SUMMARY
HIGH-GROWTH STARTUP LEADER
Sam has lead a variety of teams at high-growth startups across categories. Recent accomplishments include establishing and leading the Growth Marketing department at Noom, a behavior change healthcare company. During Sam’s 5-year tenure, annual revenue grew from $12M to >$600M , company size from 37 to 550 employees, and the Growth Marketing department from 1 to 20. Sam departed as VP Growth Marketing in 2022.
Later, Sam joined Seed. Since joining, annual YoY revenue grew 40% each year. Additionally, Seed generated $MM in EBITDA for the first time in the company history. Sam’s scope has expanded from Growth to Commercial, which includes all revenue driving activities across DTC, Retail, and Amazon distribution channels.
Sam also spends time advising companies and exploring product ideas.
Product Exploration
GROUP Chat | STATUS: UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Goal Build a 10x better group chat exprience
Business Hypothesis: the Messaging space has stagnated and is open to disruption in the event that a “10x better” product can be created. Through better functionality and the incorporation of advancements in AI, a 10x improvement is achievable.
Product: AI-native group messaging application that aims to integrate AI as a natural participant in group conversations and facilitate better conversation and engagement between participants.
Connectivity/Community: Group chats are sources of all types of connectivity that humans feel – from happy to sad, inspiring to pragmatic, exciting to mundane. Group chats strengthen and maintain existing relationships while opening doors to new relationships, and new angles to existing relationships.
Despite the special experience group chats can bring, there is no truly effective means of discovering, participating in, or managing them. Consumers are left with a series of trade off choices between too big (discord), too small, too invasive (Whatsapp), or too restrictive (iMessage).
Convenience: Further, there’s myriad inconveniences and limited functionality for groups. Current options offer little to no value by way of better planning trips, activities, collaborating, playing, or engaging. Go to sleep before the group chat goes off? Enjoy filtering through the noise in the morning. Forget what dates family vacation is? Navigate the scroll and poor search functionality (or annoy people and ask again!)
While some current and new opportunities hold potential to support these efforts (e.g. Chatbots), none are designed to.