Sean Ellis CEO / GrowthHackers
Building a Company-Wide Growth Culture SaaStr Annual 2016

Everyone Wants Explosive Growth @SeanEllis
@GrowthHackers 2

But Extreme Competition for Attention
$0 $20 $40 $60 $80 $100 $120 $140 $160 3.5x US Online Ad Spend per User 3 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Channels in Constant Flux 4
James Currier @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Solution: Company-Wide Growth Effort 5
Product External Channels Promise 1st Experience Ongoing Experience Acquisition Activation Revenue Retention Referral biz dev/ APIs Marketing Growth Team @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Growth Company Requirements 6 @SeanEllis
@GrowthHackers Broad Participation Weekly Cadence Transparent Learning

7 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers Broad Participation
Weekly Cadence Transparent Learning

External Experts Internal Experts Ideas
Tests Results Core Growth Team Drives Process Ideas from Full Team & External Experts @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers 8

Goal: Build a Large Backlog
of Ideas 9 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Formalize Ideas in Experiment Doc
• Include hypothesis, research, target lever 10 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers Keep general contributor ideas simple (no ICE)

Example: Growth Ideas from Dropbox
Revenue test Referral test Retention/ Revenue test 11 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

12 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers Broad Participation
Weekly Cadence Transparent Learning

Growth Team Manages Cadence •
Start with growth master + ad hoc team • Ad hoc team: designer, analyst, engineer, ideally key execs (CEO, VP Product…) • Add dedicated growth roles as needed • Weekly test launch goals and weekly growth meeting 13 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Weekly Growth Meeting Agenda •
15 Min: Growth metrics, issues and opportunities • 10 min: Review last week’s testing sprint • 15 min: Key lessons learned from analyzed tests • 15 min: Select tests for this week’s sprint • 5 min: Check growth of idea backlog 14 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Goal: Test at High Tempo
• No certainty about how you will grow • Rapid Testing across all vectors • More testing = More discovery 15 Acquisition Referral Activation Revenue Retention Resurrection @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Example: Twitter Increased Tempo 16
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Prioritize by ICE Score &
Focus Area 17 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Manage Testing • Assign each
test to a project manager • Anyone on growth team can be a project mgr • Run tests sufficient time 18 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Analyze Results • Always ask
why • Systematize on learning • Informs follow up tests • Revisit past programs 19 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

20 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers Broad Participation
Weekly Cadence Transparent Learning

Every Test Leads to Learning
• Share all results with team (not just wins) • New ideas requires access to past learning 21 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

Example: Past Learning Leads to
a Win 22 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers Slides Videos • Learning: Embeds = longer sessions • Engineering solution: oEmbed (same action more embeds) • Results: 41% more embeds

Final Thought: Focus on Value
Delivery • Value delivery drives sustainable growth • Help right users get value from your product • Easy to align full team around value delivery 23 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

24 @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers Join GH
Projects Private Beta at Projects.GrowthHackers.com Purpose-Built Growth Collaboration System: 1) Team Ideation 2) Prioritize Testing 3) Capture Learning Join us at GrowthHackers Conference Feb 18th. Save with Code SaaStr50