Richard van der Velde, Technical Support Lead for Cookiebot @CMP – “Artificia...
The Myth of the Hockey Stick, or How Growth Actually Works - Turing Festival 2017
1. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
The myth of the
Hockey Stick
or, how Growth *actually* works
Andy Young
@andyy
2. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Hi, I’m Andy!
@andyy
#fb
PhotobyDanTaylor-dan@heisenbergmedia.com
3. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
So what is this about
“Growth” anyways?
4. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
What do we mean by Growth?
5. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
● Typically growing our active customer/user base
● Growing whatever drives value in our business
What do we mean by Growth?
6. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
● Typically growing our active customer/user base
● Growing whatever drives value in our business
● Not necessarily growing revenue $$$
What do we mean by Growth?
7. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
● Typically growing our active customer/user base
● Growing whatever drives value in our business
● Not necessarily growing revenue $$$
● Growing whatever’s most strategically important to
us right now
What do we mean by Growth?
12. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Let’s talk about something REAL
13. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
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.
14. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
The myth of the
Hockey Stick
a.k.a. what growth actually looks like..
17. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
What people think
hockey-stick growth
looks like..
18. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
What people think
hockey-stick growth
looks like..
..what it actually looks like
19. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
https://insomanic.me.uk/selective-tweets-3-years-zero-marketing-and-nearly-1m-users-later-now-open-source-851a011f6d5c
Selective Tweets - 1.3 million users
3 years
20. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Selective Tweets
1.3 million users
3 years
35. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Companies are achieving scale in new ways:
● Modern, data-driven online marketing channels
● Growth channels embedded within the product
Common Theme
36. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
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
37. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Growth
via the intersection of
Product, Marketing & Engineering
38. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
● 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
39. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
What Growth is NOT
40. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
What Growth is NOT
There 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.
41. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Things with big impact:
● ACQUISITION at top of funnel
○ How to reach HUGE new audiences in a cost-effective way
● CONVERSION at middle of funnel
○ Attracting and drawing people deeper into engaging with you
● REVENUE at bottom of funnel
○ Close to the $$$ - convert higher % and simply make more money!
Things that WILL make a difference
42. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Understand how we grow
so we can
grow more!
Ensure our growth is sustainable
Growth Goals
43. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Growth Marketing is finding growth that is:
● Measurable
● Predictable
● Repeatable & Scalable
Growth is a mindset, and a process.
Growth Truths
44. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
How can we grow?
45. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
ACQUIRING new customers
vs.
RETAINING existing customers
Ways to grow..
46. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Retention is a SILENT KILLER!
Brian Balfour, Reforge.com
47. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Most important: Retention Flattens
Brian Balfour, Reforge.com
48. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
When your retention curve flattens..
Brian Balfour, Reforge.com
49. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Ways to grow
Sustainably:
Growth
Loops & Engines
50. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Paid Engine of Growth
Pay to acquire
new users Monetise those
users
Reinvest profit into acquiring
the next set of users
51. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Viral Engine of Growth
Acquire new users
(initially via
seeding)
Each new user
invites N friends
% of invites convert
to new users
52. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Sticky Engine of Growth
Acquire new users
(any channel)
Users stick
around
Acquisition >> churn
so we grow
53. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2008/09/three-drivers-of-growth-for-your.html
https://www.slideshare.net/Leananalytics/lean-analytics-for-intrapreneurs-lean-startup-conference-dec-2013-public-share
54. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
User-Generated Content Growth Loop
New people
discover content
via Google
Users sign up
and create new
content
Content is indexed by Google
55. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
B2B Content Growth Loop
New people discover
content via
search & social
Users sign up
and/or follow
Profit is invested in
new content creation
Distributed to existing
followers, who amplify to
new users Brian Balfour, Reforge.com
56. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
● Over time, you’ll typically make use of
multiple growth loops - powered by different engines
● But you’ll typically always have
one loop that dominates your growth
Which engine(s) work for you?
57. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
● Is your engine of growth coherent?
● Beware attempts to force a user to take
unnatural behaviours
Watch out for
FAILURE!
58. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Further Reading
59. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Brian Balfour Andrew Chen Sarah Tavel Casey Winters
Reforge Uber Greylock Greylock
coelevate.com andrewchen.co @sarahtavel
on Medium
caseyaccidental.com
Who to follow
60. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
Thanks, & good luck!
61. Andy Young // @andyy // andyyoung.co
● 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
Further references..