Hacking Growth

The process is a continuous cycle comprising four key steps: (1) data analysis and insight gathering; (2) idea generation; (3) experiment prioritization; and (4) running the experiments, and then circles back to the analyze step to review results and decide the next steps. At this stage the team will look for early winners and invest further in areas of promise, while quickly abandoning those that show lackluster results. By continuing to move through the process, the growth team will compound wins big and small over time, creating a virtuous cycle of ever improved results. (Location 728)

While creating a must-have product alone is not sufficient for breakout success, it is the baseline requirement for rapid and sustainable growth. (Location 947)

One of the cardinal rules of growth hacking is that you must not move into the high-tempo growth experimentation push until you know your product is must-have, why it’s must-have, and to whom it is a must-have: in other words, what is its core value, to which customers, and why. (Location 958)

If you’ve determined the product hasn’t made the grade, the first thing to do is to stop yourself from doing something that feels all too natural: guessing at what the elusive feature might be that may make your product more appealing to your customers. Sitting in an office with your smartest lieutenants and a whiteboard to hash out ideas for improvements may feel like exactly the right way to solve the problem, but trust us, that instinct is a head fake. It’s essential that you instead talk to users (on a deeper level than achieved through the aforementioned survey) to understand what the true objections and barriers are to your product’s success. (Location 1145)

should be employed in concert. • Additional customer surveying, including interviews and getting out in the marketplace to talk to customers and prospective customers; • Efficient experimental testing of product changes and messaging; • A deep plunge into analysis of your user data. (Location 1156)

Whichever you choose, the most important principle to remember when conducting them is to be dispassionate about your product. The feedback will be worthless if you’ve spent the whole time selling. You’ve got to be listening and observing, not pitching. (Location 1167)

Because getting users to the aha moment is so critical to building up a strong foundation for all further growth, companies often invest a massive amount of time and effort to get this right. James Currier, a successful entrepreneur and growth expert turned venture capitalist, suggests that one-third of a company’s engineering time goes to getting the new user experience down just right. (Location 1411)