Welcome to this classic episode. Classics are our favorite
episodes from our back catalogue, published as frequently as
possible. These are N of 1 conversations with N of 1 people. This
is a replay of Episode 217, originally released in July 2025— one
of our most loved classics.
Elena Verna is one of Silicon Valley’s most respected growth
operators, whose career has spanned companies including Lovable,
SurveyMonkey, Miro and Dropbox.
In conversation with Vidit Agarwal, Elena reflects on growing up
in post-Soviet Russia during the collapse of communism,
immigrating to the United States at 14 without speaking English,
learning the language through SpongeBob, and going from rejected
university applicant to one of tech’s most influential voices in
growth.
She shares the story of obsessively chasing a role at
SurveyMonkey that changed her life, lessons from legendary CEO
Dave Goldberg, why “not respecting roles and responsibilities”
became both her superpower and weakness, and how navigating
corporate politics shaped her leadership style.
The conversation also explores AI-native companies, the future of
growth, why experienced operators may carry “historical baggage”,
how Lovable operates with extreme velocity, and what separates
companies that scale from those that stall. Elena also dives into
hiring, creativity, accountability, solo entrepreneurship, and
why she believes victim mentality is one of the most dangerous
traits in modern work culture.
Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.
________
Get in touch with us via email at contact@curiositycentre.com
Join our stable of commercial partners including the Australian
Government, Google, KPMG, Vanta, Allens, Macquarie Capital, City
of Sydney and more.
Show notes and more episodes here
Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, or YouTube
Get in touch with our Founder and Host, Vidit
Agarwal directly here
Contact us via our website
________
The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the
world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance,
government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the
global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27
countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in
Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.
Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of
Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason
Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Jodie Auster (Uber's
Global Head of Travel), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer,
Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), David Haber (GP,
a16z), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify
+ Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan
(Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment
Officer, Hostplus), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), Craig
Tiley (CEO, US Tennis), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak
(Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings),
Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC),
Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian
Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti
(CEO, Eight Sleep), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Sanjeev Gandhi
(CEO, Orica) and more.
Kommentare (0)
Melde dich an, um einen Kommentar zu schreiben.