Going Viral strategies shared by Pathik - Hike for #PNMeetup

1. Growth
Pathik Shah
@pathik
@hikeapp

2. Why am I
here?

3. hike
0-1M in 8 weeks
1-2M in 2 weeks
We’re now 14 weeks since global launch

4. hike
Hit #1 on Google Play India
Hit #1 on iOS App Store India
Hit #2 on WP Marketplace India

5. Start Ups

6. Awesome Smart
Product Marketing
Innovative
Vast
Business
Distribution
Model
6

7. Product: Decides your eventual fate
Distribution: Accelerates it

8. Product
Core Product Value
User Experience/Design
Product Market Fit

9. Distribution
“Startup = Growth” - Paul Graham
“Distribution is the biggest problem faced by every
product/startup” - Peter Thiel
“Distribution and retention are Wilson on mobile than on
web” - Fred harder

10. How?
Web Mobile
Organic
Organic Mobile ads
Online ads
Social Media Social Media
SEO/SEM
Traditional ads Appstore gaming
Traditional ads

11. Traditional Marketing
Most channels, saturated
The winner is usually the one with deeper pockets
All you can do is come up to par withof them
need to leapfrog ahead the competition; you

12. Differentiate
Not only your product, but also your growth strategy
Find new, under-explored channels for user acquisition
Build growth/engagement loops into your product
Always aim for hockey-stick growth

13. Growth Hacking
Product + Marketing + Analytics
Build
Measure Market

14. Acquisition
Activation
A
A
R Retention
R
R Referral
C
Revenue
Churn

15. Traditional Marketing Growth Hacking
Incremental - 10% Moonshot - 10X
Linear Growth Exponential Growth
Unrelated to the product Built into the product
Acquisition Acquisition + Retention
Saturated Under-explored
Increasing CPA at scale Decreasing CPA at scale

16. Growth
• Build virality into the product
• friends are on it more valuable for the user if their
Make the product
• rewards which drive furthertheir friends through in-app
Incentivize users to invite
engagement
• Leverage existing networks/channels

17. Engagement
• Address a real pain-point
• Make the product much better than the competition
• your competitors improve what you have; offer what
Listen to users;
don’t
• Form habits to boost product engagement

18. What you need
Single user utility
The “aha” moment
A rapid viral loop

19. Single User Utility
• effects untila he gets enoughsocial system with network
To retain new user in a
friends on board
• Increases engagement & retention; reduces churn

20. the “aha” moment
• an engaged user of whether a new user will turn into
Leading indicator
• users your “aha” moment. Analyze existing engaged
Find
• Get new users to the “aha” moment as soon as you can

21. the “aha” moment
• Facebook: 7 friends in 10 days
• Twitter: Follow 30 users
• Zynga: Come back after 1 day
• Dropbox: Upload 1 file

22. Viral Loop
• The viral loop - the steps a user goes through between
joining to inviting the next set of new users.
• Once the user hits his “aha” moment, ensure zero
friction to the viral loop
• Make it easy to invite and get their friends on board
• Artificially accelerate the viral loop through referral
rewards

23. New User
Registration
Single User The
Utility Viral
“Aha” moment Loop
Churn Retention
Referral

24. Induced Virality
Explosive
Growth

25. Hotmail
First to launch web-based email
Email footer: “Get your free email at Hotmail.com”

26. PayPal
Referral scheme: $10 to referrers/new users
Leveraged eBay’s platform to drive adoption

27. Dropbox
Referral program > virality > explosive growth
Social media referral program
Embed plugins > visibility > growth

28. Youtube
Free video hosting
Embed videos > visibility > growth
Enable users to build an audience; attract content

29. Airbnb
Tackled the marketplace chicken-and-egg problem; created
supply/demand by spamming Craigslist
Targeted a niche on Craigslist, and made it 10X better

30. hike - what we do
1. Focus on Growth & Engagement
2. Build an amazing product to engage/retain users
3. Early adopters; focus on users; act on feedback; improve
4. Smart user acquisition
5. Amplify referrals through rewards

31. hike - what we’re aiming for
Awesome Product Rapid Growth
+ +
Great Distribution Great Engagement
The best position a startup can be in:
• through networks of engaged users, differentiatednetwork
Large
user experience, and defensible through
effects. - Fred Wilson, USV

32. 2.0
Sneak Preview

35. 31st March

36. Links
• http://www.quora.com/Growth-Hackers
• http://www.quora.com/Viral-Growth-and-Analytics
• http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/07/defining-a-growth-hacker-5-ways-growth-hackers-changed-marketing/
• http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/20/defining-a-growth-hacker-growth-is-not-a-marketing-strategy/
• http://andrewchen.co/2012/04/27/how-to-be-a-growth-hacker-an-airbnbcraigslist-case-study/
• http://www.growhack.com/2012/12/04/discovering-your-aha-moment/
• http://andrewchen.co/2007/07/11/whats-your-viral-loop-understanding-the-engine-of-adoption/

37. @pathik
pathik@hike.in
hike
@hikeapp