# Elena Verna

> Elena Verna is one of Silicon Valley's most respected growth operators - a former SVP of Growth at SurveyMonkey, interim CMO at Miro, and current Head of Growth at Lovable (the AI app-builder that hit $200M ARR in under a year). Known for popularizing Product-Led Growth frameworks, she runs 'Elena's Growth Scoop' newsletter with 89,000+ subscribers and a 40% open rate, and is a Partner at Reforge. She immigrated from Russia at 14 with $100 and no English, and has built a career on the principle: 'I will figure it out.'

- **Role:** Head of Growth at Lovable
- **Organizations:** Lovable, Reforge, Elena's Growth Scoop (newsletter)
- **From:** Russia
- **Nationality:** American (Russian-born)
- **Education:** B.S. in Statistics, UC Berkeley
- **Known for:** Helped scale SurveyMonkey to 60 million users and 600,000+ paying customers as SVP of Growth, One of the earliest B2B practitioners building formal Growth teams (circa 2012), Partner at Reforge, one of Silicon Valley's most respected growth education platforms

## Career timeline

- **2001** — Immigrated to the United States from Russia at age ~14, speaking no English, with approximately $100
- **2003-2005** — First U.S. marketing analytics job at Safeway, building personalized coupon/savings algorithms
- **2009** — Joined SurveyMonkey as one of its first analysts (employee ~#12), found listing on Craigslist
- **2012** — Launched one of SurveyMonkey's first formal Growth teams (at a time only Facebook had one)
- **2015** — CEO Dave Goldberg's sudden passing - a pivotal and painful moment; eventually led to her departure
- **2016** — Left SurveyMonkey as SVP of Growth after helping scale to 60M users and 600K+ paying customers
- **2017** — Joined Malwarebytes as SVP of Product & Growth
- **2019** — Left Malwarebytes; published 'Why I Quit Full-Time Roles'; began solopreneur/advisor phase
- **2020** — Served as interim CMO & Advisor at Miro through COVID hypergrowth; joined Reforge as Partner/EIR
- **2021** — Served as interim Head of Growth at Amplitude; launched Elena's Growth Scoop newsletter
- **2022** — Newsletter grew to 40,000+ subscribers; advising Dropbox, Netlify, MongoDB, Superhuman, and others
- **2024** — Newsletter hit 89,000+ subscribers with 40% open rate; ranked #48 in Technology on Substack
- **2025-05** — Joined Lovable as Head of Growth; helped drive company from $200M to $400M ARR

## Achievements

- Helped scale SurveyMonkey to 60 million users and 600,000+ paying customers as SVP of Growth
- One of the earliest B2B practitioners building formal Growth teams (circa 2012)
- Partner at Reforge, one of Silicon Valley's most respected growth education platforms
- Elena's Growth Scoop: 89,000+ subscribers, 40% open rate, #48 in Technology on Substack
- Contributed to Lovable reaching $200M ARR in under one year (later $400M ARR, ~$100M/month growth)
- Record 4th appearance on Lenny's Podcast
- Popularized frameworks: Racecar Growth Model, PLG Trilogy, Motions x Levers
- Board member at Netlify
- Paid newsletter at $9/month or $99/year with 89K+ subscribers

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Joined Lovable as Head of Growth
- **2025-10** — Lovable hit $400M ARR, adding ~$100M/month; Elena published 'Growth lessons behind Lovable's $6.6B valuation'
- **2026-01** — Appeared on Lenny's Podcast for 4th time discussing 'The new AI growth playbook for 2026'
- **2026-04** — Newsletter at 89,000+ subscribers, ranked #48 in Technology on Substack

## Links

- Website: https://www.elenaverna.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaverna/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ElenaVerna

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/elena-verna
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-27