4. Growth Loops & Channels

Growth loops help you think about acquiring users in waves (e.g. catch one wave & ride it while it lasts, then find another wave to catch)

What gets you the first 10 users may not be what gets you the next 100, or 1,000, or 10,000. As you expand your wedge & cater to more personas, you’ll need new reinforcements & value propositions.

The examples below are fairly basic, but you’ll want to have clear reinforcement loops in your product and treat “acquisition as a product” in and of itself—most startups think about acquisition as an afterthought and that’s a mistake. It should be designed in from day one.

Not all products have network effects built in, but the concept of network effects parallel well with growth loops in terms of how users build and/or share value to organically grow the network.

💡 Resources to help clarify this concept:

⁠

Growth Loops⁠

by Reforge

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The Cold Start Problem⁠

by Andrew Chen

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Network Effects Masterclass⁠

by NFX

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Coglode⁠

(bite-sized behavioral science)

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Switch⁠

by Chip & Dan Heath

Growth Loops: Reinforcement loops to acquire users

Growth Loops: Reinforcement loops to acquire users

Growth Loop

Description

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Growth channels help you think about where you can actually find customers

Where are customers naturally at or where do they find themselves when solving for their pain points? Start making a big list and associating your personas, so as you choose to acquire certain personas in the early days you can narrow in on exactly which channels you can find them at for lowest effort.

Growth Channels

Growth Channels

Name

Persona

URL

Type

Notes

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