Growth
165 bites tagged Growth — interview questions with model answers, and 60-second explainers.
Growth Squads: Centralized vs. Decentralized
A growth squad is a trade-off between speed and cultural change. A centralized team optimizes for velocity with dedicated members, while a decentralized (embedded) team spreads the growth mindset by borrowing staff.
OKRs: Frame Growth Goals as Measurable Outcomes
OKRs separate your ambitious goal (Objective) from the measurable results that prove you're there (Key Results). Growth teams use this to align on what success looks like.
The Independent Growth Team Model
An independent growth team is a startup-within-a-company, given autonomy to run experiments across the funnel. Use it to break silos and accelerate learning. The main footgun is isolation, creating a rogue unit whose wins are difficult to integrate.
Growth Meeting Cadence: Focus on Learnings, Not Updates
Run your weekly growth meeting like a learning synthesizer, not a status report. Focus on extracting insights from experiments to drive future impact. The biggest mistake is wasting time on "what" you're doing; handle status updates asynchronously.
Growth Product Manager: Driving Metrics, Not Just Features
A Growth PM is a business optimizer for an existing product. They focus on moving a single metric like user activation or retention, often through rapid experimentation. This role is key in product-led companies where the product must sell itself.
Server-Side Experimentation: Testing Your Backend Logic
Server-side experimentation renders A/B test variations on the server before sending the page. Use it for testing deep backend logic like search algorithms or to avoid the visual 'flicker' of client-side tests. The footgun: it requires developer cycles.
System Dynamics: Modeling with Stocks, Flows, and Feedback
System Dynamics models the world as interconnected stocks (like users) and flows (like signups), governed by feedback loops. Use it to understand why growth stalls or why hiring lags behind need.
The Bass Diffusion Model: Innovators vs. Imitators
The Bass Diffusion Model splits product adoption into innovators who buy first and imitators who follow the crowd, creating the classic S-curve of growth. It's used to forecast sales for new products by modeling how word-of-mouth drives adoption.
Market Sizing: TAM, SAM, and SOM for Realistic Planning
Market sizing is a funnel, not a single number. TAM is the total universe of customers, SAM is the segment you can reach, and SOM is who you can realistically win. It's crucial for business plans and investor pitches.
Growth Accounting: What's Really Driving Your Growth?
Growth accounting splits your growth into two parts: adding more resources (like ad spend) and getting better with what you have. Use it to see if growth came from a bigger budget or a better product.
Entitlements: Use Feature Flags for Permanent Access Control
Entitlements use permanent feature flags to control long-term access, like a bouncer for your app's VIP section. This is how you manage premium tiers or special user permissions, ensuring the right customers always see the right features.
The Hybrid GTM Model: PLG Meets Enterprise Sales
A hybrid go-to-market model blends a self-serve product with a sales team, letting users start on their own and bringing in sales for big deals. B2B SaaS uses this for efficiency, but the footgun is creating friction if the handoff isn't seamless.
In-Product Discovery: Finding Growth Inside Your App
In-product discovery is finding your next growth lever by observing users within your live product, not just in pre-launch research. It's used to scale existing products via in-app experiments.
Product Bumps: Testing Prices with Temporary Increases
A product bump is a temporary price increase for an in-app purchase to test user price sensitivity. It helps you find the optimal price without permanently changing it for everyone. The footgun is misinterpreting statistical noise from small test groups.
Reverse Trial Model: Freemium Reach, Free Trial Urgency
A reverse trial gives new users a time-limited taste of paid features before downgrading them to a free plan. It aims for the best of both worlds: freemium's user acquisition with a free trial's conversion urgency.
Freemium Model: Free Forever, Pay for More
The Freemium model offers a basic product for free, charging only for premium features, services, or goods. This pricing strategy is common in software and video games (as "free-to-play").
The Self-Serve Funnel: Let Your Product Do the Selling
A self-serve funnel lets users discover, try, and buy your product without talking to a human, making the product the main sales driver. It powers rapid growth for companies like Slack. The main footgun is poor onboarding; if users get stuck, they churn.
Price Elasticity: How Price Changes Affect Demand
Price elasticity measures how sensitive sales are to price changes. An elasticity of -2 means a 1% price increase causes a 2% drop in quantity sold. It's key for forecasting revenue from price tests, but the biggest footgun is assuming this ratio is constant.
Value-Based Pricing: Charge for Impact, Not Cost
Value-based pricing anchors your price to the customer's perceived benefit, not your production costs. It's used for unique goods like art or software where value is high. The main footgun is assuming value instead of researching customer willingness to pay.
Usage-Based Pricing: Pay for Value, Not Seats
Usage-based pricing links cost directly to consumption, letting customers pay for what they use instead of a flat fee per user. It's common for cloud services (AWS) and APIs where value isn't tied to seats.
Tiered Pricing: One Product, Many Prices
Tiered pricing sells one product at multiple prices by packaging features for different customer needs. It's common in SaaS (Basic, Pro, Enterprise plans) and telecoms.
Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)
ARPU is the average revenue each user generates, a pulse check for a subscription business's health. It's used by media and SaaS companies to track if users are becoming more valuable, but it can be skewed by a few high-paying "whales."
Subscription Business Model: Renting Access, Not Selling Products
A subscription model rents access to a product instead of selling it, creating predictable, recurring revenue. It's common for digital goods like streaming services or SaaS.
Freemium: Give Away the Basics, Sell the Upgrades
Freemium gives away a useful core product for free to attract a large audience, then sells premium features to a small subset of users. It's common in apps and games. The footgun is miscalibrating the free tier: make it too good and no one pays.
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