Is growth hacking bullshit matt lerner FODM 2016 - Revised & Expanded with new emoji!

Matt Lerner Partner, 500 Startups

Is Growth Hacking Bullshit?

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Today’s Questions §  Well, is it? §  Why me? §  What is “Growth Hacking”? §  Where does the growth come from? §  Can big companies do this?


Well, is it?

§  Hotmail §  Twitter §  YouTube §  Dropbox §  Facebook §  LinkedIn §  Whatsapp

§  Instagram §  AirBnB §  Zynga §  SnapChat §  Quora §  Pinterest §  Uber

§  Hubspot §  PayPal §  GitHub §  Slack §  Mixpanel §  Stripe §  Zenefits

Well, is it?

§  Hotmail §  Twitter §  YouTube §  Dropbox §  Facebook §  LinkedIn §  Whatsapp

§  Instagram §  AirBnB §  Zynga §  SnapChat §  Quora §  Pinterest §  Uber

§  Hubspot §  PayPal §  GitHub §  Slack §  Mixpanel §  Stripe §  Zenefits

Years to Reach 100M Users Worldwide

For Example…

Founded: 1850 109M Customers


Another Example…


Founded: 2009 1B Customers

This stuff is 10X - 100X more effective than traditional “brute force” distribution via sales, marketing, advertising or retail distribution.

Why Me?

•  Marketing for 3 startups, one exit •  11 years Marketing & GM at PayPal (US & UK) •  Mentored 50+ startups •  Lectures at Stanford, Berkeley, Imperial •  Runs 500 Startups London “Distro Dojo.”

Growth Marketer Turned VC


Since July 2010 1,500+ investments3

About 500 Startups

$240MM in assets2

The various geographies highlighted in the map result from investments we have made across all 500 Startups funds. 1. The Silicon Valley Tech Venture Capital Almanac, Fall 2013 and TechCrunch Article May 5, 2015, “500 Startups Aims To Be The Largest VC Shop In The World” http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/05/500-startups-aims-to-be-the-largest-vc-shop-in-the-world/ 2. Approximated as of 9/1/2015 and includes the following 500 Startups funds: (a) 500 Startups, L.P. and 500 Startups-A, L.P. (together, “Fund I”), (b) 500 Startups II, L.P. and 500 Startups II-A, L.P. (together, “Fund II”), (c) 500 Startups III, L.P. and 500 Startups III-A, L.P. (together, “Fund III”), (d) 500 Startups IV, L.P. and 500 Startups IV-A, L.P. (together, “Fund IV”), (e) 500 Startups Annex Fund, L.P. (“Annex”), (f) 500 Luchadores, L.P. (“Luchadores”), (g) 500 Durians, L.P. (“Durians”), (h) 500 Mobile Collective, L.P. (“Mobile Collective”), (i) 500 Kimchi, L.P. (“Kimchi”), (j) 500 TukTuks, L.P. (“TukTuks”), (k) 500 Startups JP, L.P. ("Japan") and (l) 500 Startups Istanbul, L.P. ("Istanbul")."

WTF Is A Distro Dojo

Distro = (n.) Distribution; the action or process of supplying products or services to potential customers.

Dojo = (n.) from the Japanese dō ‘way pursuit’ + jō ‘a place’; a school for training in various martial arts.

Who: Companies with a live (not beta) product and happy/paying customers (typically post-seed), ready to focus on growth!

What: Investment from 500 Startups, $200K, plus an intensive 12-week program covering all aspects of growth

When: Next batch starts Sept 5. Applications by referral only.


What Is Growth Hacking?

Note: None of these tricks work anymore.

What Is Growth Hacking?

Note: None of these tricks work anymore.

If You Only Remember One Thing… §  A collection of “silver bullet” tricks §  Focused on getting clicks, likes or views

Growth Hacking is a mindset and a process of rapid experimentation across the whole funnel.


“People have misused the term growth hacking for years, generally suggesting that it is a bunch cookie cutter hacks that work for every company. The correct way to think about growth hacking is that it is a process of rapid experimentation across the full funnel to learn the most effective ways to scale sustainable customer adoption. ”

Sean Ellis

1. The Growth Process

Copyright 2016 500 Startups LLP. All Rights Reserved

The Growth Mindset 1.  Humble: 2/3 of tests fail. Failure à learning, embrace failure! 2.  Tenacious: Persistent with a bias towards action – do’ers. 3.  It’s a science: Systematic thinker, curious, keen observers,

understands experimental design, causation and correlation. 4.  It’s an art: Obsessed with simplifying the customer journey.

5.  Systems thinker: Use existing momentum, find the lever points. Always looking for the 80/20’s or better.

6.  Intensely Curious: Ask a lot of questions, ask great questions. 7.  Optimistic: Comfortable with ambiguity, hopeful but impatient. 8.  Diverse: Variety of perspectives, backgrounds.

9.  Relationship Builders: Can help involve the whole org. 10.  Driven: People who know what success looks like and won’t settle.


Where does this growth come from? §  PayPal took business from banks, card

schemes, gateways, eBay and cash

§  YouTube took eyeballs from television, games and entertainment sites

§  Skype and Whtasapp get their minutes and txts from telco’s

§  AirBnB takes guests from hotels

§  Instagram took traffic from Facebook

§  Everyone takes business from the banks!

Can big companies growth hack? ü Organize correctly ü Choose & monitor the right KPIs ü Maintain customer focus ü Process: Rapid testing & iteration ü Hire & reinforce the mindset ü Patience


Is Growth Hacking Bullshit?

Matt Lerner