"Unicorns" really do have habits we can all evaluate and adopt if they fit our business to accelerate growth. Joanna will cover how to organize, operate and coordinate for growth.

1. Habits of High Growth Companies
…and other Unicorn adventures
@joannalord
Marketer, blogger, builder of beautiful brands

2. we’ve become obsessed with growth

3. chasing something pretty magical

4. meh. magic.

5. Sources http://bit.ly/1jnwpig & http://tcrn.ch/1l6CUXn
There are 1,350,000 technology startups.

6. Guess how many of those are unicorns?
Sources http://bit.ly/1jnwpig & http://tcrn.ch/1l6CUXn
There are 1,350,000 technology startups.

7. Guess how many of those are unicorns?
Sources http://bit.ly/1jnwpig & http://tcrn.ch/1l6CUXn
142
There are 1,350,000 technology startups.

8. Anatomy of a Unicorn
Source: http://tcrn.ch/1l6CUXn
Average # of years
before a liquidity event
7
34
Average age at
founding
SF
Top city. NYC & LA
are 2nd and 3rd.
3
# of women founders
behind unicorns
2007
Best year to start a
unicorn (27%).
4
Number of unicorns
< 3 years old
8 of Top 10
Are consumer companies,
(72% of overall list)
of co-founders have
history together
85%

9. Not all 142 are created equal:
Source: http://tcrn.ch/1l6CUXn
Paper unicorns: Privately held companies valued north of $1B
61% of unicorns are paper (Up 200% YoY)
Super unicorns: Company valued north of $100 billion
Facebook is the only one, born prior to 2005. There has been no new SU since 2005.
Decacorns: Companies valued north of $10 billion
There are now 9 decacorns (Up 300% YoY). 5 of 9 are mobile.
Unicorns: Companies valued north of $1B
There are 142 unicorns (Up 115% YoY)

10. unicorpses, unicorn hunting, oh my!

11. “As we enter the next phase of the Age of Unicorns, many highly valued
companies will struggle to live up to their valuations, meeting harsh scrutiny
from the press, regulators, and future public market investors.
Becoming a unicorn, it turns out, was the easy part.”
@eringriffith, fortune.com

12. $10 billion Dropbox is increasingly looking like a “feature," not a service
$9 billion Theranos is battling a wave of questions about its technology
$1 billion Evernote has experienced executive turnover as it prepares to go public

13. lets talk about something a little more relevant

14. Over 100,000,000 startups open every year.

15. Over 100,000,000 startups open every year.
Guess how many succeed?

16. Over 100,000,000 starts open every year.
Guess how many succeed?
1 out of 10

17. f&ck.*
* the & is a u. it spells fuck.

18. we should care about growth because we all
want to be successful

19. and growth is harder than it used to be.

20. because so much has changed.

21. 1
: marketing
evolution: ownership

22. 1
: marketing
: product & marketingevolution: ownership

23. 1
: marketing
: product & marketing
: product & marketing
& engineering & data
evolution: ownership

24. PRODUCT MARKETING
ENGINEERING
DATA
GROWTH

25. demands new organizational structure

26. Example: LinkedIn Growth Team
SEO
Onboarding
Network
Growth
Comms
PYMK,
Virality,
Connections
Engagement through
email/push,
Resurrection
SEO,
Conversion
optimization,
Public profile
Onboarding,
Activation,
Intent discovery

27. 2
: creative
evolution: skills

28. 2
: creative
: creative & analyticalevolution: skills

29. 2
: creative
: creative & analytical
: creative & analytical
& intuition & technical
evolution: skills

30. demands new hires & investment

31. skills that fuel growth : t-shaped

32. skills that fuel growth : t-shaped hires
Technical : Analytical : Creative : Product : Design Theory : Paid : Inbound : CRO : Content : Statistics: Modeling : Database/SQL : Psychology

33. 4
: hacks
evolution: platforms

34. 4
: hacks
: toolsevolution: platforms

35. 4
: hacks
: tools
: platforms
evolution: platforms

36. demands curiosity & accelerated adoption

37. demands new processes
tl;dr:
Growth
advantages
are shorter
lived.
EVOLUTION OF PLATFORMS

38. what do you need for growth to happen?

39. Pillars of a High Growth Company
Product Team Community X Factor

40. but how can we get it?
there are patterns.

41. but how can we get it?
there are patterns.

42. build breakthrough value propositions

43. Here's a common way startups die.
They make something moderately appealing and have decent
initial growth. They raise their first round fairly easily because the
founders seem smart and the idea sounds plausible. But because
the product is only moderately appealing, growth is ok but not
great. The founders convince themselves that hiring a bunch of
people is the way to boost growth. Their investors agree. But
(because the product is only moderately appealing) the growth
never comes. Now they're rapidly running out of runway. They
hope further investment will save them. But because they have
high expenses and slow growth, they're now unappealing to
investors. They're unable to raise more, and the company dies.
- Paul Graham

46. create a rally point worthy of their time

47. simplify, grow, everyday
give people the power
to share
make the world
your home
be less busy
simplify, grow, everyday
give people the power
to share
make the world
your home
be less busy

48. why do you wake up
every morning?
the world wants
more of that.
simplify, grow, everyday
give people the power
to share
make the world
your home
be less busy

49. why do you wake up
every morning?
the world wants
more of that.
simplify, grow, everyday
give people the power
to share
make the world
your home
be less busy

51. focus on more than acquisition

52. Three ways to grow your company.
Acquisition Monetization Retention

53. Looked at 10,432 blog posts on growth.

54. snappity snap.
75%
No wonder we’re so
damn crazy about
acquisition.

55. acquisition isn’t the most
effective channel for growth

56. if we improve each lever the same,
which lever causes the most growth?

57. whoa.

58. improving retention and monetization as 2 to 4X
the growth impact of focusing on acquisition

59. participate fully in the ecosystem

60. 4.

61. 4.

62. 4.

63. 4.

64. 4.

65. 4.

66. invest in unscalable moments of delight

67. @scottedwards, Director of Growth at Simple

68. @scottedwards, Director of Growth at Simple

69. @scottedwards, Director of Growth at Simple

70. @scottedwards, Director of Growth at Simple

71. @scottedwards, Director of Growth at Simple

72. simply put growth is:
creating
value
getting in front of
as many people
as possible
as often as
possible
& &

73. there are just a lot of distractions

74. don’t obsess over tactics other
people say worked

75. don’t go looking for that
one silver bullet

76. don’t forget revenue > growth

77. don’t abandon what got you here

78. we have a responsibilityto grow our companies the right way.

79. product that offers value to this world.
built by empowered teams.
with and for communities.
in authentic, innovative ways.

80. product that offers value to this world.
built by empowered teams.
with and for communities.
in authentic, innovative ways.

81. product that offers value to this world.
built by empowered teams.
with and for communities.
in authentic, innovative ways.

82. product that offers value to this world.
built by empowered teams.
with and for communities.
in authentic, innovative ways.

83. Thank You!
@joannalord
Marketer, blogger, builder of beautiful brands