🎯 Is your marketing KPI lying to you?
In this episode of ExperiMENTAL, host Sundar Swaminathan sits down with Russell Tischler, VP of Marketing at Fundrise, to dismantle the myth of “good enough” metrics. From building predictive models that forecast investor behavior to questioning the ROI of lift tests, Russell shares hard-earned lessons from his time at Uber and Fundrise.
If you're a B2C marketer, data scientist, or growth leader wondering how to prioritize the right metrics without wasting time or budget, this episode will completely reframe your thinking.
Get ready for deep insight, no fluff, and some well-earned hot takes.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Shallow KPIs are often misleading and can hold back meaningful growth
• Fundrise built a day-90 model to better predict long-term investor value
• The 90-day predictive model offered better accuracy than day-1 projections
• High-capacity investors often start small, making early conversion data deceptive
• Fundrise balances low-dollar, high-volume vs. high-dollar, low-volume acquisition channels
• Direct mail is unexpectedly powerful for trust and high-value targeting
• First-touch attribution is underrated, especially for category-creating businesses
• Startups should optimize for speed of learning, not perfect measurement
• Most lift tests aren’t worth running if the gain is under 10%
• The best growth moves feel obvious, no stats needed to prove it
BEST MOMENTS
00:01:11. “Something I'm very passionate about is choosing the right KPI.”
00:01:59. “What I do is use too shallow of a metric, and I’ve tried to help move us further into the customer journey.”
00:03:07. “How do we differentiate when we’re acquiring one of the 20% that's super valuable versus someone who churns quickly?”
00:04:43. “You can see where only looking at somebody's conversion behavior can be misguided.”
00:06:05. “The best growth marketers deeply understand the business and analytics, not just KPIs.”
00:09:02. “We started with wanting a 12-month payback period... the cost per dollar fundraising target.”
00:16:18. “We've been able to be pretty accurate by combining the human element with the model approach.”
00:26:42. “Direct mail has been awesome for large investors, really credentializing.”
00:38:06. “Almost any time we've done something really successful, it’s just obvious.”

🎧 ExperiMENTAL is hosted by Sundar Swaminathan, Head of Data Science at Bounce and former Uber leader. This show is your behind-the-scenes look at how top marketers and data scientists make smarter decisions.

🧠 Expect unfiltered conversations, mental models, and case studies that help you cut waste, build conviction, and grow your B2C business.

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