Brian Balfour: Building A Growth Machine

1. BUILDING A GROWTH MACHINE BY: BRIAN BALFOUR Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

2. ONE MISSION, ONE GOAL Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

3. AUTHENTIC GROWTH Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

4. Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com GROWING IN A WORLD OF SOFTWARE HAS CHANGED… The Lines Between Marketing and Product Are Blurring Where does marketing end and product begin in software? 1

5. Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com GROWING IN A WORLD OF SOFTWARE HAS CHANGED… The Lines Between Marketing and Product Are Blurring Where does marketing end and product begin in software? 1 Marketing Has Become More Technical & Quantitative “Mad Men” skills aren’t as important. 2

6. Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com GROWING IN A WORLD OF SOFTWARE HAS CHANGED… The Lines Between Marketing and Product Are Blurring Where does marketing end and product begin in software? 1 Marketing Has Become More Technical & Quantitative “Mad Men” skills aren’t as important. 2 Data Is Becoming More Accessible Gathering quantitative and qualitative data is becoming easier 3

7. Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com GROWING IN A WORLD OF SOFTWARE HAS CHANGED… The Lines Between Marketing and Product Are Blurring Where does marketing end and product begin in software? 1 Marketing Has Become More Technical & Quantitative “Mad Men” skills aren’t as important. 2 Data Is Becoming More Accessible Gathering quantitative and qualitative data is becoming easier 3 Scale and Speed Of Growth Is Accelerating Time to 1M Users/ARR has accelerated. 4

8. Revenue Referral Activation Retention Acquisition GROWTH ≠ ACQUISITION Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

9. GROWTH EFFORTS REQUIRE… Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com Product Engineering GROWTH Marketing Data

10. GROWTH AND PRODUCT IS DIFFERENT BUILDING CORE VALUE GETTING THE LARGEST % OF OUR AUDIENCE TO EXPERIENCE CORE VALUE AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE GETTING USERS TO EXPERIENCE THAT CORE VALUE AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

11. GROWTH EFFORTS CREDIT: ANDY JOHNS 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 NATURAL ADOPTION TRUE GROWTH POTENTIAL PURPOSE OF GROWTH EFFORTS Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

12. GROWTH IS MORE ABOUT A CHANGE TO TEAM STRUCTURE, PEOPLE, METHODOLGY, PROCESS NOT TACTICS/HACKS Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

13. LEARNING HOW TO GROW AUTHENTICALLY DOESN’T START WITH TACTICS Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

14. PROCESS Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

15. PROCESS?!?!?! WHAT CAN BE SO SPECIAL ABOUT PROCESS? Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

16. 4 REASONS TO FOCUS ON PROCESS FIRST, TACTICS SECOND Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

17. 14 1. WHAT WORKS FOR OTHERS, WON’T WORK FOR YOU

18. YOUR AUDIENCE IS DIFFERENT Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

19. YOUR PRODUCT IS DIFFERENT Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

20. YOUR BUSINESS MODEL IS DIFFERENT Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

21. YOUR CUSTOMER JOURNEY IS DIFFERENT Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

22. YOUR BUSINESS IS DIFFERENT PLAIN AND SIMPLE Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

23. 20 2. GROWTH = SUM(1, 2, 3, 4….X) Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

24. Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

25. MOST PEOPLE FOCUS ON WHAT HAPPENED HERE Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

26. BUT WE SHOULD ASK ABOUT ALL THE THINGS HERE AND…. HERE Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

29. 23 SILVER BULLETS DON’T EXIST Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

30. 24 3. RATE OF CHANGE IS ACCELERATING Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

31. SEO No Keyword Data, Author Rank, Content Freshness, Social Shares, Search Result Format DISPLAY RTB, No Cookies, Mobile EMAIL Tabbed Inboxes, Inbox Actions, Unsubscribe, Mobile FACEBOOK Newsfeed Ads (4 formats), Video Ads, Optimized CPM, CTA Format, Custom Audiences, etc, etc

32. Effectiveness 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 WOM Novelty Email MySpace Craigslist Twitter Mobile iOS Android Facebook Ooga Labs EVOLUTION OF CHANNELS CREDIT: JAMES CURRIER

33. 27 4. YOU NEED A MACHINE Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

34. A GROWTH MACHINE IS… 1 2 PREDICTABLE SCALABLE 3 REPEATABLE

35. THE MACHINE PRODUCES THE TACTICS THE PROCESS MAKES THE MACHINE Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

36. BUILDING A GROWTH MACHINE THE PROCESS

37. THE GOALS OF OUR PROCESS 1 2 LEARNING Constant learning of our customer, product, channels and feeding that learning into the process to improve. 3 AUTONOMY Individuals decide what they work on to achieve the OKR’s. 4 ACCOUNTABILITY With autonomy, comes accountability. You don’t have to be right all the time, but there is an expectation to improve. RYTHYM Momentum is powerful. Establish a cadence to ﬁght through failures, get to successes, and ﬁnd momentum Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

