Virality of Apps

Ashutosh Garg@bakfy

@gargashu0

reach@bakfy.me

Startup Pyramid

Great Products with Awesome Design

Product MarketFit

Effective Distribution

Development- Becoming more API driven; Integration is the key

- Infrastructure cost/scalability are not back breaking issues anymore- Social/virality features are super critical

- Simple products; not more than few core features

Product

Design- Design should be 2 steps ahead of Development- UX determines what features users use and how

- Design makes complex products look simple; Creative design- Design should complement in-build virality features

“Life is too short to build something nobody wants.”- Ash Maurya

Product Market Fit

- Experiment Quick. Fail Fast. Really Fast- Complete Success at MVP Stage is rare. Either complete failure or

partial success

- MVP can no longer be “design-less”

- Critical to track user engagement and feedback. Ideally User COHORT Tracking

“Distribution is the biggest problem faced by every product startup.”- Peter Thiel

Distribution

- Virality: The Ultimate Bliss

- Traditional Channels: Saturated and need deeper pockets

- Find new, underexplored channels for user acquisition

- Build growth loops into your product

“A startup is a search for a repeatable and scalable business model.”- Steve Blank

Hockey Stick Growth

Growth Hacking

Build

MarketMeasure

AA

RR

R

C

Acquisition

Activation

Retention

Referral

Revenue

Churn

Viral Loop

New User

Registration

Single User Utility

‘aha’ Moment

RetentionChurn

- Viral Loop: The Steps user goes through between joining and inviting others

- Once user hits ‘aha’ moment, ensure ZERO friction- Artificially accelerate viral loop through referral rewards

Referral

The Viral Loop

How They Did

- Referral Scheme: $10 to referrals / new users- Leveraged eBay platform to drive asoption

- Social Media Referral Program; Free space for every social action performed

- Embed Plugins -> Visibility -> Growth

- Tackled the marketplace chicken and egg problem

- Spammed and scrapped niche section of Craiglist

- Entered a crowded market with no major product differentiation

- Focused on students; Provided free mobile recharge for successful referrals

Takeaways

“Large networks of engaged users, differentiated through user experience and defensible through networks effects.”

- Fred Wilson

- Focus on Growth and Engagement

- Act on user feedback to improve the product; Early adopters are God

- Smart user acquisition; Explore under penetrated avenues

- Amplify referrals through rewards

- Measure EVERYTHING; Make ‘User Cohorts’; Better the analytics, smarter the decisions