Growth hacking, a term coined by Sean Ellis in 2010, refers to strategies aimed at achieving rapid growth for startups through innovative marketing techniques. It encompasses a funnel process that includes user acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, and referral, with an emphasis on testing and optimizing user experiences. Notable examples, such as Airbnb's integration with Craigslist, illustrate the practical application of growth hacking tactics that encourage user engagement and referrals.

1. What is Growth Hacking?
Growth hacking is so misunderstood. Is it marketing in disguise? Is it a
buzz phrase used to increase salaries? Is it the future of internet
products? Let’s start at the beginning...

2. The short history of the term
The phrase “growth hacker” was coined by Sean Ellis in 2010. He felt the need to coin a new phrase
he said that it stemmed from his frustration when hiring replacements for himself.
Sean asked for marketers. He got marketers. So Sean changed what he asked for. The title of his
watershed blog post was “Find a Growth Hacker for Your Startup” and the idea was born.

3. So what is it then?
• A growth hacker is not a replacement for a marketer. A growth hacker is
not better than marketer. A growth hacker is just different than a marketer.
To use the most succinct definition from Sean’s post, “A growth hacker is a
person whose true north is growth."
• What is Growth Hack Funnel?
Acquisition > How do users find you
Activation > Do users have a great experience
Retention > Do users come back
Revenue > How do you make money
Referral > Do users tell each others
• What does a growth hacker do?
It is all about running tests & experiments on each of these funnel levels to
understand the user behaviour and help increase these numbers

4. What does it look like in practise
• Study case: Airbnb
Airbnb leveraged Craigslist, a platform with millions of users looking for accommodations, to
increase their user base substantially. When you are filling out the form to list your bedroom on
Airbnb they give you the option to also post the listing to Craigslist, so that it will show up there
also, creating inbound links for you and for Airbnb as a platform.
Craigslist didn’t offer an easy way for other companies (like Airbnb) to post to their service. There
wasn’t a technological solution that AirBNB could implement easily, Instead they reverse engineer
how Craiglist’s forms work, and then make their product compatible.

5. Break GOALS it into smaller, achievable, results

6. Plan, Execute, Optimize, Repeat
• WRITE DOWN YOUR THEORY
• PUT YOUR PLAN INTO ACTION
• DO NOT GET DISCORAGED BY THE INITIAL RESULTS
• OPTIMIZE THE EXPERIMENT
• REPEAT

7. Actionable Growth Hacking tactics
1. Find the AHA! Moment
Get to your users to reach this moment as fast as possible
It is the moment that your user understand your product and buy it
2. Look alike photos
Use photos who look like your target audience
Bonus tip: Make the person’s eyes look at your CTA
3. Tell them WHY?
Explain to your users what & why they are doing certain actions
4. Forced virality
Force users to share/invite others at some point in the process
5. Influencer outreach
List down all influencers and their outlet reach like bloggers/vloggers/reporters
Write a post & reach out to an influencer for whom the content is relevant