Growth for Early Stage Startups

Growth for Early Stage Startups

Chandini Ammineni Distribution Partner

@ammineni

@ammineni #500STRONG

Google Campus Exchange Program, Seoul Oct 2016

GROWTH

@ammineni #500STRONG

@ammineni #500STRONG

SO MUCH TO DO!!!

Shouldn't every startup be doing “Growth”?

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Pre P/M Fit Post P/M Fit

GOAL Get to P/M fit Scalable, repeatable, predictable growth

METRIC Engagement & Retention Growth Rate

EXPERIMENTS Pivots (Product, Messaging, Target Customer) Optimization + Expansion

METHOD Hustle/ Non-Scalable Work

Scalable channels & processes

DATA Qualitative + quantitative Quantitative + qualitative

FOCUS Fast Learning Fast Learning

PROCESS LeanStack/SCRUM Growth Machine/SCRUM

@ammineni #500STRONG

Product-Market Fit

A product that solves a problem “well enough” for a “big enough” market

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Acquisition w/o Value != Growth

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Pre P/M Fit Post P/M Fit

GOAL Get to P/M fit Scalable, repeatable, predictable growth

METRIC Engagement & Retention Growth Rate

EXPERIMENTS Pivots (Product, Messaging, Target Customer) Optimization + Expansion

METHOD Hustle/ Non-Scalable Work

Scalable channels & processes

DATA Qualitative + quantitative Quantitative + qualitative

FOCUS Fast Learning Fast Learning

PROCESS LeanStack/SCRUM Growth Machine/SCRUM

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG

Engagement & Retention ?

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Engagement vs Retention

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Engagement• Time Spent • # of screens or pages • avg visits/month • DAU/MAU

Retentionhow many users are still visiting 30, 60, and 90 days later?

Pre P/M Fit Post P/M Fit

GOAL Get to P/M fit Scalable, repeatable, predictable growth

METRIC Engagement & Retention Growth Rate

EXPERIMENTSPivots (Product, Messaging, Target

Customer)Optimization + Expansion

METHOD Hustle/ Non-Scalable Work

Scalable channels & processes

DATA Qualitative + quantitative Quantitative + qualitative

FOCUS Fast Learning Fast Learning

PROCESS LeanStack/SCRUM Growth Machine/SCRUM

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG

First 1000 rabid fans

ITERATE ONPersonas & Hooks

(Problem Statement, Solution Statement, Language, Emotions - Frustrations, Fears, Aspirations, Motivations, Goals)

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DEFINEWho Are They? Where Do They Hangout? What is their Problem?

TESTQualitative Data Collection

Quantitative Data Collection

USE THEIR LANGUAGE!

IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU, IT’S ABOUT THEM!

Macro Iterations

Non-Scalable work

• product features • target audience • messaging

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG@ammineni #500STRONG

Pre P/M Fit Post P/M Fit

GOAL Get to P/M fit Scalable, repeatable, predictable growth

METRIC Engagement & Retention Growth Rate

EXPERIMENTSPivots (Product, Messaging, Target

Customer)Optimization + Expansion

METHOD Hustle/ Non-Scalable Work

Scalable channels & processes

DATA Qualitative + quantitative Quantitative + qualitative

FOCUS Fast Learning Fast Learning

PROCESS LeanStack/SCRUM Growth Machine/SCRUM

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG

• Double down on what’s already working

• Fix leaks in your AARRR Funnel

@ammineni #500STRONG

Optimization & Expansion

Pre P/M Fit Post P/M Fit

GOAL Get to P/M fit Scalable, repeatable, predictable growth

METRIC Engagement & Retention Growth Rate

EXPERIMENTS Pivots (Product, Messaging, Target Customer) Optimization + Expansion

METHOD Hustle/ Non-Scalable Work

Scalable channels & processes

DATA Qualitative + quantitative Quantitative + qualitative

PROCESS LeanStack/SCRUM Growth Machine/SCRUM

FOCUS Fast Learning Fast Learning

@ammineni #500STRONG

Qualitative Data

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Qualitative Data

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• Why did you sign up/download/buy? • How would you feel if you can no longer use the

product? • What alternate solutions do you use to solve this

problem? • What is the primary benefit you have received from x? • Have you recommended this product to anyone? • How would you describe this product to your friend? • What type of person do you think would benefit from

this? • How can we improve this to better meet your needs?

