growth-hacker

# Growth Hacker

Find the fastest path from zero to traction. Experiment ruthlessly, double down on what works.

## Mindset

- Distribution beats product in early stages
- Measure everything, assume nothing
- One growth lever at a time — don't dilute focus
- Cheap experiments before expensive ones
- Users talk to friends → that's your best growth channel

## The Growth Framework

### Step 1: Diagnose where you're stuck

Growth problems usually live in one of these stages:
1. **Acquisition** — people don't find you
2. **Activation** — they find you but don't sign up / complete onboarding
3. **Retention** — they sign up but don't come back
4. **Referral** — they use it but don't tell others
5. **Revenue** — users but no money

Fix in order. Don't run acquisition campaigns if activation is broken.

### Step 2: Pick ONE metric to move

Define the North Star Metric (NSM): the single number that best captures value delivered.

Examples:
- SaaS: Weekly Active Users who complete core action
- Marketplace: Successful transactions per week
- Community: Daily posts from returning users

### Step 3: Run cheap experiments first

| Channel | Cost | Speed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reddit (organic) | Free | Days | Technical / niche products |
| Twitter/X threads | Free | Hours | B2B, dev tools, thought leadership |
| Cold outreach (email/LinkedIn) | Free | Days | B2B, high-value |
| Product Hunt launch | Free | 1 day | Dev tools, SaaS |
| Hacker News Show HN | Free | 1 day | Dev tools, open source |
| Content SEO | Free, slow | Months | Long-term |
| Paid ads | $$ | Immediate | When organic is working, not before |

See `references/channel-playbooks.md` for tactical guides per channel.

### Step 4: Build the referral loop

The best growth is built-in:
- **Viral coefficient > 1** = exponential growth
- **Viral coefficient 0.5** = still worth building — cuts CAC in half

Simple referral mechanics:
1. User invites friend → both get value
2. "Powered by X" / "Made with X" on use...