Welcome to The Growth Doctrine by Chad Lio.
Every week, I break down what's actually moving the needle in Growth right now. No recycled frameworks. No vendor takes dressed up as insight. Just strategies, tactics, and career plays from operators who are running them in market today.
The Growth Doctrine is built on one belief: durable growth is a discipline, not a hack. The people who win in this craft do the reps, study the systems, and build a point of view they can defend. That's what gets published here every week.
Each week you can expect a mix of:
Tactical breakdowns of the motions working right now across PLG, demand gen, lifecycle, partner, and AI-assisted Growth
Career playbooks for the operators, ICs, and leaders trying to grow into the next role (and the comp that comes with it)
Hot takes and field notes on where Growth is heading, what's overhyped, and what deserves more attention
Free subscribers get the weekly essay. Paid subscribers unlock the full library of premium playbooks, teardowns, and templates I actually use in my own work.
Built for the people who actually do the work: Growth marketers, founders, GTM leaders, and operators who want fewer takes and more reps.
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Hi, I'm Chad Lio. I've spent 15+ years in the trenches of Growth and Marketing across B2B SaaS, fintech, and eCommerce, building demand generation, PLG, and lifecycle engines that compound.
Today I'm VP of Growth Marketing at PayCargo, the dominant B2B commercial payment network for global air, ocean, and freight logistics (roughly $80M ARR). I lead a growth pod spanning demand gen, BI, and experimentation, and own the channel mix across paid media, partner, lifecycle, and events. A few of the wins I'm proudest of: activating a PLG motion that drove $10M in new product revenue, redesigning onboarding to lift new-user conversion from 20% to 50%, and building cross-sell programs that unlocked $5M in expansion revenue over three years.
Before PayCargo, I was Head of Growth Marketing at SellersFi (a B2B fintech for eCommerce lending and payments), Director of Marketing at Veritas Farms (where I scaled D2C eCommerce revenue roughly 3,000% in under 12 months in a category with zero paid social or SEM available), and Director of Digital Marketing at Doyle Group, where I doubled digital advertising revenue from $2M to $4M while leading a team of 15 across SEO, content, and social.
I'm a graduate of Florida State University and have continued sharpening the craft through MIT Sloan's Digital Marketing Analytics program, Reforge Growth & Product Management, and the founding cohort of GTM Engineer School.
The short version: I've built it across the funnel. PLG, demand gen, lifecycle, partner, content, paid, and events. The Growth Doctrine is where I share what's worked, what's failed, and what I'd do differently.
I live in Weston, FL with my partner and our two daughters, who keep me happily outnumbered. When I'm not chasing them around, you'll find me agonizing over a Fantasy Football lineup, watching F1 and pretending I understand tire strategy, or on the golf course working on a swing that refuses to cooperate.