Growth Flywheels
Recently I was talking with an early-stage founder about marketing/growth for a new product they plan on launching in the near future. He’s a smart guy, so he already had solid ideas about what growth/marketing ideas they should start digging into.
He mentioned several opportunities and asked what I would pursue, especially given the limited resources/time they have.
I’ve heard this question before, so I thought I would write a quick post on how I think about evaluating growth projects from a prioritization standpoint. It all revolves (pun intended) around the video below
Assuming you watch the video above, you may be wondering how this video is applicable. I will try to explain :)
Benefits of a Flywheel:
- It smooths the power output of an energy source
- It delivers power at rates beyond the ability of an energy source.
For #1 — let’s look at a foot-powered sewing machine. The human can “pump” the foot pedal, which spins the wheel, which empowers the individual to sew. The nice part about the flywheel is that the person does not need to be constantly pumping the foot pump. The flywheel smooths the output of the power source (the individual + foot pump).
For #2, the other benefit of a flywheel is that it is capable of delivering more power than the energy source. It should be pretty obvious about how this is beneficial.
How does this apply to growth?
I believe that growth efforts are bound by natural laws that already exist in nature — there’s a massive amount of inspiration that can be drawn through other fields. Growth is not rocket science, it is applying existing principles to a different field (growing internet businesses).
If you think about the flywheel, I’d encourage you to pay special attention to the energy source.
Your energy as the input
From a growth perspective, this energy source oftentimes involves your effort as an individual. For example, an employee writes a content marketing piece, expending energy (writing) with the hope that it will yield enough viewers who turn into prospects, who eventually turn into customers.
Someone else’s energy as the input
The most effective companies create a flywheel from their prospect/customer’s energy. For example, customer-facing tools (Drift, Hubspot, Intercom, Hotjar, etc) oftentimes have a “powered by $company” at the bottom of the widget, which happens to be visible to a prospect or customer).
In the above example, if a single company installs the widget, which is seen by their 200 customers, it’s likely that a small percentage of viewers will turn into signups, who may install the widget themselves.
Another example — if I send a document using Hellosign, the person signing the document will see a call-to-action to signup and collect their own e-signatures.
Wrapping up
As you design growth experiments, look for opportunities to build flywheels. Just remember, the best flywheel is a happy customer who tells their friends about your product/service.
If you liked this article, check out my blog where I talk more about this stuff.
