🍁 Your October Growthmates Recap — Big Launches, Real Stories, and AI-Driven Growth.
Everything we built, launched, and learned this October — all in one place to spark your growth.
Hello everyone 👋 I’m Kate Syuma, and welcome to Growthmates.news — the newsletter where we explore growth stories to inspire your professional and personal growth. Join the community of 7,000+ Product, Design, and Growth people from companies like Amplitude, Intercom, Miro, Atlassian, Grammarly, Framer, and more.
After a sunny pause ☀️ and much-needed time to reset, October arrived like a creative storm. I came back from my short getaway full of ideas, clarity, and that itch to build again.
This month felt like a beautiful restart — filled with launches, new faces, and projects that reminded me why I love this work so much. From turning long-term ideas into reality to reconnecting with brilliant people across the product world, October became the month of inspiration and creation.
There’s something special about this in-between season — the mix of cozy focus and restless energy that pushes you to create-create-create. Here’s everything that happened this October, wrapped up in one place 👇
🚀 Growthmates Recap: Top of October
If you’re reading this newsletter — thank you 💜 With everything moving so fast in our industry, I truly hope this space feels like a pause — a place where you can slow down, reflect, and get inspired, rather than overwhelmed.
Before we dive in… Meet Growthmates Partners 🚀
I created the Growthmates Bundle to share not just ideas — but the tools I trust and use in my own work. Each one is a handpicked #1 tool for a key product area, and I’m proud to have them supporting this newsletter 🖤
Best way to support Growthmates? Explore these fantastic tools below 👇
Framer — the fastest way to design and publish stunning websites (Growthmates.club is built on it).
Mobbin — the largest UX & UI reference library for deep product inspiration.
Beacon AI — the smartest AI agent for product and design teams to identify and fix UX issues that block activation, retention, and conversion.
Now, let’s dive into today’s recap 👇
October turned out to be a month of big launches and creative momentum. After months of behind-the-scenes work, I finally shared something close to my heart — the Self-serve User Onboarding Course, co-created with my former Miro colleague
. Two years in the making, and it’s now live in a self-paced format 🎉I will also host a Lightning Lesson on AI-driven onboarding, join Spotlight Conference by Semrush in Amsterdam, and even had one of those “small world” moments — saying hi to
at SaaSiest!On the solopreneur side, October was deeply fulfilling — fully booked till year-end, sharing PLG insights with Autodesk’s 200+ team, and starting fresh collaborations with AI products redefining user activation.
This month reminded me how much I love the creative chaos of building and connecting. Here’s everything I’ve wrapped up for you 👇
💫 Highlights of last month:
A spontaneous trip to SaaSiest (insights inside the post) — I ditched my “focus” day, biked 8 minutes and landed at SaaSiest; heard Kyle Poyar on hybrid/value pricing for AI and Anna Boyarkina on scaling customer learnings with AI — pure serendipity and high practical value 🔥
No plan B — reflecting on leaving Miro at 27 (+10 harsh truths)— I shared the real story of stepping away from a six-figure role, how soft pitches turned into advisory work, and the simple moves that brought my first clients 💜
AI-Driven Onboarding Lightning Lesson (📆 30 October) — hosting a 30-minute live session on how AI workflows can double activation through hyper-personalization; we’ll explore real examples from Cor, Pyne.ai, and Claude — and 1000+ people are joining.
Spotlight by Semrush - the future of AI should feel more human (📆 29 October) — I’ll lead a mastermind on AI Activation & Adoption to remind that hyper-personalisation and human-centered AI wins.
Speaking at Spotlight by Semrush
📬 Featured Growthmates Articles you might miss:
7 Landing page evolutions that made Notion a $10B brand — a free teardown of Notion’s pages from 2019–2025: hero strategy, evolving proof, and how clarity beat complexity at every stage.
Solopreneur lessons and 10 harsh truths — longform reflections with 10 harsh truths, mindset shifts, and a 60-day playbook I wish I had when I started.
The Rise of Contextual AI — How Miro and Amplitude are making products that Actually understand you + insights from “Product Benchmark Report”.
🚀 Featured LinkedIn posts:
Hyper-personalisation is the new PLG — the era of one-size-fits-all is over: modern products must adapt to how people think, and AI is making personalized “aha” moments possible.
