This document summarizes key points from a conference on startup growth. It includes discussions on product/market fit, engagement, and retention. The first speaker, Adam Breckler, discusses how the language companies use to describe their products can impact acquisition, retention, and referrals. He provides examples of how LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Twitter initially positioned themselves. The second speaker, Mateo Sossah, outlines growth hacking stages and emphasizes the importance of validating product/market fit before focusing on consolidation. The third speaker, Maxime Salomon, discusses how engagement and retention are more important than acquisition for growth. He provides frameworks for measuring and improving retention through experimentation.

1. Wifi: TheFamily
Password: lamifasisi
#GHParis18

2. COMING NEXT
The Language of Growth
Adam Breckler, Founder, Prism.io
Product / Market fit &
Retention
Mateo Sossah, Growth Hacker chez
Dubsmash
Understanding the Role of
Engagement and Retention
for Startups
Maxime Salomon, co-founder, The Growth
Bakery

3. youtube.com/startupfood

5. 4900€/an

6. Referral program
-10% par personne

7. koudetat@thefamily.co

8. The Language
of Growth
Adam Breckler, Founder, Prism.io

9. Who am I?
Adam Breckler
“Internet Professional”
Founder
Advisor/Investor
Employee

10. Why does language matter?
3 examples
Three startups and the language
they used early on in describing
their product
Acquisition: How you communicate your product value to new
users influences their willingness to give it a try.
Retention: How often will users engage with your product.
Referral: How existing users communicate the value of your
product to other potential users.
3 tactics
Three practical tactics to use in
uncovering the right language to
describe your product to fuel growth.

11. Before they were
famous: A tale of
three startups and
their tag-lines…
11

12. ______ makes your professional
network faster and more powerful
“
If each of your 20 trusted contacts connected to 20 more of their own,
you could potentially contact more than 150 thousand professionals
through the people you already know and trust.

13. LinkedIn
2003

14. LinkedIn -­‐ 2003
Then: Emphasis on extending
your reach as a professional.
Note: Long paragraph text
explanation.
Now: Emphasis on
professional growth &
retention.
“Be great at what you do”
LinkedIn -­‐ 2015

15. Real-time picture chatting, now
for iPhone.
“
____ is the fastest way to share a moment
on iPhone - up to IOx faster than MMS!

16. Snapchat
2012

17. Snapchat -­‐ 2012
Then: Emphasis on an
existing pain point “sending
photos via mms”.
Note: No mention of
‘disappearing’ or ‘privacy’
anywhere.
Now: Sparsest homepage
imaginable, not even a
download link above fold.
Snapchat -­‐ 2015

18. Use _____ to stay in touch with your friends,
all the time.
If you have a cell and can txt, you’ll never be
bored again….E V E R!
“

19. Twitter
2006

20. Twitter -­‐ 2006
Then: Emphasis on keeping
up to date with friends.
Note: Platform was
primarily SMS.
Now: Emphasis on content
consumption vs creation.
“See what’s happening right
now”
Twitter -­‐ 2015

21. Tactic 1:
Ask your
users.
How would you describe our product to a friend?
Cost: Free!
“Screenshots on steroids”
“A better way to organize my screenshots”
“Helps me save things for offline viewing”
“Like a private pinterest, but for screenshots”

22. Tactic 2:
Google
Consumer
Insights
Surveys
What does this app do for you?
Cost: Each single-­‐question response costs ~$0.10-­‐$0.15

23. Tactic 3:
Tagline
Testing w/
Optimizely
+225%
Signup rate
+43%
Share rate

24. Thank you!
Get in touch
http://prism.io
adam@prism.io
@adambreckler
24

25. Mateo Sossah
“Product Market Fit & Retention”
Growth Hacking @ TheFamily
October 1st 2015

26. Growth Hacking Stages
Découverte
• Rendre visible la Proposition
de valeur
• Inciter au test
• Techniques utilisées: ads,
referral program, first time
discount…
Consolidation
• Augmenter la Customer Lifetime Value
• Augmenter la rétention, l‘engagement, le
prix du panier moyen...
• Techniques utilisées: Campagnes
d‘emailing, push notifications,
partenariats stratégiques, discounts...
Decision

27. Decision: Product Market Fit
Valeur Perçue
• La proposition de valeur
répond à un besoin
• Sur le Papier, le
consommateur potentiel est
séduit
Valeur Réelle
• Etape concrète ! Mon problème est-il
résolu?
• Votre produit/service apporte de la valeur
ajoutée de manière systématique

