Sean Ellis, CEO of Growth Hackers, shares his advice on building a culture of growth within an organization at SaaStr Annual 2016 held in San Francisco Feb 9-11th. www.saastrannual.com

1. SEAN ELLIS
CEO / GROWTHHACKERS

2. BUILDING A COMPANY-WIDE
GROWTH CULTURE
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

3. @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
EVERYONE WANTS
EXPLOSIVE GROWTH

4. $0
$20
$40
$60
$80
$100
$120
$140
$160
3.5x
US Online Ad
Spend per User
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
BUT EXTREME COMPETITION FOR ATTENTION

5. James Currier
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
CHANNELS IN CONSTANT FLUX

6. Product
External
Channels
Promise
1st Experience
Ongoing Experience
Acquisition
Activation
Revenue
Retention
Referral
biz dev/
APIs
Marketing
Growth
Team
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
SOLUTION: COMPANY-WIDE GROWTH EFFORT

7. @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
Broad
Participation
Weekly
Cadence
Transparent
Learning
GROWTH COMPANY REQUIREMENTS

8. @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
Broad
Participation
Weekly
Cadence
Transparent
Learning

9. External Experts
Internal Experts
Ideas Tests Results
Core Growth Team Drives Process
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
IDEAS FROM FULL TEAM & EXTERNAL EXPERTS

10. @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
GOAL: BUILD A LARGE BACKLOG OF IDEAS

11. @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
Keep general contributor
ideas simple (no ICE)
FORMALIZE IDEAS IN EXPERIMENT DOC
Include hypothesis, research, target lever

12. Revenue
test
Referral
test
Retention/
Revenue
test
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
EXAMPLE: GROWTH IDEAS FROM DROPBOX

13. @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
Broad
Participation
Weekly
Cadence
Transparent
Learning

14. GROWTH TEAM MANAGES CADENCE
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
•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

15. WEEKLY GROWTH MEETING AGENDA
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
•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

16. GOAL: TEST AT HIGH TEMPO
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
•No certainty about how you will grow
•Rapid testing across all vectors
•More testing = More discovery
Acquisition
Activation
Retention
Referral
Revenue
Resurrection

17. EXAMPLE: TWITTER INCREASED TEMPO
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

18. PRIORITIZE BY ICE SCORE & FOCUS AREA
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

19. MANAGE TESTING
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
•Assign a project manager
for each test
•Anyone on growth team
can be a project manager
•Run tests with sufficient time

20. ANALYZE RESULTS
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
•Always ask why
•Systematize on learning
•Informs follow up tests
•Revisit past programs

21. Broad
Participation
Weekly
Cadence
Transparent
Learning
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers

22. EVERY TEST LEADS TO LEARNING
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
•Share all results with team (not just wins)
•New ideas requires access to past learning

23. @SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
Slides
Videos
EXAMPLE: PAST LEARNING LEADS TO A WIN
•Learning: Embeds = longer sessions
•Engineering solution: oEmbed
(same action more embeds)
•Results: 41% more embeds

24. FINAL THOUGHT: FOCUS ON VALUE DELIVERY
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers
•Value delivery drives sustainable growth
•Help right users get value from your product
•Easy to align full team around value delivery

25. THANK YOU!
@SeanEllis @GrowthHackers