We have a phrase in the UK that perfectly sums up 'World Class' User Acquisition managers - 'Rare as rocking horse shit'. While the mobile industry as a whole is shifting rapidly to a 'quantifiable' marketing model (an interesting talk about this trend here) the people in charge of these substantial budgets are still somewhat behind the curve.
The 2 key problems facing any CEO or Head of Product looking to hire the best possible UA manager available are timing and ability. The first problem, timing, may seem like an obvious one, but it is actually a fairly complex issue. Imagine the perfect scenario, you have a tightly nailed down product design, an awesome team, a target market and capital. This would be an excellent situation to be in but as we all know, while these things are key, "they do not a success make".
The question regarding hiring a UA manager is as follows:
'Do I hire before my product is successful so that they have the intrinsic understanding necessary to effectively acquire users, OR do I wait until Soft launch and we have KPIs that point towards a success in the knowledge that a UA manager will have to be onboarded and ramp up in an extremely short period of time?'
I hire a rockstar before I launch: The pros are obvious in this situation, you have the time to find that diamond in the rough, the rockstar will gather the internal knowledge on KPIs and have time to test out all the creative and targeting variables required to make sure they are fully prepped for launch. The problem here is when your KPIs are not where they need to be. Often dates will move based on these numbers, and as such you might find yourself with a rockstar UA manager twiddling his thumbs while your product improves in Soft launch.
I hire a rockstar once I'm sure I have a hit: The advantage here is that you do not have the attrition risk of a UA manager getting bored during a product soft launch, or the cost of a higher than average salary. The disadvantage is that decisions need to be in a short time frame causing an often rushed and imperfect hiring process. This may lead to an imbalance in company fit and underperformance issues, and is also unfair on the UA rockstar as they will not have time to gain the knowledge required to be successful.
There is no right answer regarding the 'Timing' aspect, it will be a question of confidence in a number of factors such as your hiring process, candidates, risk and delivery confidence of products. What you will need to make sure irrespective of your hiring strategy is that you set them up with the best tools, visualisations and actionable data so that the onboarding process is a seamless as possible.
The second problem, ability, is much harder to solve. Due to the rapid growth of this very early stage industry you are faced with a gap in knowledge, a focus on revenue rather than relationships, fraud, and general incompetence everywhere you look. So how do you navigate these shark infested waters, and is there light at the end of the tunnel?
The good news is that with adversity comes opportunity, and that is the case here too. If you can navigate the problem of ability, and successfully hire a 'good' UA manager then they will save you potentially millions in efficient spend and maximised revenue. This is not easy but you do have options:
Hire someone with little / no experience and train them.
Hire someone with relevant experience in another industry and train them.
Hire someone from a competitor and retrain them if necessary.
There are obvious pitfalls with each of these, and again no right answer. It will be a mix of time constraints vs candidates that actually want to work for your company. I have personally found success with hiring early and giving myself the time to train talented individuals with little/no experience but lots of intelligence and enthusiasm.
Opinions expressed are solely my own and do not express the views or opinions of my employer