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 clearest walk-through of the most famous activation metric ever, Facebook's "7 friends in 10 days", and how it was... Mode Article Facebook's "Aha" Moment Was Simpler Than You Think Benn Stancil In 2 answers
  2. This is the clearest statement of the argument you need before you touch either lever: retention is not one metric among many,... OpenView Essay Retention Is the King of Growth (Brian Balfour, 500 Startups talk) Brian Balfour In 2 answers
  3. This is the essay that names the exact problem: most online writing blurs together because it is neither personal,... perell.com Essay · Long read The Ultimate Guide to Writing Online David Perell In 2 answers
  4. This is the platform a founder graduates to once a free WhatsApp or Discord group starts breaking down and they need courses,... circle.so Tool · Pricing page, quick scan Circle Pricing Circle In 2 answers
  5. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  6. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  7. The reference primer on the metrics and market-sizing logic investors use, including bottom-up market sizing that keeps... a16z Article · ~15 min read 16 Startup Metrics Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
  8. The most influential framework for why growth feels effortless for some companies and impossible for others; essential reading... brianbalfour.com Article · Multi-part essay series Four Fits for $100M+ Growth Brian Balfour
  9. The practitioner's manual for running a high-tempo growth process, testing acquisition, activation, retention and referral,... Currency / Penguin Random House Book · Book (~320 pages) Hacking Growth Sean Ellis & Morgan Brown
  10. A grounded look at how Indian D2C brands handle acquisition, rising CACs, social commerce and repeat purchase, with real... Inc42 Article · ~15 min read (playbook intro) Inside India's D2C Rush (Inc42+ Playbook) Inc42 Team
  11. Long-form, candid interviews with Indian founders and investors on how they actually grew, distributed and built brand, one of... The Neon Show / Neon Fund Podcast · 200+ episodes The Neon Show (100x Entrepreneur Podcast) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
  12. Instead of theory, this is hundreds of interviews with real solo founders who started a profitable business on the side of a... Apple Podcasts Podcast · episodes run 45 to 75 minutes Indie Hackers Podcast Courtland Allen
  13. The biggest tracking mistake in an MVP is measuring everything and learning nothing. This Amplitude piece walks you through... Amplitude Article Every Product Needs a North Star Metric: Here's How to Find Yours Julia Sholtz
  14. Before you cut steps, you need to know what the onboarding is racing the user toward. This Reforge guide makes you name your... Reforge Article · 10 min read Define Your Aha Moment Reforge
  15. You cannot cut the right step until you know which step is the real cliff, and a funnel chart shows you exactly that. Amplitude... Amplitude Tool · Product guide plus free tier Funnel Analysis: Find Drop-offs and Boost Conversion Amplitude
  16. This is the official, source of truth for turning a page button into a real conversation, no third party sitting between you... WhatsApp Help Center Tool · 5 min read WhatsApp click to chat (wa.me links) WhatsApp (Meta)
  17. This is the standard free tool for measuring how your page actually performs, and it defaults to a mobile view, which is... Google (web.dev) Tool · A test runs in under a minute per URL PageSpeed Insights Google
  18. Arvid Kahl bootstrapped and sold a real business, so this is a founder talking tradeoffs, not theory. He argues for finding an... Indie Hackers Podcast · About 60 to 70 minutes Indie Hackers Podcast #212: Arvid Kahl on Building an Audience Before a Product Courtland Allen (host), Arvid Kahl (guest)
  19. If you want word of mouth to be intentional, start with why people share at all. Berger's research pins it down to six... Jonah Berger (Wharton) Book · Book, about 256 pages Contagious: Why Things Catch On Jonah Berger
  20. The whole game with referrals is timing: ask at the moment someone has just felt the value, not at signup or on a random login.... ReferralCandy Article · Article, about 10 minute read Best Time to Ask for a Referral: Mapping It to the Customer Journey Raul Galera
  21. Video · About 95 minutes (North Star segment near 1:19:21) The original growth hacker reveals his secrets | Sean Ellis (author of "Hacking Growth") Sean Ellis, interviewed by Lenny Rachitsky
  22. This is the clearest essay on why a flattening cohort retention curve is the thing that actually matters, and it lives on... andrewchen.com Essay · ~12 min read Retention is King Jamie Quint
  23. Benchmarks are useless until you can actually plot your own cohort curve, and Mixpanel's free tier lets you build a real... Mixpanel Docs Tool · Docs guide, ~15 min to set up Track user retention with Mixpanel Mixpanel
  24. PostHog is one all-in-one product analytics platform (events, funnels, session replay, feature flags) instead of a pile of... PostHog Docs Tool Self-host PostHog PostHog

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 →