Beth Carter on the Real Work Behind Startup Growth

Ahead of TURING x SYSTM Growth Summit in November, Beth Carter, Director of Growth at Flexa, shares her thoughts on startup growth strategies, the evolving role of AI in tech, and the overlooked nuances of working in growth, emphasising the importance of prioritisation, understanding customer sentiment, and balancing data with intuition.

Her advice for founders is simple: stay focused, do the groundwork, and remember that growth is as much about storytelling as it is about numbers. Read more 👇

1. What’s the #1 piece of advice you give startup founders about growth these days?

Before you rip everything apart – take a careful look at your activity levels. It’s so common for projects to make it to 80% finished and never actually get to customers. Think about how much time that wastes, and yes focus and prioritisation is important, but hard work and volume still matters.

2. What’s one big change in tech product or marketing that you’re seeing with the spread of generative AI?

Even more skeptical customers! Being conversational and human matters more than ever now – in the places where it’s relevant. And it doesn’t matter at all elsewhere. Your job is now to figure out which is which.

3. What’s the question you’re tired of answering? And what answer do you keep repeating and yet nobody seems to get it?

Question: The question I’m bored of is a variation on “Why do we have to do all this research, when does the real work start?” – what you’re asking is ‘how can we skip ahead to the results?

My answer: Now, impatience is not a bad trait in founders, it’s very helpful in a lot of ways. But the research and finding the right insights IS the work that moves you forwards.

4. What’s one thing that founders need to know about growth people that nobody seems to get?

We’re often working with shapes not numbers. I am not the best mathematician in the world, nor am I the best at data analysis. But what I can do is understand and work with the story the data is telling us – that blend of science and art is really what makes growth unique as a function.