#growthdeck - brian balfour ama by growthhackers

@_alexgu

So you have lots of experience on growth, what are the most common mistakes startups make on growth?

#GrowthMistakes

Presents

Brian Balfour on Growth

#GrowthDeck

VP of Growth @ Hubspot

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#Growthdeck by GrowthHackers

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@_alexgu


@marcopetkovski

Question:

What are some of the most overrated

growth metrics being used today and

what are some of the most

underrated?

#GrowthMetric



A “North Star” Metric isn't one size fits all across companies.

#GrowthMetric

@bbalfour





• Any metric not taking into account engagement or retention

is complete bullshit. i.e. Registrations, downloads, views, etc.

• Metrics like WAU, DAU, MRR, etc. are much better. However,

define the “active” part carefully.

• After you have a great North Star Metric, focus your

analytical power on figuring out all the inputs impacting the

North Star Metric and how you can influence them.

#GrowthMetric

@bbalfour

@_alexgu


#GrowthMistakes

@slanoue

Question:

What advice would you give to your 25

year old self about getting started in the

field of customer acquisition and

growth?

#GrowthCareer



“Probably the number one piece of advice I would give myself is to focus. Like a lot of curious

people I think I spread myself too thin”

# GrowthCareer

@bbalfour

So I would recommend three things:

1. Find a focus

2. Create and facilitate a "mastermind group”

3. Find an environment with a great coach, team and

set of resources that allow you to practice

#GrowthCareer

@bbalfour

“I think there is only so much practice you can do on your own until you hit a ceiling. You need to be within a company environment that lets you do that.”

@_alexgu


#GrowthMistakes

@ jsmith

Question:

If there was one thing a young startup

should focus on during its early growth,

what would you recommend them to

focus on?

#EarlyGrowth



“Without a doubt....RETENTION.”

“Retention is your growth foundation. You can't build something great with a shaky foundation.”

# EarlyGrowth

@bbalfour



• The acquisition goal for early start up should be

to drive just enough traffic to validate retention

• If there was a second thing: think about Product

Channel fit. Because: – Most high growth products scale from 1 or 2 channels

– Products are uniquely designed to fit for a specific

channel, i.e. Quora or Tripadvisor fit with search

#EarlyGrowth

@ bbalfour

@_alexgu


#GrowthMistakes

@Kris_Kayyal

Question:

What lessons, learnings or a-ha

moments truly changed your entire

perspective on growth?

#GrowthMindset



“A conversation years ago with Andy Johnswhen he said almost every company can beexpressed as a simple math equation”

“I always understood how to build pieces of the equation but when he said that something clicked and it brought together so many things I was thinking about and already doing”

#GrowthMindset

@bbalfour

“The Why, How, What framework by Simon Sinek.”

“I use that framework in so many places. Landing page design, copy for emails, content marketing strategy, the list goes on.”

#GrowthMindset

@bbalfour

“AARRR framework by McClure. “

“After so many years I still use it on almost a daily basis. Talk about long lasting impact!”

#GrowthMindset

@bbalfour

@_alexgu


#GrowthMistakes

@amcinnes

Question:

I want to join a growth team where I

can learn from. What growth teams do

you think highly of in this regard in the

SF Bay Area?

#GrowthCareer



Some of the best growth teams in my opinion:

• Wealthfront

• Pinterest

• AirBnB

• Atlassian

#GrowthCareer

@bbalfour

• Uber

• LinkedIn

• Facebook

• Dropbox



Question:

What do you think is the biggest challenge

companies need to overcome when

implementing a growth team?

What is your recommendation for

overcoming it?

@SeanEllis

#GrowthTeam



I think the biggest challenges are:

1. Defining roles

2. Team structure

3. Ownership lines

#GrowthTeam

“The concept of ‘growth’ is still in its infancy. Most organizations are still structured in the ‘old way’where everything that touches growth lives in silosvs being one cohesive unit.”

Three things to overcome challenges:

1. Buy in from CEO

2. Recruit from within

3. Give enough ownership to establish

momentum

#GrowthTeam

@bbalfour

“I unfortunately see so many cases where people starting growth teams are starting from a point of inevitable failure.”

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@_alexgu


#GrowthMistakes

Question:

Not every growth project is going to

be a home run, how have you been

successful in getting executive buy-in

and budget approval for the bigger

projects?

@acapland

#GrowthTeam



• Buy yourself months of time to make meaningful

impact

• Set expectations that there will be a lot of failures

but the important thing is about learning

• Get enough resources (people/money) to give

yourself a decent chance

• Get the ownership to influence the things you need

to influence

• Being ruthless about prioritization and finding early

wins.

#GrowthTeam

@ bbalfour

@morgan

Question:

How do you organize your

team/effort/time around tackling

different parts of the retention curve?

#GrowthTeam



#GrowthTeam

@bbalfour

“Ownership lines are never 100% clean. There is always grey area.”



1. Our New User Experience team own everything from

"register" to activation during onboarding – Defined as the

“Aha Moment”– This team is extremely important. A 1% improvement here typically

has bigger ROI than other areas.

2. Different product teams own product improvements that

drive Mid-Term and Long-Term retention

3. “Outgoing" channel teams (email, push, etc) are pulled out

of the product teams. It’s more of a marketing mindset in

the long term. These span all pieces of the retention curve.

#GrowthTeam

@bbalfour

But a few things...

@_alexgu


#GrowthMistakes@luke__duncan

Question:

When you are deciding what key

metrics to focus on, what are some

criteria you use to select them?

#GrowthMetric



3 Steps to define Weekly Active User (WAU)

Step 1: Pick Unit of ValueIs your product built for a user, a company or a team?

Step 2: Decide TimeframeHow often does your audience need to use your product to get

the value you are trying to deliver, daily, weekly, monthly?

Step 3: Define "Active”What action a user/team/company would take that indicates

your product is delivering real value?

In addition to WAU, also define a "Depth" metric, such as

actions per active user.

#GrowthMetric

@bbalfour

@_alexgu


#GrowthMistakes@Ben_Slater

Question:

How far can we go with Content as a driver

of growth?

#ContentMarketing



#ContentMarketing

@bbalfour

“It Really Really Really Depends”

“For HubSpot content marketing deserves most of the credit for getting us to the IPO”

Key factors why content worked for Hubspot:

1. The audience was right– Our audience are marketers who consume and

share a ton of content. This is Product Channel fit.

2. The economics were aligned– Content could generate enough leads to get us to

a $100M business. This won't work for Facebook

or a strict Enterprise company whose price points

are very different.

#ContentMarketing

@bbalfour

@_alexgu


#GrowthMistakes

Question:

What would you say to people who are

randomly seeking one magical

"growth hack"?

@paulmboyce

#GrowthMyths



“Growth is more about a new approach/mindset and the implications on how you approach things

like roles, team structure, goal setting, etc.”

#GrowthMyths

@bbalfour



@_alexgu


#GrowthMistakes

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