Channels, Chasm &
Yes, And…

Adam Grenier

Former Head of Growth Marketing, Uber
VP Marketing, Masterclass · Advisor

GROWTH · MARKETING

The Framework

3-Ingredient Emerging Channel Filter

Customer Need: Does this channel serve what your audience actually wants?
Company Goal: Does it advance your specific growth target?
Channel Strength: Does the medium's native format match your message?

"I don't need a Notion Clubhouse channel this week. Please just stop."

The Channel Playbook

Channel DNA: Where Is It in Its Trajectory?

Clubhouse vs TikTok lesson Clubhouse got hot before Facebook got cold, and yet more people chased Clubhouse than TikTok. Don't confuse hype heat with channel readiness. TikTok had already crossed the chasm; Clubhouse had not.

The 5% rule Brand-new emerging channels succeed ~5% of the time. Better bets: existing channels that introduce something brand new (e.g. mobile install ads on Facebook, felt like emerging for 18 months).

Influencer Marketing

Still feels early, hyper-granular targeting reminiscent of early Facebook ad targeting. Enormous scope. Very manual. Watch the tooling layer (Grin, etc.) for when it scales. Supplements post-cookie targeting loss.

OTT / Streaming TV

Broad reach + video storytelling = strong fit for content-rich brands (e.g. Masterclass). Medium strength is narrative, not hyper-targeting.

Podcast Ads

Not emerging, 15+ years old. But scale is growing. Treat like radio: right program, personal tone, high repetition. Best ROI for B2B where each customer is high-value.

Interesting like mobile pre-iPhone 3. Only relevant if you already have a VR product. Otherwise, watch and wait.

Improv → Growth

"Yes, And…" as a Cross-Functional Superpower

"Yes, and…": Never deny a scene, it kills progress. Accept the premise, then build on it.
Gift of details: Specific details give collaborators more to work with. Vague statements close doors; specifics open them.
Cross-functional: At Uber, city teams vs central teams often felt at odds. "Yes, and…" let both things be true simultaneously.
Accountability: Tell your team to call you out when you slip into denial mode, make it a named team norm.

"If I say, 'We create content that is education and entertainment to solve people's deep curiosities in the way that maybe a biography would', that just opens up the exact problem you're trying to solve."

How to build this skill 1. Take improv 101, every city has it, zero performance required.
2. Publicly declare the goal to your team.
3. Give teammates explicit permission to flag when you slip into "No, but…" mode.

Gift of details in marketing Vague positioning: "AI writing tool."
Detail-rich: "AI that helps solopreneurs draft investor updates in their own voice in under 10 minutes." The specificity is the strategy.

The Chasm

Early Adopters ≠ Your Actual Market

Early adopters are often drastically different from the broad audience, map the gap before you assume scale
Your TAM claim and your PMF evidence often use different definitions, that mismatch is a major red flag
Clubhouse leaned into broad audiences before stress-testing whether PMF held beyond their initial moment-in-time cohort
Before crossing the chasm, build experiments that ask: "Will this work in an ongoing fashion, not just right now?"

"Start by assuming you no longer have product market fit, because you had product market fit in a different market."

Economic shifts = new market When macro conditions change, your entire customer base changes, not just the next 10% you're chasing. Requalify PMF before adding channels.

Contrarian

Adam's Counter-Intuitive Takes on Growth & Marketing

✗ Launch on every hot new channel ASAP INSTEAD → ✓ Only 5% of emerging channels pay off. Use the 3-ingredient filter (customer need × company goal × channel strength) before spending a dollar.

✗ Add a new channel to fix slowing growth INSTEAD → ✓ First assume you've lost product-market fit. The market changed, not just the channel mix. Re-validate PMF before layering on acquisition spend.

✗ Podcast ads = direct response like Facebook INSTEAD → ✓ Treat podcast like radio, right show, personal tone, repeat over and over. Immediate-response measurement will mislead you and kill a channel that compounds.

✗ Early-adopter traction proves you're ready to scale INSTEAD → ✓ Early adopters are often drastically different from the mass market. Map the delta first, or you'll cross the chasm into a void.