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The Racecar Growth Framework

Growth strategies for startups by Lenny Rachitsky




1. Growth Engine

The growth engine is a self-sustaining growth loop that drives nearly all your growth long-term

Step
Type
Tactic
Choose
Priority
1.Growth engine
SEO
Content generation for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Paid Ads
Online
Out of home
In home
Virality
Word of mouth
Inviting friends
Sharing content
Referrals
Sales
Hire salespeople


2. Kickstart

Kickstarts are unscalable tactics for acquiring your first 1,000 users.

Step
Type
Tactic
Choose
Priority
2. Kickstarts
Reach out to friends and colleagues
Reach out to friends and colleagues
Reach out to targeted strangers
Cold DM
Cold Email
Phone Call
Door to door
Go where your target audience hangs out (online or offline)
Online communities (e.g. Dropbox and HackerNews, Discord and Reddit, Netflix and niche forums)
Offline communities (e.g. Etsy and craft fairs)
Retailers/malls (e.g. Hipcamp and REI, Pinterest and Apple stores, Snapchat and malls)
High schools (e.g. Snapchat)
College campuses (e.g. Tinder)
Business schools (e.g. Morning Brew)
Startup offices (e.g. Lyft, Wealthfront)
Transit hubs (e.g. Uber and CalTrans station)
Enlist influencers (paid or organically)
Paid
Organically fans
Get press
Get press
Create viral content
Blog post (e.g. Superhuman)
Video (e.g. Duolingo)
One-off website (e.g. Calm)
Tweet
Get physical placement (e.g. flyers, stickers, signs)
Table or booth at a physical location (e.g. Hipcamp)
Signs (e.g. Tinder)
Stickers (e.g. Grubhub)
Get on store shelves
Host an event
Host an event

3.Turbo Boosts


Turbo boosts are one-off events that accelerate growth temporarily but don’t last

Step
Type
Tactic
Choose
Priority
3. Turbo boost
Turbo boost
Get PR
Create viral content
Host an event
Get an influencer to mention you
Run a marketing campaign
Sponsor a big event
Release a viral mini-product
Create controversy
Get featured by highly trafficked platform
Go on TV/podcast/etc.

4. Lubricants


Lubricants are optimizations that help your growth engine(s) run more efficiently. Without enough lubrication, your engine will stop.


Step
Type
Tactic
Choose
Priority
4. Lubricants
Lubricants
Increasing conversion
Increasing retention
Increasing brand awareness [Future post]
Increasing activate rate and/or customer success [Future post]
Increasing prices [Future post]

5. Mid-stage growth accelerants

Mid-stage growth accelerants aren’t really growth engines, and aren’t useful early on, but when used effectively, they can significantly (re)accelerate your growth.

Step
Type
Tactic
Choose
Priority
5. Mid-stage growth accelerants
Mid-stage growth accelerants
Channel partnerships
Geographic expansion
Category expansion

6. Fuel

Fuel is the input that your engine runs on. The way to think about fuel tactically is to work backward from your engine—the more (right kind of) fuel you have (e.g. more users), the faster you’ll grow (e.g. more virality).

Step
Type
Tactic
Choose
Priority
6. Fuel
Fuel
SEM Copy
Display ads
Blog posts
Social content
Sales enablement materials
onboarding content
Web copy
Web design
Email content
Templates
Outbound email copy
Bylines
Case studies
Webinar content
Data reports
Quotes

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