Explore and Exploit Framework
by Albert Cheng • Head of Growth (formerly at Duolingo & Grammarly) at Chess.com
Expert in consumer growth who led teams at Duolingo, Grammarly, and Chess.com. Former pianist with a background in engineering and product management at YouTube.
🎙️ Episode Context
Albert Cheng discusses his growth philosophies honed at three major consumer subscription companies. He covers the Explore and Exploit framework for managing experimentation, the Gamification Triad for retention, and his unique approach to hiring high-agency talent. The conversation delves into practical tactics for monetization, the integration of AI in growth workflows, and the cultural shift required to scale experimentation from zero to 1,000 tests per year.
Problem It Solves
Prevents teams from being too scattershot (all explore) or getting stuck in local maxima (all exploit).
Framework Overview
A cyclical approach to growth that alternates between discovering new opportunities (finding the right mountain) and maximizing their value (climbing the mountain) to prevent stagnation.
🔄 Iterative Cycle
When to Use
When managing a portfolio of growth experiments or when a product area faces diminishing returns.
Common Mistakes
Staying in exploit mode too long leading to saturation, or exploring without a strategy to scale wins.
Real World Example
At Chess.com, they 'explored' why users reviewed games (finding they did it after wins, not losses) and 'exploited' this by redesigning the flow to celebrate wins, increasing engagement by 25%.
When done right, you can oscillate between the two until you saturate out of exploitation mode and then you encourage the teams to brainstorm and get more creative again.
— Albert Cheng