypergrowth companies go through stages in months that take others years — keep hiring 2X and 3X leaders who have seen the next stage of growth
- → The biggest driver of hypergrowth is an amazing product that people love to use — marketing amplifies product love, it doesn't create it
Notable Quotes
"In order to get hypergrowth, you have to have organic, inbound, and viral word of mouth. You can't pay enough to grow at those rates and have a viable company. The biggest thing is an amazing product that people love to use."
— On the prerequisites for achieving hypergrowth
"Hypergrowth companies go through the stages of growth that would take other companies five or 10 years. They're jumping from 10 to 50, from 50 to 100. They really need to keep hiring 2X and 3X leaders who have seen the next stage of growth, because it's going to be here before you know it."
— On the leadership hiring challenge in hypergrowth
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