{"collection":"posts","slug":"1675271943000-case-study-tornado","cid":"bafkreibjmw3m6ljnv4bntjbxa2zogaa5fdvakop4mu7atgp4bqbwfru7um","title":"Case Study: Building Tornado's Growth Engine","excerpt":"Growth engineering at Tornado: analytics, experimentation, and personalization systems behind major gains in customers, revenue, and engagement.","body":"I was the Growth Engineer at [Tornado](https://tornado.com/). The job sat between marketing, product, and data: build the systems the growth team needed, then read the results.\n\n## Data and analytics infrastructure\n\nBuilt the pipelines and analytics layer the growth team ran on. Customer count grew 390%, revenue 800%, engagement rates 400%. CAC payback dropped to under 9 months. Paid ROAS up 1,732%. Deposits up 1,025%.\n\n## A/B/N testing framework\n\nBuilt in-house from scratch. Page conversion rates went up 200% once we could test features and design changes properly.\n\n## Campaign personalization\n\nWrote propensity-score models for marketing personalization. Month-over-month in-app engagement and DAU climbed 60-110%. DAU/MAU ratio doubled. 3-month retention up 745%.\n\n## Learn \u0026 Earn\n\nLed the technical build. App DAU/MAU pushed past 30%, and the feature delivered over a million educational lessons.\n\n## Scaling and efficiency\n\nTrading volume grew 1,400% while behavior shifted toward ETFs, ESGs, and diversified portfolios. Deposit CAC dropped 80%+. User base up 150%, engagement up 1,000%. Monthly spend scaled to $1M with 1-year payback efficiency intact. Overall CAC fell 90%.\n\nThe analytics infrastructure won Amplitude's 2022 Pioneer Award for Product Innovation.","tags":["growth-engineering","data-analytics","marketing","customer-engagement","a-b-testing","fintech","scalability"],"published":true,"createdAt":"2023-02-01T09:31:00Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-16T14:56:28Z"}