This document is a presentation by Matt Lerner on growth hacking. It begins by asking if growth hacking is bullshit and then provides examples of companies like Hotmail, Twitter, YouTube, and others that grew rapidly using growth hacking techniques. It discusses how growth comes from taking customers from existing companies. It also asserts that big companies can growth hack if they organize correctly, choose the right metrics, maintain customer focus, rapidly test and iterate, hire the right people, and have patience.

1. Matt Lerner
Partner, 500 Startups
Is Growth Hacking Bullshit?
Download This Deck @MattHLerner

2. Today’s Questions
§ Well, is it?
§ Why me?
§ What is “Growth Hacking”?
§ Where does the growth come from?
§ Can big companies do this?
Download This Deck @MattHLerner

3. Well, is it?
§ Hotmail
§ Twitter
§ YouTube
§ Dropbox
§ Facebook
§ LinkedIn
§ Whatsapp
§ Instagram
§ AirBnB
§ Zynga
§ SnapChat
§ Quora
§ Pinterest
§ Uber
§ Hubspot
§ PayPal
§ GitHub
§ Slack
§ Mixpanel
§ Stripe
§ Zenefits

4. Well, is it?
§ Hotmail
§ Twitter
§ YouTube
§ Dropbox
§ Facebook
§ LinkedIn
§ Whatsapp
§ Instagram
§ AirBnB
§ Zynga
§ SnapChat
§ Quora
§ Pinterest
§ Uber
§ Hubspot
§ PayPal
§ GitHub
§ Slack
§ Mixpanel
§ Stripe
§ Zenefits

5. Years to Reach 100M Users Worldwide

6. For Example…
Founded: 1850
109M Customers
Founded: 1998
184M Customers

7. Another Example…
Founded: 1985
444M Customers
Founded: 2009
1B Customers
This stuff is 10X - 100X more effective than traditional “brute force”
distribution via sales, marketing, advertising or retail distribution.

8. Why Me?
• Marketing for 3 startups, one exit
• 11 years Marketing & GM at PayPal (US & UK)
• Mentored 50+ startups
• Lectures at Stanford, Berkeley, Imperial
• Runs 500 Startups London “Distro Dojo.”
Growth Marketer Turned VC
Download This Deck @MattHLerner

9. Since July 20101,500+ investments3
About 500 Startups
$240MM in assets2
The various geographies highlighted in the map result from investments we have made across all 500 Startups funds.
1. The Silicon Valley Tech Venture Capital Almanac, Fall 2013 and TechCrunch Article May 5, 2015, “500 Startups Aims To Be The Largest VC Shop In The World” http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/05/500-startups-aims-to-be-the-la
rgest-vc-shop-in-the-world/
2. Approximated as of 9/1/2015 and includes the following 500 Startups funds: (a) 500 Startups, L.P. and 500 Startups-A, L.P. (together, “Fund I”), (b) 500 Startups II, L.P. and 500 Startups II-A, L.P. (together, “Fund II”), (c) 500 Star
tups III, L.P. and 500 Startups III-A, L.P. (together, “Fund III”), (d) 500 Startups IV, L.P. and 500 Startups IV-A, L.P. (together, “Fund IV”), (e) 500 Startups Annex Fund, L.P. (“Annex”), (f) 500 Luchadores, L.P. (“Luchadores”), (g) 500 D
urians, L.P. (“Durians”), (h) 500 Mobile Collective, L.P. (“Mobile Collective”), (i) 500 Kimchi, L.P. (“Kimchi”), (j) 500 TukTuks, L.P. (“TukTuks”), (k) 500 Startups JP, L.P. ("Japan") and (l) 500 Startups Istanbul, L.P. ("Istanbul")."

10. WTF Is A Distro Dojo
Distro = (n.) Distribution; the action or process of supplying
products or services to potential customers.
Dojo = (n.) from the Japanese dō ‘way pursuit’ + jō ‘a place’; a
school for training in various martial arts.
Who: Companies with a live (not beta) product and happy/paying
customers (typically post-seed), ready to focus on growth!
What: Investment from 500 Startups, $200K, plus an intensive
12-week program covering all aspects of growth
When: Next batch starts Sept 5. Applications by referral only.
Download This Deck @MattHLerner

11. What Is Growth Hacking?
Note: None of these tricks work anymore.

12. What Is Growth Hacking?
Note: None of these tricks work anymore.

13. If You Only Remember One Thing…
§ A collection of “silver bullet” tricks
§ Focused on getting clicks, likes or views
Growth Hacking is a mindset and a process of
rapid experimentation across the whole funnel.
Download This Deck @MattHLerner

14. “People have misused the term growth hacking
for years, generally suggesting that it is a
bunch cookie cutter hacks that work for every
company.
The correct way to think about growth hacking
is that it is a process of rapid experimentation
across the full funnel to learn the most
effective ways to scale sustainable customer
adoption. ”
Sean Ellis

15. 1. The Growth Process
Copyright 2016 500 Startups LLP. All Rights Reserved

16. The Growth Mindset
1. Humble: 2/3 of tests fail. Failure à learning, embrace failure!
2. Tenacious: Persistent with a bias towards action – do’ers.
3. It’s a science: Systematic thinker, curious, keen observers,
understands experimental design, causation and correlation.
4. It’s an art: Obsessed with simplifying the customer journey.
5. Systems thinker: Use existing momentum, find the lever points. Always
looking for the 80/20’s or better.
6. Intensely Curious: Ask a lot of questions, ask great questions.
7. Optimistic: Comfortable with ambiguity, hopeful but impatient.
8. Diverse: Variety of perspectives, backgrounds.
9. Relationship Builders: Can help involve the whole org.
10. Driven: People who know what success looks like and won’t settle.
Download This Deck @MattHLerner

17. Where does this growth come from?
§ PayPal took business from banks, card
schemes, gateways, eBay and cash
§ YouTube took eyeballs from television,
games and entertainment sites
§ Skype and Whtasapp get their minutes
and txts from telco’s
§ AirBnB takes guests from hotels
§ Instagram took traffic from Facebook
§ Everyone takes business from the banks!

18. Can big companies growth hack?
ü Organize correctly
ü Choose & monitor the right KPIs
ü Maintain customer focus
ü Process: Rapid testing & iteration
ü Hire & reinforce the mindset
ü Patience
Download This Deck @MattHLerner

19. Is Growth Hacking Bullshit?
Matt Lerner