StartupCVs GmbH Confidential and Proprietary
Mengühan Ünver
Berlin, December 2015
Growth Hacking:
How to grow a bootstrapped startup
StartupCVs GmbH Confidential and Proprietary
Bootstrapping is fundamental for a growth mindset
Example for Bootstrapping
$40 USD per box
Sold 500 boxes
AirBnB financed $30k for initial traction
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“A growth hacker is a person
whose true north is
growth. Everything they do
is scrutinized by its potential
impact on scalable growth.”
Sean Ellis, 2010
Growth Hacking focuses on scalable growth
Definition of Growth Hacking
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Growth hacking is a new way of marketing for tech startups
Traditional Marketer vs Growth Hacker
Traditional Marketer Growth Hacker
Makes people want a product Makes a product people want
Creative and artistic background Generally technical background
Strong expertise in a certain area Generalist, few dominant skills
Decisions are based on opinions, hierarchy Highly data driven, focus on experiments
Used paid channels, has high budgets Initially free and low-cost channels due to limited budgets
No clear funnel, departments work independently
Clearly defined funnel, high interdependencies between all departments
Source: direct-spark.com, traditional marketing vs growth hacking
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All stages of the customer lifecycle are approached
Pirate Metrics: AARRR!!
Source: Startup Metrics for Pirates, Dave McClure, 500 Startups * Source: Startup Pyramite, Startup-Marketing.com
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AirBnB growth hacked Craigslist for acquisition
Example: Acquisition
1. Craigslist’s users 2. Craigslist’s advertisers
Source: Airbnb: The Growth Story You Didn't Know, Growthhackers
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Dropbox is rewarding users with space
Example: Activation
Dropbox rewards users for the onboarding with their own product.
Source: trak.io, 39 actionable growth hacking tactics part 2 of 5
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Facebook uses (transactional) notifications for retention
Example: Retention
…
Source: lolseo.com, 5 shades off acebook’s push retention
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A „Powered by“ badge is a powerful referral tactic
Example: Referrals
Mailchimp:
$30 USD in credit for every new
user via the MonkeyRewards
Badge
Mixpanel:
Adding the badge means you
get 200,000 data points every
month plus 25,000 people profiles
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One of the best revenue hacks is the easiest one
Example: Revenue
~3% of all credit cards expire
every month.
A simple reminder about an
expiring credit card can prevent
a subscribed client from
churning.
Source: churnbuster.io, sixteenventures.com
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Eat like a bird, poop like an elephant
Quote by Guy Kawasaki
Source: Guy Kawasaki, Rules for Revolutionaries: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services
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Thank You!
Startup Metrics for Pirates on Slideshare – Dace McClure (Founder 500 Startups)
Reddit.com/r/growthhacking – Reddit community
Sixteenventures.com – SaaS growth strategies
Growthhackers.com – Growth hacking community by sean ellis
Andrewchen.co – Andrew Chen‘s blog (Growth hacker at Uber)
www.paulgraham.com/articles.html - Paul Graham‘s startup essays (Founder Y Combinator)
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