youtube.com/@ycombinatorSept 2018
Gustaf Alstromer - How to Get Users and Grow
youtube.com/@ycombinator
12 Sept 2018 · Startups
64 min watch → 95 sec
Growth should start after product-market fit, measured through repeat usage of the product's core value metric. The talk covers retention, funnels, referrals, paid acquisition, SEO, and A/B testing as practical growth tools.
Startups should treat growth as essential only after product-market fit, when users repeatedly return because the product delivers clear value.
Measure fit with one customer-value metric and repeat use at its natural frequency. Retention curves that flatten, not collapse toward zero, justify growth investment.
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Product-market fit means users keep coming back because the product solves a real problem.
Growth before that usually creates a spike, then a collapse.
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Measure product-market fit with one core value event.
01
Airbnb value is booking and staying.
02
Facebook value is active use.
03
Track repeats at the product's natural cadence.
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Cohort retention tracks each week's or month's new users over time.
It measures what percentage repeats the core value action later.
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A retention curve that flattens shows product-market fit.
A curve that keeps falling toward zero shows weak fit.
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12%
Shopify payment retention after 12 months.
It fell to 10% after one month, then held near that level instead of decaying to zero.
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10%
Blue Apron paid retention after 24 months.
It was 50% after one month, then kept declining without a clear plateau.
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30%
Netflix paid retention after 7 years.
It was 70% after 12 months, which showed very strong product-market fit.
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If a company is too small for reliable retention analysis, founders should talk directly to users.
Ask how they would feel if they could no longer use the product.
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Growth is not traditional marketing.
Modern growth changes the product itself, using engineers, product managers, designers, data scientists, and marketers.
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Growth comes from two systems.
01
Product-led growth improves conversion inside the product funnel.
02
Scalable acquisition channels bring in more users.
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Product-led growth improves funnel steps before the core value moment.
01
Translation.
02
Account creation.
03
Onboarding.
04
Purchase conversion.
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Scalable channels depend on user behavior.
01
Search works for infrequent problems.
02
Referrals work when users already share.
03
Sales works when likely customers are listable.
04
Paid ads work when lifetime value supports acquisition cost.
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Referrals are engineered word-of-mouth.
Airbnb offered $20 travel credit to the sender and $40 to the new user.
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40%
One Airbnb referral share sheet increased shares by 40%.
Changing 'Join Gustav's trip' to 'Accept Gustav's trip invitation' increased signups by 14%.
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A/B testing is the reliable way to make growth decisions.
It shows different versions to comparable users at the same time, because intuition is often lucky or wrong.
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Paid acquisition should usually wait until the company has revenue.
The test is whether customer acquisition cost is below lifetime value or has acceptable payback.
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2.1–2.2 billion
Facebook reached roughly 2.1–2.2 billion users, far above an early 2015 forecast of about 400 million.
Translation, mobile adoption, and internet access work kept raising the ceiling.
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