28. Ne pas brûler les étapes
DECOUVERTE
• Effet panier percé ! Gaspillage
de temps et d’argent.
• Une seule première impression
CONSOLIDATION
• Effet très limité ! Perte de
temps et découragement
• Vous énervez les utilisateurs
Une fois que le Product Market Fit est validé = Growth Hacking

29. Dubsmash
75M+ de téléchargements en 7 mois
Une proposition de valeur
puissante
Un produit qui favorise la
croissance organique
0€ de marketing
Une valeur ajoutée peu répétitive
Un format boosté pour la
création, sans la consommation
Pas de consolidation possible
Un exemple de
viralité
Un problème
de rétention

30. Understanding the Role of
Engagement and Retention
for Startups

31. Maxime Salomon
• Co-founder @GrowthBakery
• Did YC w/ Algolia
• Worked in Silicon Valley, Paris, Boston & Dublin

32. Startups are complex

33. Startup = Growth

34. How does a startup grow?
One important question:

35. Startup = n(customers) * CLV
Deliberately simple formula to define a startup:

36. Startup = n(customers) * CLV
Acquisition
Engagement &
Retention

37. Startup = Growth
Startup = (Acquisition)*%Growth) * (Engagement & Retention*%Growth)

38. Users
0
12,5
25
37,5
50
Months
M0 M1 M2 M3 M4
= Monthly Active Users= # of Users

39. Users
0
12,5
25
37,5
50
Months
M0 M1 M2 M3 M4
= Monthly Active Users= # of Users

40. Today’s focus:
Engagement & Retention * (%Growth)

41. Why Engagement & Retention are more
important than Acquisition?

42. http://andrewchen.co/new-data-shows-why-losing-80-of-your-mobile-users-is-normal-and-that-the-best-apps-do-much-better/

43. http://andrewchen.co/new-data-shows-why-losing-80-of-your-mobile-users-is-normal-and-that-the-best-apps-do-much-better/

44. Instagram is a fun and quirky way to share your life
with friends through a series of pictures.

45. Finding the metric that matters for your startup

46. Finding the metric that matters for your startup
KPI Frequency+

47. Instagram =
Pictures Shared per Month
KPI Frequency

48. Netflix : Total Time Watching per Month

49. Evernote : # notes per Week

50. Mapping Engagement

51. New users
Dormant users
Active users
Casual users

52. New users
Dormant users
Active users
Casual users
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%

53. Measuring Retention

54. M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8
January 100 % 20 % 16 % 14 % 12 % 10 % 8 % 8 % 8 %
February 100 % 20 % 18 % 16 % 14 % 12 % 10 % 10 %
March 100 % 24 % 22 % 20 % 18 % 16 % 14 %
April 100 % 28 % 26 % 24 % 22 % 20 %
May 100 % 34 % 32 % 30 % 28 %
June 100 % 36 % 34 % 32 %
July 100 % 38 % 36 %
August 100 % 40 %
September 100 %
Hypothesis: No change in acquisition. 100% = 10 000 new users
Cohort Graph

55. MonthlyActiveUsers
0
25
50
75
100
Months
M0 M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8
Hypothesis: No change in acquisition. 100% = 10 000 new users
Retention Graph

56. Data Analysis & Visualization

57. Improving Retention

58. 1. Identify Opportunity w/ Data (qual & quant)
2. Formulate Hypothesis
3. Run Experiment(s)
4. Analyse Results
5. Repeat
Growth Process

59. New users
Dormant users
Active users
Casual users
20%
10%
70%

60. 1. M1 Retention is abnormally low. Feedbacks about FUX from users are negative. « I
don’t understand what the app is about »
2. If we improve the onboarding by adding an example, then we believe M1 Retention will
increase by 50%.
3. Create a new onboarding and run an A/B test (if acquisition is sufficient)
4. New onboarding improved M1 Retention by 10%. Learnings = « I understand what the
app can do for me but I already use X for that » —> Core Product Value not strong
enough.
5. Repeat
Example

61. 5 Engagement & Retention To Dos
1. Define the metric that matters for your startup
2. Map your product engagement
3. Measure Engagement & Retention
4. Put in place a process to improve Retention
5. Never stop experimenting

62. Thanks
@maximesalomon

63. 63
MERCI ;)
growth.koudetat.co