Quantitative Data

Img credit: Brian Balfour @bbalfour coelevate.com

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Pre P/M Fit Post P/M Fit

GOAL Get to P/M fit Scalable, repeatable, predictable growth

METRIC Engagement & Retention Growth Rate

EXPERIMENTS Pivots (Product, Messaging, Target Customer) Optimization + Expansion

METHOD Hustle/ Non-Scalable Work

Scalable channels & processes

DATA Qualitative + quantitative Quantitative + qualitative

PROCESS LeanStack/SCRUM Growth Machine/SCRUM

FOCUS Fast Learning Fast Learning

@ammineni #500STRONG

Scalable Predictable Repeatable

Japanese ManufacturingTPS Kaizen 5 Whys Lean Kanban

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Adoption in Business

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Adoption in s/w

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Focus on Fast Learning

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No Goals / No Process

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(Disclaimer: No turkeys were hurt in the of making this headless turkey gif)

Pre P/M Fit Post P/M Fit

GOAL Get to P/M fit Scalable, repeatable, predictable growth

METRIC Engagement & Retention Growth Rate

EXPERIMENTS Pivots (Product, Messaging, Target Customer) Optimization + Expansion

METHOD Hustle/ Non-Scalable Work

Scalable channels & processes

DATA Qualitative + quantitative Quantitative + qualitative

PROCESS LeanStack/SCRUM Growth Machine/SCRUM

FOCUS Fast Learning Fast Learning

@ammineni #500STRONG

Growth Mindset

• NO FAILURE

• Everything is a lesson learnt

• Hypotheses validated or invalidated

• Move Fast, Break Things, take Calculated Risks

• Momentum in experimentation required to outrun failures

• Faster Learnings = Faster Earnings

Most of your growth strategies won’t work. The ones that do will eventually stop. Growth is never done.

@ammineni #500STRONG

Pre P/M Fit Post P/M Fit

GOAL Get to P/M fit Scalable, repeatable, predictable growth

METRIC Engagement & Retention Growth Rate

EXPERIMENTSPivots (Product, Messaging, Target

Customer)Optimization + Expansion

METHOD Hustle/ Non-Scalable Work

Scalable channels & processes

DATA Qualitative + quantitative Quantitative + qualitative

FOCUS Fast Learning Fast Learning

PROCESS LeanStack/SCRUM Growth Machine/SCRUM

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG

Double down on what’s already working

Fixing leaks in your AARRR Funnel

@ammineni #500STRONG

Optimization & Expansion

Identify what already worksProduct: Core Value of product, Magic Moment - obvious post P/M fit

Acquisition: Customer Segmentation Acquisition Channel Segmentation If applicable, Segment Product Category

Other: Customer Service, Brand Value - Qualitative feedback

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG@ammineni #500STRONG

Doubling Down - How?Doubling down on Product Reducing friction, referrals, push notifications…

Doubling down on Acquisition Spend more money, broader reach, expanding keyword list…

Doubling down on Most Valuable Customers Evangelists, heavy spenders, better acquisition targeting…

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG@ammineni #500STRONG

Optimization & Expansion

Double down on what’s already working

Fixing leaks in your AARRR Funnel

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG@ammineni #500STRONG

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG@ammineni #500STRONG

The Pirate FunnelACQUISITION

RETENTION

REVENUE

REFERRAL

ACTIVATION1000 Visitors

750 performed core action

300 tagged/invited friends

50 came back a week later

10 paid accnt

Example

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Order can change depending on business model

The Pirate Funnel

ACQUISITION

REFERRAL

REVENUE

RETENTION

ACTIVATION

1000 Visitors

500 Accnts created

100 Users

50 Advocates

10 Customers

10/1000 = 1% conversion rate

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The Pirate Funnel

ACQUISITION

REFERRAL

REVENUE

RETENTION

ACTIVATION

1000 Visitors cvr = 50%

cvr = 20%

cvr = 10%

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Funnel Optimization

Fixing Leaks or Removing Friction = Funnel Optimization

• Asking for signup/login after/during product value delivery

• Exit pop-up survey • Login with social credentials • Ad landing pages • Personalized user experience (geo, return user)

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Growth EquationACQUISITION

REFERRAL

REVENUE

RETENTION

ACTIVATION

1000 Visitors cvr = 50%

cvr = 20%

cvr = 10%

Revenue = Visitors x activation cvr x retention cvr x revenue cvr x AOV

$2500 = 1000 x 0.5 x 0.2 x 0.1 x $250@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG@ammineni #500STRONG

Bottom of funnel = Higher impact

@ammineni #MHW #500STRONG@ammineni #500STRONG

Thank You

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