AI alone won’t win, behavioral context will — insights from testing AI products and the new Amplitude MCP Server: the real power comes from context-aware AI that understands user behavior, drives activation, retention, and makes teams faster and smarter.
How at 27, I left my 6-figure role at Miro without a plan B — I didn’t expect 1000+ people would resonate with this story.
📣 Would you like to share your product story or co-create valuable content together? I’m opening a calendar and planning sponsored engagements 👉 Send your request to hello@growthmates.club.
💡 Solopreneurship milestones:
Had more inbound requests than ever in the last 2 years — fully booked by EOY. Already scheduling clients for Q1 2026. Explore how to work with me →
Shared PLG insights with Autodesk team (200+ people signed up) on a 90-min session last week.
Working with some nice clients, including AI product that is developing 10+ AI employees and trying to drive activation.
Starting a new brand partnership next month, stay tuned! ⚡️
P.S. I appreciate how my solopreneurship stories on LinkedIn were well received — I really didn’t expect that resonance, and I truly enjoyed answering each comment and sharing real life stories.
📣 Quick Survey for You
I’m shaping the next chapter of Growthmates — and I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Take a 3-minute survey to share what you want to see next, and get a $200 early-bird discount for the upcoming User-centric Growth course 🎁
⚡️ Meet the “Self-serve User Onboarding” Course:
I’m excited (and a bit nervous) to finally share something two years in the making 💫
Together with my former Miro teammate
, we turned our live program — joined by 100+ pros from Grammarly, Intercom, Supermetrics, and more — into a self-paced course for anyone who wants to build onboarding that truly drives growth.
🎓 Inside: 19 lessons, 30+ real cases (Miro, Notion, Canva), ready-to-use templates, and lifetime access.
💡 Early-bird price — €297 (was €890).
📣 Growthmates reading radar — check this out:
AI Customer Intelligence: The Complete Guide for Product Teams by
— how PMs can analyze 10,000+ feedback points per week using AI, prioritize what truly matters, and avoid discovery burnout.How to Run a Growth Team (like the world’s best operators) by
— practical systems, artifacts, and rituals from 75+ growth leaders on building scalable, high-performing growth teams.- — reality check on modern recruitment: baseline skills, hidden rules, and how understanding hiring processes separates top candidates from the rest.
I’m worried about women in tech —
is worried about women in tech, so do I.
Is AI adoption slowing down? —
shared why AI adoption is slowing down and what you might’ve missed in mostly growth.
A Guide to Geting More Done — Perplexity guide on how to use AI at work (thanks
for sharing).Amplitude Product benchmark report — This report gives you the growth secrets behind the world’s top-performing products.
- — Voice is slowly becoming the new norm in how we increase efficiency and productivity and it has got us thinking — how far will voice go?
FAQ - Product Design in 2025 — TL;DR of most asked questions by
🗓️ What’s coming next:
User-centric Growth Course — filling up for January ❄️.
If these frameworks sparked new ideas — imagine working through your actual product challenge with live feedback, templates, and a dedicated community (AI will be there).
👉 Join with 150$ off → (promo “growthmates” for dear readers)
Onboarding Design Sprint 🏃♀️ or PLG Advising (2 slots for Q1 🚀)
I will work closely with your team to help you fix your product growth challenges and improve the first user experience that can drive x2 uplift on your Activation.
👉 Work with me →
Brand Partnerships 📩
Let’s tell your product story to a trusted audience of 28,000+ product, design, and growth leaders — and co-create meaningful content that inspires the wider product and design community.
👉 Request content partnership: hello@growthmates.club
💬 Quote of the month:
Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.
JOSHUA J. MARINE
This is all for today, dear readers. If you find this newsletter valuable, share it with a friend or another creative builder 💜 It would give huge support for me to continue creating this!
What topics or stories would you want to explore next? Share your thoughts and requests in the comments!
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Connect with me on LinkedIn and learn more about my work on Growthmates.club.
Grab a pumplatter and enjoy the last day of this October 🍁
Kate Syuma
So much value and so many exciting things! Looking forward to seeing your new brand partnerships! And thank you soooo much for the mention 🤍