38. 1. Brainstorm (Backlog) 2. Prioritize (Experiment Doc + Backlog) 4. Implement 5. Analyze (Experiment Doc) 3. Test (Experiment Doc) 6. Systemize (Playbooks) Set Goals OKR’s Explore Data Qualitative and Quantitative Find Levers Growth Model DAILY/WEEKLY

39. FINDING LEVERS BUILDING A GROWTH MODEL GOAL IS TO FIND THE HIGHEST IMPACT AREA THAT WE CAN FOCUS ON RIGHT NOW GIVEN LIMITED RESOURCES. Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

40. FINDING LEVERS YOUR TOOL IS YOUR GROWTH MODEL

41. FINDING LEVERS BUILDING A GROWTH MODEL Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

42. FINDING LEVERS BUILDING A GROWTH MODEL GOAL IS WAU’s, BUT WHAT EFFECTS WAU’s? Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

43. FINDING LEVERS BUILDING A GROWTH MODEL GOAL IS WAU’s, BUT WHAT EFFECTS WAU’s? WAU’s = New Activated + Retained Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

44. FINDING LEVERS BUILDING A GROWTH MODEL GOAL IS WAU’s, BUT WHAT EFFECTS WAU’s? WAU’s = New Activated + Retained New Activated = (RegisteredFB ADS * ARFB ADS) + (RegisteredViral * ARViral)+… Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

45. FINDING LEVERS BUILDING A GROWTH MODEL GOAL IS WAU’s, BUT WHAT EFFECTS WAU’s? WAU’s = New Activated + Retained New Activated = (RegisteredFB ADS * ARFB ADS) + (RegisteredViral * ARViral)+… RegisteredViral = Imp * Conversion Rate * Invites/User * Email CTR * Landing Page CR Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

46. FINDING LEVERS BUILDING A GROWTH MODEL GOAL IS WAU’s, BUT WHAT EFFECTS WAU’s? WAU’s = New Activated + Retained New Activated = (RegisteredFB ADS * ARFB ADS) + (RegisteredViral * ARViral)+… RegisteredViral = Imp * Conversion Rate * Invites/User * Email CTR * Landing Page CR Retained = (New ActW-1 * RetentionW-1) + (New ActW-2 * RetentionW-2)… Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

47. FINDING LEVERS THREE THINGS TO UNDERSTAND ABOUT THE INPUTS 1 2 CEILING BASELINE 3 SENSITIVITY OVER TIME

49. HOW WE SET GOALS (OKRs) OBJECTIVE: Qualitative statement TIMEFRAME: 30 - 90 Days KR1: Measurable Goal 1 (Hit 90% Of Time) KR2: Measurable Goal 2 (Hit 50% Of Time) KR3: Measurable Goal 3 (Hit 10% Of Time) Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

50. AN EXAMPLE… OBJECTIVE: MAKE VIRALITY A MEANINGFUL CHANNEL TIMEFRAME: 90 Days KR1: 1.5% Viral/WAU KR2: 2% Viral/WAU KR3: 3% Viral/WAU Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

51. 1 2 IN OUR FACE INPUTS NOT OUTPUTS 3 CONCRETE OKR’s will never be set on on the output (WAU) the will always be set on the inputs. OKR’s will be somewhere that we can’t forget them. Review daily and weekly. Goals will change mid-OKR VERY rarely. OKR PRINCIPLES

53. HOW WE GET GROWTH INSIGHTS INSIGHT Quantitative Qualitative Intuition

54. 1 2 QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE User Surveys, 1 on 1 Conversations, Full Story Videos, Customer Support Tickets GA, Mixpanel, Datastore. Goal is to answer questions we don’t know about our user, product, or channel. Break it into pieces. EXPLORE DATA UNDERSTAND THE INPUTS OF THE INPUTS Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

55. BUILD A MINI MODEL UNDERSTAND THE INPUTS OF THE INPUTS 1 2 CEILING BASELINE 3 SENSITIVITY

56. UNDERSTAND THE WHY UNDERSTAND THE INPUTS OF THE INPUTS Why do users who get to invite page not covert? <— Super targeted to the variable we are trying to improve <— Open ended question to allow for all types of answers <— Email looks like a personal email to create a sense of importance

57. UNDERSTAND THE WHY UNDERSTAND THE INPUTS OF THE INPUTS Bug 7% Other 8% Would Prefer To Just Share On FB 10% Don't Want You To Spam Friends 11% Reward Not High Enough 29% Didn't Know Who To Invite 35%

58. 1. Brainstorm (Backlog) 2. Prioritize (Experiment Doc + Backlog) 4. Implement 5. Analyze (Experiment Doc) 3. Test (Experiment Doc) 6. Systemize (Playbooks) Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

