The document discusses eight growth engines for startups: the freemium model, problem-solving products, minimum viable products, starting locally, inbound marketing to scale, virality, expanding to new markets. It provides examples of companies that successfully utilized these growth engines like LinkedIn, GitHub, Uber, and Snapchat.

1. Summary & Key Points:
Startup Growth Engines
Furqan Jameel
Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 113.1.2019

2. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 2
Startup Growth Engines
• Introduction
• Freemium Model
• Problem Solving Product
• Minimum Viable Product
• Start Locally
• Inbound Marketing to Scale
• Virality
• Expansion to New Markets
• Summary
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3. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 3
Introduction
• Briefly introduce the key
points of the book:
Startup Growth Engines
Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown
2014
Case studies of successful
startups like LinkedIn, GitHub,
Uber, and Snapchat etc.
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4. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 4
Freemium Model
• Freemium simply means there’s a version of
the product that people can use for free.
• An upgrade to more and better functionality
being optional.
• Plenty of software services also do this, like
LinkedIn, Evernote, or GitHub.
• Beware of two things though:
Is your product easy enough to use?
Can you offer a proper reason to upgrade later?
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5. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 5
Problem Solving Product
• Provide valuable service that people want.
• Just observe the environment.
• Even mundane issues are a good basis for
business.
• Best kind of issues for building a business are
those that affect a wide range of people.
• Notice the common problems people run into.
• Many software services do this, like LinkedIn,
Belly, or Uber.
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6. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 6
Minimum Viable Product
• Ship it now and Fix it later.
• Rather than making assumptions about
what customers do and do not want,
test things via private beta.
• Many software services did this, like
GitHub, Yelp, or Uber.
• Provides the flexibility to add features
and find bugs in the software.
• Understanding how people engage with
the product.
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7. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 7
Start Locally
• Limiting to a physical location, where your
ideal customers hang out.
• Uber exclusively served people in San
Francisco, Belly did it in Chicago.
• Going for a big share of a small market
allows you to do several things:
Not drown in competition.
Collect precious data about your ideal
customers.
Expand gradually by swapping from one
market into the next that’s bordering on
yours.
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8. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 8
Inbound Marketing to Scale
• Technique for drawing customers to services via
content marketing, social media marketing, and
search engine optimization.
• Hubspot successfully incorporated this strategy.
• Creates awareness, attracts and helps new
customers.
• Attract tools:
Ads
Video
Blogging
Content Strategy
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• Delight Tools
Smart Content
Attribution Reporting
Conversations Inbox
• Engage Tools
Lead Flows
Email Marketing
Conversational Bots
Marketing Automation

9. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 9
Virality
• Two sources of virality:
• 1. Mobile Apps
Increase in smartphone has been a boon to companies.
Web traffic is decreasing every passing day.
A good source of running ads for promotion.
• 2. Word of Mouth
People are genuinely excited to share the product with their
friends and family.
Word of mouth comes from 4 things:
Content
Thoughtfulness
Solved problem
Ease of Use
• Good examples are GitHub, Uber, or Belly.
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10. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 10
Expansion to New Markets
• Growth is not one-size-fits-all.
• Consider the limitation of your product or service for new
markets.
• Consider politics, regulation and interests.
• Gather information about your customers, local events,
industry partnerships and business development.
• Ensure fast expansion to keep copycat companies out.
• Repeatable market roll out strategy like Uber and Belly.
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11. Abrahamsson, P., Himmanen, J., Impiö, J., Kemell, K-K., Kultanen, J. & Risku, J. (eds) / TJTS5792 Advanced Lean Startups JYU. Since 1863. 11
Summary
• A product must have:
Problem solving capability.
A free to use version.
Strong user engagement.
• Start locally and with minimum viable product
– Just ship it strategy.
• Expand to new markets using Inbound
Marketing and Virality enablers.
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