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. Most advice tells you to just ignore the haters, which is useless in the moment a wave of comments is hitting. This piece is... Rachel Pedersen Article · About a 10 minute read How to Handle Haters, Trolls, and Internet Critics Like a Pro Rachel Pedersen
  2. When your post gets piled on, the instinct is to treat every angry reply as a real dispute you have to win. Paul Graham... paulgraham.com Essay · About a 7 minute read Haters Paul Graham
  3. The pile-ons women founders face online often turn personal in a way male founders rarely deal with, and that sharper edge is... Female Founder World Podcast · About a 30 minute listen What No One's Saying About This Viral Founder Takedown Jasmine Garnsworthy
  4. Arvid Kahl built and sold a SaaS, then grew a real audience of tens of thousands almost entirely online, from outside any... Apple Podcasts Podcast · Ongoing series, most episodes 20 to 40 minutes The Bootstrapped Founder Arvid Kahl
  5. 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
  6. 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
  7. The honest way to know if a post drove a signup is to tag the link so you can trace it, and this free Google tool builds those... Google Analytics Tool Campaign URL Builder (GA Demos & Tools) Google
  8. Video · About 15 minutes Alex Hormozi's Content Strategy (REVEALED) Alex Hormozi
  9. Once you are convinced you want an owned list, you need somewhere to actually put it, and Beehiiv is a straightforward place to... beehiiv.com Tool Beehiiv Beehiiv
  10. 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
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. Patrick O'Keefe has managed online communities for over 20 years and interviews people doing the unglamorous work, so this is... Community Signal Podcast Community Signal Patrick O'Keefe
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. Video · ~40 min talk Giants: David Spinks on Building Your Online Community David Spinks
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. Each episode sits a working community professional down to talk about the worst advice they followed and what it actually cost... Community Marketing Revolution Podcast · Episodes run roughly 30 to 45 minutes Bad Community Advice Seth Resler
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. When you are planning your first few meetups, a blank page is the enemy: this gives you a ready run of show so you can slot in... Eventbrite Blog Template · Downloadable Google Doc template + guide Free Run of Show Template Eventbrite

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 →