Big Mistakes to Bigger Returns: Engineering Growth of €100M ARR

Ines Lourenço leads product growth at Usercentrics, where the team recently achieved a significant milestone of €100M ARR while maintaining profitability.

The reality behind that milestone involves far more failure than success. In fact, most experiments at Usercentrics didn’t work. 

This year, the company invested substantial resources into what they considered their most important initiative, only to roll back the entire project within weeks of launch. 

The seemingly smooth growth trajectory often presented in case studies masks six years of continuous transformation, where the company fundamentally restructured itself through approximately 50 distinct iterations.

This episode provides information on the actual challenges of scaling a SaaS company.

Inês discusses a critical hiring lesson learned during their growth phase: the significant difference between recruiting leaders who have worked at companies in the next stage versus those who have actively driven companies through that transition. While this distinction appears subtle on paper, it proved to have substantial operational and financial consequences for Usercentrics.

If you’re tired of generic scaling advice and want the unfiltered playbook from someone who built a cross-functional growth machine from 20 employees to €100M ARR, this is your episode.

Talking points include:

• Why the transition from generalists to specialists creates dangerous blind spots,
• How Usercentrics structures autonomous growth pods where teams own ARR metrics, build without approval, and kill their own failed experiments,
• The massive unified product bet that failed spectacularly (and the first-principles lesson it taught about user behavior vs. user research).

The Generalist-to-Specialist Trap That Almost Derailed Growth

All scaling companies face this evolution: the team of generalists who “do everything” must eventually become specialists. But Usercentrics learned this transition the hard way. When they started hiring experts for areas they wanted to scale, they made a critical assumption: these new hires would bridge the gap between the current state and the future state.

The reality was that gaps appeared everywhere, and overlap created confusion. Blind spots emerged as generalists stepped back, assuming the specialist had it covered. The breakthrough came from reframing the hiring criteria entirely. Instead of seeking someone who managed the next stage at another company, they prioritized people who actually led the transition to that stage—a completely different skill set requiring pragmatism, resourcefulness, and comfort with ambiguity.

Even more importantly, they stopped scaling functions based on aspiration and started scaling based on pull. They only invested heavily in product-led growth after customers explicitly requested self-serve demos and onboarding. This discipline—waiting for market validation before committing resources—became their north star for expansion decisions.

Building Growth Teams Like Product Teams 

Inês didn’t just create a growth team, but she also architected cross-functional pods that function like autonomous startups. Each pod owns a specific metric (activation, retention, acquisition, monetization) and carries direct ARR responsibility. Not symbolic targets. Not KPIs that “roll up” to revenue. Actual variable compensation tied to ARR delivery.

The structure breaks traditional boundaries: PMs, designers, and engineers work alongside growth marketers, data analysts, and pricing strategists. The acquisition pod owns everything from paid channels to virality mechanics. The monetization team controls pricing strategy, payment flows, upsells, and bundling. Each pod commits quarterly to specific outcomes—like increasing conversion rate in a particular market by X%—then autonomously experiments, builds, and scales solutions without approval gates.

This radical autonomy wasn’t granted overnight. It was earned through consistent delivery, rigorous expectation management, and what Inês calls “show, don’t tell” execution. Teams that hit their numbers quarter after quarter gained trust to operate independently. The result is lightning-fast iteration cycles where lightweight experiments scale to full implementation in weeks, not months.

The €100M Lesson: When User Research Contradicts User Behavior

Usercentrics spent months and massive resources building a unified CMP that would serve everyone from free users to enterprise customers. The research looked solid. Small tests showed promise. Leadership across functions bought in. Then they launched into production and watched conversions crater.

The painful insight: there’s a chasm between what users say they’ll do and what they actually do when making purchase decisions. A streamlined onboarding that delights SMB customers can terrify enterprise buyers who expect complexity as proof of capability. Different customer segments don’t just need different features—they need fundamentally different experiences that signal value in different ways.

The team rolled back the initiative and returned to first principles: build from user pull, not internal efficiency. It’s a lesson that echoes throughout Inês’s approach—from only scaling PLG when customers explicitly requested it, to maintaining a portfolio where only 20% of initiatives succeed. The secret isn’t avoiding failure. It’s failing fast, learning faster, and having the courage to kill your darlings when data demands it.

Listen to find out more about:

• The exact salary structure that ties every growth team member’s compensation directly to ARR—and why it works.
• How Usercentrics transitioned from founder-led to sales-led to product-led growth by reading market signals, not following playbooks.
• Why most growth experiments fail (and how to build a culture where teams stay resilient through constant failure).

Key segments of this podcast and where you can tune in to go direct:

[00:06:00] The critical difference between hiring someone who saw the next stage versus someone who took a company there—and why this distinction changed everything

[00:13:00] Inside the cross-functional pod structure: How PMs, engineers, growth marketers, and data analysts collaborate without approval gates

[00:19:45] The autonomy model: How teams commit to ARR outcomes, run their own experiments, and build without leadership approval

[00:28:00] The unified CMP bet that failed: What happens when user research contradicts actual user behavior at scale

Ready to Scale Smarter?

If Inês’s insights resonated with you, this is just the beginning. Follow our SaaSGenius Podcast for more unfiltered conversations with the leaders who are actually building and scaling successful SaaS companies—without the hype, just the hard-won lessons.

Interested in Advertising with SaaSGenius

We connect growth-focused SaaS companies with an audience that’s actively seeking proven strategies and tools. Whether you’re looking to advertise on our podcast or feature your SaaS product on our website, we offer targeted exposure to decision-makers and industry professionals.

Reach out to discuss advertising opportunities and product listings that put your solution in front of the right audience.

Rate, Review & Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

“The SaaSGenius Podcast cuts through the noise with real operator insights.” <– If that sounds like you, please give us a 5-star rating here. Taking the time to rate and review helps us reach more SaaS professionals, product leaders, and growth teams who need access to these battle-tested strategies and unfiltered lessons from the field.

Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with five stars, and select “Write a Review.” Your support allows us to continue bringing you conversations with the operators who are actually doing the work—not just talking about it.