The Talks describes the different Startup Phases and how to build your Application Structure accordingly.

1. 1
Growth Startup
How to Build Scalable &
Flexible Applications to
Manage Hyper GrowthChristian Zacharias
CTO - Finleap

2. 2
Christian Zacharias
CTO - Finleap
until now // CTO @Finleap
until end 2014 // CTO @Tirendo
until Mid 2013 // Freelance Software Architect
until End 2009 // Developer @Spreadshirt

3. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias 3
Finleap - The FinTech Company Builder
Part of the Hitfox Group
4 - 6 Companies per Year
0.5 - 5 m € seed funding per company
Finleap launched in Nov. 2014
Finleap uses new technologies and scalable business models to
provide cheaper, simpler and more transparent digital services
within the FinTech market.
hire up the 150 people in 2015

4. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
Startups in Germany
Statistics by DSM 2014
4

5. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
Lean Startup Cycle
Startup Tool of Choice, developed Eric Ries
5
Ideas
CodeData
Build
Measure
Learn

6. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
Startup Phases of Growth
6
Startup GrowthTransition

7. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
‣ Only Goal ist to find the product-market fit
‣ Main Metrics are Customer Retention: How long and often is the
Interaction, ask them about your product
‣ Try different Channels to fin the best one for you Product
‣ Optimize on Macro Level, not the small things
Startup Phase
Establish your Business and gain some traction
7
“Make things people want!”
Paul Graham, YCombinator

8. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
‣ Goal: This is when you start to pinpoint and interpret different growth levers that are catered
toward your particular business. You’ll learn what can positively impact your business and what
doesn’t.
‣ Metric: During this phase, you should watch and understand your Cost Per Acquisition and Life-
Time Value. If you have been receiving the necessary data, this metric should be straightforward.
‣ Channels: In the first stage, you chose several channels that are best for your product. Now it’s
time to focus in and choose the most effective. If it’s already effective, build on it and the growth
rate will continue increasing.
‣ Optimization: Instead of placing all of your attention on the big picture (or macro optimization),
start switching your focus to the smaller picture (or micro optimization).
Transition Phase
Establish the Foundation for your Growth
8
MOVE FORWARD IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

9. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
‣ Goal: The growth levers from the transitioning phase that you started pinpointing? Start tweaking
them and make them fit your exact needs.
‣ Metric: The spotlight is still pointed toward growth rate, but this shouldn’t be your only focus
anymore. Since growth is now occurring, you’ll want to look at your payback period. You’ll want a
shorter payback period in order to have a better investment.
‣ Channels: Do everything you can with the channel you have to fulfill its full potential. This
channel will handle most of your growth. See what other channels are out there so you can
create diversity among them.
‣ Optimization: Because you’ve focused on macro since the beginning, it’s now time to focus
solely on micro. Small changes can also yield large results.
Growth Phase
Maintain the Growth our your Startup
9
make small changes that create big effects

10. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
Startup Phases of Growth
10
Startup Transition Growth
Goal Product/Market Fit Discovering Growth Levers Turning up Growth Levers
Metrics Retention (CPA > CLV) Growth Rate (CPA ~ CLV) Growth Rate (CPA < CLV)
Channels
Experiment with 2-3 Channels to
find the one to concentrate on
Concentrate on first Channel Focus on > 1 Channel
Optimization Macro Macro + Micro Micro
Tools
Lean Startup, Prototyping &
MVP
Lean Startup & Agile
Iterations
Multichannel Plattform,
Scalable & Flexible
Team

11. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias 11
DBAPP
{API}
Architecture
Deployment
Repository
Analytics
DevOps as
a Service
Cloud Hosting
Production
Staging
Get Key Metrics for Startup
Phase
Simple Stack
Team
Small and Agile Team focusing
on building the MVP and the
first Iterations.
Infrastructure as a Service to Streamline you Process
Development
Product UI/UX
DB
Queries

12. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
‣ Focussing on building the MVP
• It has to be smooth for the Customer, not for your
• It should transport your USP, nothing more
• Doing things manually is fine, you can automate later
‣ ship early, ship often
• start with scrum for building the MVP, switch to Kanban and Continuous Delivery later
‣ not reinvent the wheel
• use Frameworks, Libraries and 3rd Party Services
‣ Get Customer Feedback, Set up and Measure the key KPI´s
Get your Startup Live
Build the MVP; Get customers; Learn and Iterate
12

13. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias 13
Architecture Analytics, Metrics, DWH
Track everything, build a
DWH and learn everything
about your System Behavior
DB
KV
{ } BE
FE
Queue
API
DWHETL
Central
Logging
Team
Build up separate Teams to
cover the increase
complexity
Development
Product UI/UX
DevOps
Repository Infrastructure as
Code
Cloud Hosting
Production
Staging
Simple Stack
Build an own Devops/Sysadmin Team to gain control about Infrastructure
Dev-VM
CI Server
deploy &
autoscale

14. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
‣ Service oriented Architecture
‣ Scale Frontend through Read Only Central Data Storages
‣ Be prepared for Failing and Fail Early
‣ Monitor and Measure everything
‣ automate the Deployment and Instance Management
‣ Keep your Codebase Clean and Readable
• gets new Team Member on speed fast
‣ Automated Tests, Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery
Hardening your Platform
Prepare your Platform to handle the Growth
14

15. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias 15
DevOps
Repository Infrastructure as
Code
Cloud Hosting
Production
Staging
Simple Stack
Measure the Behavior of your system and scale (automatically) when necessary
Dev-VM
CI Server
deploy &
autoscale
Analytics, Metrics, DWH
Use Data for CRM,
Marketing and
Recommendations.
DWH
Team
Strong Teams, self
organized and responsible
for specific components
Development
Product UI/UX
Architecture
DB
KV
Queue
{ }
LB
API
LB
WebApp
KV
Search
Service
Product
Service
Worker
Customer
Service
Service-Layer
Image
Service
Content
Service
ETL
Central
Logging BI

16. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
‣ encapsulate Domain Logic in separate Services
‣ Autoscale your Services and Instance Pools
‣ Use Queues and internal APIs for Communications betweens Services
‣ Build independently Teams who are responsible for specific Services
‣ Learn about your internal and external Traffic Patterns
‣ Use your Data to optimize your Business
Scale your Architecture, Teams and Processes
Keep Control about your System through separation
16

17. Growth Startup ©2015 Christian Zacharias
Lean Startup Cycle
Startup Tool of Choice, developed Eric Ries
17
Ideas
CodeData
Build
Measure
Learn
Split Test
Customer Interviews
Customer Development
Five Whys Root Cause
Analysis
Customer Advisory Board
Falsifiable Hypotheses
Product Owner
Accountability
Custom Archetypes
Cross-functional Teams
Smoke Tests
Unit Test
Usability Tests
Continuous Integration
Incremental Deployment
Free & Open Source
Components
Cloud Computing
Just-In Time Scalability
Refactoring
Developer VM
Split Tests
Clear Product Owner
Continuous Deployment
Realtime Monitoring
Custom Liaison
Funnel Analysis
Cohort Analysis
Net Promotor Score
Search Engine Marketing
Realtime Alerting
Predictive Monitoring

18. 18
Q/A