Grow & market

Channels, metrics, and loops that turn early traction into growth.

What founders use for grow & market, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. This is the essay that names the shift you're betting on: online, your reputation and reach are no longer tied to where you... Not Boring (notboring.co) Essay · Medium read (about 20 to 30 minutes) The Great Online Game Packy McCormick
  2. This is the cleanest split we found between the numbers that mean something and the ones that just feel good. Buffer walks... Buffer Article · About a 12 minute read 12 Social Media Metrics You Should Be Tracking (And Why) Shivani Shah
  3. The essay tells you why to own your audience and the tool gives you somewhere to put it, but this is the piece that covers the... Newsletter Operator Article The MAGIC formula that converts social followers into email subscribers J. Matthew McGarry
  4. This is written by a founder who actually ran three different communities on three different platforms and picked each one for... Medium Article · About a 10 minute read Learnings from running communities on Slack, Discord and WhatsApp Adithya Narayanan
  5. Richard Millington has spent years advising organizations on community strategy, and his core argument here is the exact... FeverBee Essay · About an 8 minute read The 'Community Everywhere' Era Has Arrived: Don't Waste This Opportunity Richard Millington
  6. Spinks ran CMX and spent a decade watching what actually keeps a community alive, and his core argument is that a small slice... Wiley Book The Business of Belonging: How to Make Community Your Competitive Advantage David Spinks
  7. This is the tactical companion to the theory: how to actually spot your super-members in the data, ask them in a way they will... Higher Logic Article Building an Online Community Super Users (Ambassador) Program Higher Logic
  8. A direct, practical treatment of the exact decision: what a free community gets you (reach, discovery, top of funnel) versus... HubSpot Blog Article Free vs. Paid Online Communities: Which Is Right for You? Flori Needle
  9. The three People and Company founders built communities for Nike, Substack, and others, and they organize the whole book around... Stripe Press Book · ~180 pages Get Together: How to Build a Community With Your People Bailey Richardson, Kevin Huynh, Kai Elmer Sotto
  10. This is the cleanest checklist of the ways a community dies quietly, and it names the exact traps founders miss: chasing... Heartbeat Article · About a 10 minute read Why Most Online Communities Fail Murtaza Bambot
  11. Written by two consumer investors who have watched dozens of communities scale and stall, this essay makes the case that more... a16z (via Medium) Essay · About a 12 minute read Why Most Online Communities Fail (and How to Build a Better One) Justine and Olivia Moore
  12. Priya Parker's whole argument is that people show up (and stay engaged) when a gathering has a clear, specific purpose and... Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House) Book · ~320 pages The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters Priya Parker
  13. This is the practical counterpart to the big-picture book: concrete, tested tactics for closing the gap between people clicking... Meetup Blog (Organizer Guide) Article · ~10 min read How To Get People to Show Up to Your Events Meetup Team
  14. This is the cleanest short explainer we found on the exact fork in your question: a community tied to your brand and customers... Turf Essay · ~8 min read Customer Community vs Community of Practice: What Is the Difference? Hannah Rafter
  15. David Sacks argues that the strongest companies rally people around a cause and a change in the world, not around the product... Bottom Up (David Sacks) Article · ~15 min read Your Startup Is a Movement David Sacks
  16. Pat Flynn's whole argument is that people become superfans because of a mission and a set of shared moments, not because of any... Pat Flynn Book · 224 pages Superfans: The Easy Way to Stand Out, Grow Your Tribe, and Build a Successful Business Pat Flynn
  17. This is the clearest breakdown we found of which numbers actually signal a healthy community versus which ones just look good... Circle Blog Article The Complete Guide to Community Analytics Pedro Hernandes (Circle)
  18. FeverBee is the most credible voice on running online communities, and this piece makes the honest case that written guidelines... FeverBee Article · 8 to 10 min read Community Guidelines Richard Millington (FeverBee)
  19. Shirky's classic essay is the deepest argument for why a community's real norms come from how the group behaves and how the... shirky.com Essay · 25 to 30 min read A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy Clay Shirky
  20. When you are the only person shipping code and also the only person showing up in the community, the real question is how you... PlanStacker Article · ~10 minute read How Solo SaaS Founders Manage Their Time for Maximum Impact Christopher Chee
  21. Patrick O'Keefe ran online communities for two decades, so this is a practitioner talking, not a growth-hacker. It is the... Managing Online Forums (managingcommunities.com) Article · ~10 min read How to Revive a "Dead" Online Community Patrick O'Keefe
  22. David Spinks founded CMX and has coached hundreds of community builders, so his take on a flatlined community carries weight.... Enough Already with David Spinks (Substack) Essay · ~15 min read How to Bring a Community Back to Life: The 6-Step Process for Growing Engagement David Spinks
  23. The real signal of product market fit is not a headline retention number, it is whether your cohort retention curve stops... andrewchen.com Essay · Short read (tweetstorm plus commentary) Magic metrics indicating product/market fit (cohort curves that flatten, and the power user smile) Andrew Chen
  24. For the users who will never reply to an email or take a call, you need to catch a reason at the exact moment they cancel, and... paddle.com Article · About a 10 minute read How to build cancellation and exit surveys that reduce churn Paddle

Show the next 24

The questions

Growth fundamentals & metrics 18

Measure what matters, grow what compounds.

What growth metrics should I actually track as an early-stage startup? 3 → How do I know if I have product-market fit before I try to grow? 2 → What is a growth loop and why is it better than a funnel? 2 → What are the 'four fits' I need before growth compounds? 2 → How should I set up a simple growth model or dashboard? 3 → All 18 questions in Growth fundamentals & metrics →
Paid acquisition basics 18

Buy customers profitably, or don't buy them.

Should I even be running paid ads at this stage? 2 → How do I know if my paid ads are actually profitable? 2 → What makes a paid ad actually convert? 2 → How do I pick which paid channel to start with? 2 → How much budget do I need to test a paid channel properly? 2 → All 18 questions in Paid acquisition basics →
Social media & personal brand 18

Build an audience before you need one.

Why should I build a personal brand as a founder? 2 → Which platform should I focus on to build an audience? 2 → What should I actually post if I'm not a natural writer? 2 → How do I turn an audience into actual customers or signups? 2 → How long does it take for content and personal brand to pay off? 2 → All 18 questions in Social media & personal brand →
Community-led growth 18

Turn users into a movement.

What is community-led growth and is it right for my startup? 2 → How do I start a community from zero? 3 → How do I solve the cold-start / chicken-and-egg problem for a network or community? 2 → How do I keep a community engaged instead of dead? 2 → How do I tie community to real business outcomes? 2 → All 18 questions in Community-led growth →
Retention, referral & virality 18

Keep them, and let them bring friends.

Why is retention more important than acquisition? 2 → How do I actually improve retention and make my product habit-forming? 2 → When should I build a referral program? 2 → Is my product going to go viral, and how do I make it more shareable? 2 → How do I measure and analyze retention properly? 2 → All 18 questions in Retention, referral & virality →
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →