This is the version of the talk "Lessons in Growth" I gave in Boston at the PayPal HQ on Feb 24, 2014.

1. wealthfront.com
LESSONS IN GROWTH
Adam Nash @adamnash
February 24, 2014

2. Lessons in Growth
eBay Express
Build it and they will come?
LinkedIn
Viral growth just works… as long as you make it.
Wealthfront
An incredible service and business… if.
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3. Why Growth Matters
History is written by the victors
Victory for consumer software is almost always
defined by your market reach
Growth does not just happen, it has to be designed
into your product and service
The market is brutally competitive. If you don’t figure
it out, your competitors will.
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4. Think About Non-Users
Software companies tend to focus almost
exclusively on their users
Growth is about the experience you provide for nonusers (aka guests, visitors)
When you are small and growing, almost all of your
future users have not signed up yet
Whats pages & features do you have for non-users?
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5. Five Sources of Web Traffic
Organic
People seek you out directly
Email
You send out email, they click
SEO
You expose pages that are indexed in
Search
Paid / Affiliate
Paid links to your content
Social
Links to your content shared by users
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6. Understanding Virality
One of the key insights of our growth strategy from
2008. Extensible to literally all engagement features.
Key measure used by applications on social platforms.
This is an extremely useful frame.
How does a new customer
today lead to a new customer
tomorrow?
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7. Understanding Virality
At the heart of virality is an exponential based on
branching factor and cycle time.
Would your rather 10x every week, or 2x every day?
Rabbits make lots of rabbits not because of big litters,
but because they breed frequently. “n” matters more
than “m”.
n
m
number of cycles
branching factor
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8. Three Steps to Virality
Clearly articulate the flows where content from a
user can touch a non-user. Wireframes are fine.
Build a simple mathematical model for conversion
rates and multipliers and cycle time. Instrument your
flows for these metrics.
Develop, release, measure, iterate. Be prepared to
execute 6-8 release cycles to get your factor high
enough to contribute meaningfully.
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9. Growth in a Mobile World
Native apps work for a simple reason: they
generate organic traffic at scale.
Transaction flows are still heavily optimized
for the web, and conversion rates are better.
Non-users don’t have your app. It’s that
simple.
Engaged users, on your app, publishing
content that reach non-users, likely
converting on a web flow.
iOS, Android, Facebook & Twitter all working
on bridging the native / transactional gap.
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10. Value First, Then Growth
Engineering growth over a product that doesn’t
provide real value will be short term, at best.
Engagement and/or economic value must be at the
heart of any sustainable growth curve.
Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth to
drive your brand, your traffic, and your conversion
rates.
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11. Final Thoughts
We can be our own harshest critics. In the mirror
we see every flaw, every mistake, every
imperfection.
These are the very early years. Things that seem
small now can and will be huge in 5 years. Each of
you can and will have a profound impact on that
future.
Behavior matters. Values matter.
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