Video · ~50 min

How to Get Users and Grow

Alex Schultz (VP of Growth, Facebook), Stanford CS183F Startup School · YouTube (Y Combinator / Stanford Startup School) Free Intermediate

How to Get Users and Grow

Schultz ran growth at Facebook, and this lecture is the clearest explanation of the one tool this question really needs: the retention curve. He shows how to plot the share of a cohort still active over time and read whether it flattens (people are sticking) or trends to zero (they are quietly leaving). It is the honest gut check for whether your first 10 are actually staying, before you spend a rupee chasing the next 10.

  • Plot retention by cohort over time: a curve that flattens means real stickiness, a curve heading to zero means no growth tactic will save you.
  • Find your product's magic moment, the early action that correlates with people staying, and get new customers to it fast.
  • You do not need huge scale to read the curve, so early founders can and should measure this from the first handful of users.
Watch on YouTube ↗

The question it answers

  1. My whole business is built on one platform's trend (like WhatsApp or an app store). How do I ride it without getting wiped out by a policy change?

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