Growth lessons from the 500 Startups Distro Dojo

Andy Young // @andyy // andy@500.co
7 Growth Lessons
from the 500 Startups
Andy Young, EIR @ 500
@andyy

Hi, I’m Andy!
@andyy
#fb
PhotobyDanTaylor-dan@heisenbergmedia.com

train post-seed, pre-A
companies to do better
Growth Marketing
give them the Funding
to do it

So WTF is this
Growth Hacking thing?
sounds like some kinda bullshit to me..

7 Growth Lessons
from the Distro Dojo

#1 - nail down your
value proposition
& messaging

- 10,000 ft view exercise -
- bit.ly/10kftview -

What product/service, for which target market?
Why do our customers love us?
Why do they choose us over the competition?
How do we make money?
What is our primary way to get new customers?
Our business will become a huge, runaway success if…
During the next 3 months we need to focus on…
What ONE target do we want to hit?
10,000 ft view
bit.ly/10kftview

#2 - get Product/Market fit
before you try and grow

Early stage Growth stage
Goal Product/Market fit
Scalable, repeatable,
predictable growth
Metric Engagement Growth rate
Primary Data Qualitative Quantitative
Growth
Strategy
Hustle
Build a growth
machine

#3 - build a Model
to understand your business

bit.ly/kpi-sheet

Not an operational dashboard:
metrics related to growth
1. Identify top-level KPI
2. Add nuance
3. Add drivers
4. Add funnel for these drivers
Template Google Sheet: bit.ly/kpi-sheet

#4 - identify Levers
and prioritise your backlog

Levers:
things you can push
to get growth

Identify your
One Metric That Matters (OMTM)
to get everyone pushing
in the same direction

Prioritise using ICE
framework:
-Impact
-Chance of Success
-Effort (time/resources)

#5 - drive growth via
experimentation
and learnings

“Learning is the essential unit
of progress for startups”

Make predictions in advance!

#6 - it’s a Mindset

The world is constantly changing
(channel efficiency/effectiveness, etc)
Experimentation & learnings
Build a machine
Naturally curious
Motivated by helping the customer achieve their goals
Growth Mindset

#7 - maintain discipline with a
Weekly Growth Meeting

Agenda
1. Review KPIs
2. What did we learn last week?
3. What experiments are we running this week?
No work is to be done during the meeting!
Weekly Growth Meeting

BONUS #8
Talk to your users

User testing script - cheers Steve Krug!
www.sensible.com/downloads/test-script.pdf

Takeaways

#1 - nail down your value proposition & messaging
#2 - get Product/Market fit before you try and grow
#3 - build a model to understand your business
#4 - identify Levers and prioritise your backlog
#5 - drive growth via experimentation & learnings
#6 - it’s a mindset
#7 - maintain discipline with a weekly growth meeting
Talk to your users!

Thanks, & good luck!

● 10,000ft view worksheet
● Bryan Balfour: The Scientific Method: How to Design &
Track Viral Growth Experiments
● Dave McClure's Startup Metrics for Pirates
● Eric Ries’s Three Engines of Growth
● My deck on Analytics for Startups
● 500 Startups Accelerator Marketing Hell Week:
videos, templates & goodness
● DISTROSNACK: daily growth hacks
Further references..

Growth lessons from the 500 Startups Distro Dojo

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