59. STEP ONE: BRAINSTORM BRAINSTORM ON THE INPUTS NOT THE OUTPUTS… Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

60. STEP ONE: BRAINSTORM ACTIVATION RATE = STEP 1 CONV * STEP 2 CONV * STEP 3 CONV IF WE WANT TO IMPROVE THIS WE BRAINSTORM ON THESE Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

61. 4 WAYS TO COME UP WITH GROWTH IDEAS 1 OBSERVE How are others doing it? Look outside of your immediate product space. Walk through together. 2 QUESTION Question brainstorming. Why? What is… What if… What about… How do we do more of… 3 ASSOCIATE Connect the dots between unrelated things. i.e What if our activation process was like closing a deal? 4 NETWORK Growth mastermind groups. Build your network of growth people. I’m on the phone every day for ideas Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

63. STEP TWO: PRIORITIZE 1 2 IMPACT PROBABILITY 3 RESOURCES LOW - 20%, MEDIUM - 50%, HIGH - 80% Comes from your prediction. Take into account long lasting eﬀects vs one hit wonders. Marketing, Design, Engineering

64. STEP TWO: PRIORITIZE CREATING A HYPOTHESIS IF SUCCESSFUL, [VARIABLE] WILL INCREASE BY [IMPACT], BECAUSE [ASSUMPTIONS]. Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

65. STEP TWO: PRIORITIZE JUSTIFYING YOUR ASSUMPTIONS 1 2 QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE 3 SECONDARY Previous Experiments, Surrounding Data, Funnel Data Surveys, Support Emails, User Testing Recordings Networking, Blogs, Competitor Observation, Case Studies Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

66. STEP TWO: PRIORITIZE CREATE EXPERIMENT DOC Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

68. STEP THREE: TEST WHAT IS THE MVT (MINIMUM VIABLE TEST) TO UNDERSTAND OUR HYPOTHESIS? Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

69. 1 EFFICIENCY What is the least resource intensive way to gather data about the hypothesis. 2 VALIDITY The experiment must take into account how to get a valid result by designing a control and required amount of data. STEP THREE: TEST Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

70. STEP THREE: TEST WRITE THE EXPERIMENT DESIGN IN EXPERIMENT DOC Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

72. STEP FOUR: IMPLEMENT GET SHIT DONE Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

74. STEP FIVE: ANALYZE 1 2 IMPACT SUCCESS/FAIL 3 WHY? How close to your prediction? The most important question you can ask. Why did you see the result that you did? Be prepared for a lot of failures.

75. STEP FIVE: ANALYZE LEARNINGS + ACTION ITEMS IN EXPERIMENT DOC Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

77. STEP SIX: SYSTEMIZE 1 PRODUCTIZE Productize as much as you can with technology and engineering. 2 PLAYBOOKS For the things you can’t productize, build into step by step playbooks to make them repeatable. Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

78. 6. Systemize (Playbooks) 1. Brainstorm (Backlog) 2. Prioritize (Experiment Doc + Backlog) 3. Test (Experiment Doc) 4. Implement 5. Analyze (Experiment Doc) REPEAT Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

79. WHAT A TYPICAL WEEK LOOKS LIKE Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Growth Meeting - Learnings - Goal Review - Blocking Items/ Strategies Predicting, Prioritizing, Implementing, Analyzing, Systemizing Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

80. WEEKLY GROWTH MEETING DON’T GET ATTACHED TO IDEAS 1 2 GOALS LEARNINGS 3 BLOCKING Learnings, not updates. You can monitor experiment updates in the pipeline. Progress against goals What blocked you from doing something this week?

81. WEEKLY GROWTH MEETING TEMPLATE Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

82. MACRO OPTIMIZATION (REVIEW QUARTERLY) 1 2 ACCURACY BATTING AVG 3 THROUGHPUT How many successes to failures? Our we improving over time? Are our predictions getting more accurate? How many experiments are we running in a given time period? How do we do more?

83. MACRO OPTIMIZATION HOW WE IMPROVE 1 2 INFRASTRUCTURE TEAM 3 PROCESS Improve current teams skills. Add to the team. Experiment, analytics, and qualitative feedback infrastructure Reﬁning the process for more eﬃciency or quality of ideas, implementation, and analysis.

84. A FINAL WORD PART ONE ITERATION DOES NOT EQUAL INCREMENTAL Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

85. A FINAL WORD PART TWO IT IS NEVER TOO EARLY TO START THIS PROCESS Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

86. A FINAL FINAL WORD THERE IS NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THIS PROCESS. SUCCESS COMES DOWN TO GRIT, FOCUS, AND PERSISTENCE. Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com

87. THANKS! Brian Balfour :: @bbalfour :: http://www.coelevate.com