Mark Hayes, Jeff Goldenberg
Simply put: The best executives empower their organizations with a charter mission to grow in value as quickly as possible. (Location 228)
The Guide is divided into three sections, based on Sean Ellis’ (the Godfather of Growth) Startup Pyramid model of 1) Product/Market Fit 2) Transition to Growth and 3) Growth (Location 285)
Now that may sound simple, but Product/Market Fit is the Bermuda Triangle of startups, where most startups go to die. (Location 289)
While there are no growth hacking “silver bullets” that fit all startups, there is one piece of advice that applies to everyone on this voyage – do not growth hack until you have empirical evidence that proves you have achieved Product/Market Fit. Also called Traction, you’re looking for what Gabe Weinberg defines as “quantitative evidence of consumer demand”. (Location 292)
So what does that look like? Sean Ellis suggests that at least 40% of your early users would say that they’d be “very disappointed” if they could no longer use your product. Until that point, the goal of the startup is to minimize your burn rate (the amount you spend each month to keep the lights on) and focus all available resources on customer development and product development to match your value proposition with your target consumer’s needs. (Location 296)
The tactics around Product/Market Fit are also outlined in this chapter. Start with intense customer development and talk to as many customers as you can to better understand their problems and see how you can be the solution. (Location 303)
Once you have proof of Product/Market Fit, your task changes to focus on how to acquire customers efficiently enough to turn a profit. (Location 308)
“find a channel with profitable unit economics (where the cost-of-customer-acquisition is less than the gross margin over some lifetime-value estimate) with as small an investment as possible to minimize burn” – aka the Holy Grail of growth marketing. (Location 310)
this is achieved by focusing on the bottom of the funnel (people ready to buy), experimenting with different tactics, learning quickly and focusing on direct-response advertising such as pay-per-click. (Location 313)
1. The Landing Page Hack - How to validate any idea in under an hour (Location 317)
That’s right, outside. You know, where the customers are. Your job is to get out there and mingle, talk to them, listen to what they have to say and learn. Thankfully, with the Internet at your disposal, you don’t physically have to pound the street anymore to gather opinions. That’s what landing pages are for. (Location 321)
With a landing page, you can send customers to your site, ask for feedback, collect email addresses and validate your offering. You can even buy a little bit of traffic and test your concept in front of actual customers, and not just your mom. The Phase: Pre Launch Difficulty: Easy We Use: Unbounce.com (free for 30 days, then $49/month for 5,000 visitors per month) (Location 326)
3. The Heads-Up Display Hack - How to create a metrics dashboard that keeps you on top of your KPIs (Location 372)
The Phase: Pre Launch Difficulty: Intermediate We Use: Ducksboard.com (Free for 30 days and then $19/month for 1 dashboard) (Location 382)
4. The CAC Hack - How to benchmark your cost per acquisition target, so you know how much to spend per customer (Location 395)
6. The Decoy Effect Hack - How to use psychology to help determine your optimal product pricing The Hack: What do we (Location 445)
introducing a third “mid-tier” plan, you make the choice less obvious. Let’s say, you price your new plan at $30 per month and allow users to gain access to most of the features of your premium plan, except couple. Now users (Location 459)
7. The Testing Hack - How to conduct simple but effective A/B tests on your landing page (Location 464)
The Phase: Pre Launch Difficulty: Intermediate We Use: Optimizely.com (free account) (Location 477)
Most new founders overlook the importance of a clear and compelling value proposition as a source for growth. (Location 518)
For example, on the Frank and Oak landing page they created to collect signups was an eye-catching image with a simple tagline, “premium threads under $50.” This simple, but intriguing tagline drove a lot of interest with people who resonated with the messaging. E-commerce fashion is becoming a saturated market, being able to cut through all the noise by communicating your value loudly with so few words is critical. (Location 520)
People were incentivized to invite friends in order to get special promotions and early access to products. (Location 532)
8. The Name Game Hack - How to find the perfect name for your product or service (Location 559)
The Phase: Pre Launch Difficulty: Easy We Use: NamingForce.com ($250 for 800+ name ideas) (Location 572)
9. The Tim Ferris Litmus Test Hack - How to use Google Adwords to test demand for your product (Location 584)
10. The 5-Second Test Hack - How to watch customers interact with your website The Hack: Right, so we’re about to suggest watching people do stuff. But we promise it won’t be creepy at all. In fact, it’s going to be beneficial for your business.UserTesting.com offers the ability to get videos of users (from within your target demographic) interacting with your website. You get to set up tasks for them, ask them questions and get their feedback - then watch the videos of them doing so minutes later. Warning - this can get very addictive! (Location 605)
The Phase: Pre Launch Difficulty: Easy We Use: Usertesting.com - 1 video free through peek.usertesting.com, then $49 per video. (Location 614)
11. The Feedback Hack - How to use Survey Monkey to collect customer feedback (Location 628)
12. The Instant Feedback Hack - How to use Qualaroo to collect instant, in situ feedback (Location 654)