7 growth lessons from silicon valley - and why they don't call it "growth hacking"

Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co

7 Growth Lessonsfrom Silicon Valley

and why they don’t call it “Growth Hacking”..

Andy Young@andyy


Hi, I’m Andy!@andyy

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So what is this about“Growth” anyways?


● Typically growing our active customer/user base● Growing whatever drives value in our business● Not necessarily growing revenue $$$

● Growing whatever’s most strategically important to us right now

What do we mean by Growth?


So WTF is this Growth Hacking thing?


Let’s talk about something REAL


Growth Hacking..? Technical Marketing..?

Call it what you want, teams at high-growth companies

are scaling to millions of users without major use of

traditional mass advertising/marketing techniques.


Some examples..


Engineering-driven Growth

AirBnB built on top of Craigslist


Product-driven Growth

Dropbox succeeded with a Referral Scheme


Viral Growth

Hotmail put“P.s. I love you. Get your free email at Hotmail.”

in the footer of every email.


Companies are achieving scale in new ways:

● Modern, data-driven online marketing channels● Growth channels embedded within the product

Common Theme


Companies are achieving scale in new ways:

● Modern, data-driven online marketing channels● Growth channels embedded within the product

“The best startups grow super fast not because of traditional marketing or online marketing, but because they tune the product to drive growth”

- Casey Winters, Pinterest/Greylock

Common Theme


Growthvia the intersection of

Product, Marketing & Engineering


● SEO● Content Marketing● Performance Marketing (Paid search & display, retargeting)● Conversion Optimisation (CRO) & A/B Testing● User testing & UX● Viral Loops● Strategic Pricing● …

The Growth Toolbox


What Growth is NOT


What Growth is NOTThere are loads of great tips and hacks out there

Subscribe to 500’s “DISTROSNACK” newsletter!

But following all these cool tips will not itself bring success.

http://500.co/distrosnack


Things with big impact:

● Top of funnel○ How to reach HUGE new audiences in a cost-effective way

● Middle of funnel○ Attracting and drawing people deeper into engaging with you

● Bottom of funnel○ Close to the $$$ - convert higher % and simply make more money!

Things that WILL make a difference


Growth Marketing is finding growth that is:

● Measurable● Predictable● Repeatable & Scalable

Growth is a mindset, and a process.

Growth Truths


7 Growth Lessons


#1 - nail down yourvalue proposition

& messaging


- 10,000 ft view exercise -

- bit.ly/10kftview -

http://bit.ly/10kftview


� What product/service, for which target market?

� Why do our customers love us? Why do they choose us over the competition?

� How do we make money?

� What is our primary way to get new customers?

� Our business will become a huge, runaway success if…

� During the next 3 months we need to focus on…

� What ONE target do we want to hit?

10,000 ft viewbit.ly

/10kftvi

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#2 - get Product/Market fitbefore you try and grow


Early stage Growth stage

Goal Product/Market fitScalable, repeatable, predictable growth

Metric Engagement Growth rate

Primary Data Qualitative Quantitative

Growth Strategy Hustle

Build a growth machine


#3 - build a Modelto understand your business

Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.cobit.ly/

kpi-sheet

http://bit.ly/kpi-sheet



Not an operational dashboard:metrics related to growth

1. Identify top-level KPI2. Add nuance3. Add drivers

4. Add funnel for these drivers

Template Google Sheet: bit.ly/kpi-sheet



#4 - identify Leversand prioritise your backlog


Levers:things you can push

to get growth


Identify yourOne Metric That Matters (OMTM)to get everyone pushingin the same direction


Prioritise using ICE framework:

-Impact-Chance of Success-Effort (time/resources)


#5 - drive growth viaexperimentationand learnings


“Learning is the essential unit of progress for startups”


Make predictions in advance!


#6 - it’s a Mindset


The world is constantly changing

(channel efficiency/effectiveness, etc)

Experimentation & learnings

Build a machine

Naturally curious

Motivated by helping the customer achieve their goals

Growth Mindset


#7 - maintain discipline with a Weekly Growth Meeting


Agenda

1. Review KPIs2. What did we learn last week?

3. What experiments are we running this week?

No work is to be done during the meeting!

Weekly Growth Meeting


BONUS #8Talk to your users


User testing script - cheers Steve Krug!www.sensible.com/downloads/test-script.pdf


Further Reading


Brian Balfour Andrew Chen Sarah Tavel Casey Winters

Reforge Uber Greylock Greylock

coelevate.com andrewchen.co @sarahtavelon Medium

caseyaccidental.com

Who to follow

http://www.coelevate.com/

http://www.coelevate.com/

http://andrewchen.co/

http://andrewchen.co/

https://medium.com/@sarahtavel/latest




http://caseyaccidental.com

http://caseyaccidental.com


● 10,000ft view worksheet● Bryan Balfour: The Scientific Method: How to Design &

Track Viral Growth Experiments● Dave McClure's Startup Metrics for Pirates● Eric Ries’s Three Engines of Growth● My deck on Analytics for Startups● 500 Startups Accelerator Marketing Hell Week:

videos, templates & goodness● DISTROSNACK: daily growth hacks

Further references..

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N7cH_LdBnzrCkurSXUEYMQoDAB0f2yqQqQ94LvNxGfM/edit?usp=sharing

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N7cH_LdBnzrCkurSXUEYMQoDAB0f2yqQqQ94LvNxGfM/edit?usp=sharing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0APJlxMjPw4



http://www.slideshare.net/dmc500hats/startup-metrics-for-pirates-long-version

http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2008/09/three-drivers-of-growth-for-your.html

http://www.slideshare.net/andyjy/how-do-i-analytics-a-practical-guide-for-pragmatic-startups

http://500.co/marketing-hell-week-batch-16/

http://500.co/marketing-hell-week-batch-16/




Takeaways


#1 - nail down your value proposition & messaging

#2 - get Product/Market fit before you try and grow

#3 - build a model to understand your business

#4 - identify Levers and prioritise your backlog

#5 - drive growth via experimentation & learnings

#6 - it’s a mindset

#7 - maintain discipline with a weekly growth meeting

Talk to your users!


Thanks, & good luck!