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Original article
The original growth hacker reveals his secrets | Sean Ellis (author of “Hacking Growth”)
Key takeaway
- For entrepreneurs: Product-market fit is crucial, but it's not just about reaching a 40% threshold; it's about deeply understanding your must-have users and continuously optimizing your product based on their feedback.
- For investors: Look beyond traditional growth metrics and focus on companies that can demonstrate a deep understanding of their core users and have the ability to rapidly iterate based on user feedback.
Summary
Sean Ellis, the originator of "growth hacking," discusses his approach to achieving product-market fit and sustainable growth. He emphasizes the importance of understanding core users, optimizing onboarding and activation, and focusing on delivering value before scaling acquisition efforts. Ellis shares insights on his famous "40% test," the evolution of growth strategies, and the potential impact of AI on future growth efforts.
Insights
- The "Sean Ellis test" (40% of users would be very disappointed if they could no longer use the product) is a leading indicator of product-market fit, not a definitive measure.
- Focusing on activation and onboarding before acquisition can dramatically improve growth potential.
- A North Star Metric should reflect value delivered to customers and correlate with revenue growth, but shouldn't be revenue itself.
- Cross-functional collaboration is crucial for implementing effective growth strategies, especially in later-stage companies.
- AI has the potential to revolutionize growth strategies by improving experiment ideation and analysis.
- Asking the right questions at the right time is often more important than having immediate solutions.
Implications
- Companies need to shift focus from pure acquisition to optimizing the entire user journey, from activation to retention and monetization.
- Growth teams should prioritize understanding and improving the core value proposition before scaling acquisition efforts.
- Businesses should consider implementing a systematic approach to prioritizing growth ideas, such as the ICE framework.
- As growth strategies become more complex, companies may need to restructure teams to facilitate better cross-functional collaboration.