The document outlines strategies and insights from a professional with a background in aerospace engineering and advertising, detailing their experience in user acquisition for platforms like Badoo. Key elements include the importance of data analysis, user behavior measurement, and the effectiveness of viral marketing. It emphasizes that while a good product retains users, attracting them often requires marketing strategies beyond traditional public relations.

1. Methods, strategies and lessons
learned by building and tinkering

2.  Graduated from Georgia Tech – with a focus on
aerospace engineering, psychology and Russia
 Moved to Moscow, Russia
 Worked at Y&R Moscow– advertising agency
 Met and started to work for a partner at Mamba
 Badoo started with a great team and grew to over 70
million users
 Opened up London office after first 15 million users
 Got obsessed with social innovation
 Moved to NYC

3.  Use past experience to make best guess on initial
MVP and setting a/b tests
 Measure all stats on user behavior using Google
Analytics and Mixpanel (Kiss is said to be good
too)
 Three stages going at all times:
1. Past stage metrics being analyzed to create Future
stage product dev plan
2. Current stage being developed with limited
interference from me
3. Future stage dev plan a/b tests and metrics to
measure being completely dictated by Past stage
metrics

4.  Buy a database (pay for what you want)
 Plugging the site on blogs/forums
 Add features requested by initial visitors
 Offline advertising
 Make coolest homepage ever

5.  Partnerships: What does the partner value,
how can you give it to them, and what makes a
valuable partner?
 Private beta: Sign up and"Private Invites" given
to highly connected users, but leave private
beta quickly
 Newsletters: Strike discount deals with popular
newsletters in your space

6.  API questions: what info can we request therefore
display, how can full users communicate with API
imported third party users
 Foursquare api gives access to Facebook & Twitter
user ids and emails/phone numbers
 Public data from services like 4sq and Twitter can
be used to bridge the ghosttown problem,
especially in LBS
 Check out http://temboo.com for a good service
and base list of major APIs

7.  Inherent – example: Dropbox, Draw Something
 Trade – example: Dropbox
 Sharing – example: most medium sized sites

8.  Motivation – what the user wants to do
 Trigger – prompt to make them do it
 Action (import contacts & invite)
 Reward – feedback and reward for action
 Trigger
 ….on…and…on…loop

9.  SEX
 POWER
 MONEY
 STATUS/RECOGNITION

10.  Access to information
(about self is ultimate)
 Connection/access to other
users
 More attention to self or self
generated content
 Ability to get a special
deal/give special deal to
friends

11.  Import webmail addressbooks – openinvite
and APIs for big 4 (Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail,
AOL)
 API connections – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Foursquare, Google/+…
 Phone contacts (mobile app access)
 Facebook apps
 Contact files (customer email lists, csv, etc.)

12.  Opt-in vs Opt-out
 Proper clear messaging
 User initiated vs System initiated
 Worthy notification concept (ie.
Like/Comment)
 Know and prepare for your local market law

13.  A startup is a business
 Find out your ARPU (Average Revenue Per
User) as soon as possible
 Track your paid offsite advertising from ad to
user acquisition to paying user (valid to track
viral power of acquired user as well)
 Once all set, all paid online
marketing/advertising options can be
statistically judged and adjusted

14.  MYTH: A good product attracts users
 TRUTH: A good product retains users, but
does not attract them
 MYTH: PR, events and articles will attract
users
 TRUTH: PR, events and articles will attract
investors and business partners, but only
hundreds/thousands of users. If you want
anything more than 100,000, you need virality

15.  Free Viral marketing is possible in all B2C businesses
 Set up your base viral methods/actions and analyze
your product for its triggers
 Don’t confuse PR with being a user acquisition method
Professor Michael Geer
Founder, Advisor, Consultant
mdgeer@gmail.com
Twitter: @geeria
Nymos – Focusing the world’s positive energy