Optimising for growth

From thinking in loops and funnels to adapting acquisition models and loving the journey – Growth Chapter alumni Paulwyn (Medoo), Camille (Bloom) and Ed (GiveGet) share what they took away from the program as founders, and what startups need to know about building for growth from day one.

‍What are you working on, and what led you to apply for Growth Chapter? ‍

‍Paulwyn: Medoo is a SaaS tool to help people document, track and visualise their coaching and personal growth journeys. We are launching our beta product very soon (next month)! While we are super focussed on our beta launch, we also have one eye on the future, and wanted to build a foundational understanding of product growth principles. Both my co-founder and I have product development backgrounds (engineering and design), so product growth is not our area of expertise. Folklore’s Growth Chapter could not have come at a better time for us, and it was particularly appealing because it covered a broad range of topics - from go-to-market growth tactics to big picture, long term growth strategies - and the cherry on top was the incredibly knowledgeable lineup of speakers.

‍Camille: Bloom makes climate investing easy and accessible. We help Australians invest in climate impact projects and companies from as little as $500. Clean energy projects like solar and wind farms were previously restricted to wealthy, sophisticated investors - but not anymore. We launched Bloom in March this year, so growing our customer base is essential to the success of our business. Folklore’s program caught my attention because it was made for startups, and attracted some absolutely stellar operators in the industry. I wanted to make sure I got the opportunity to learn the latest frameworks and tactics directly from people who've been successful before.

‍Ed: GiveGet provides rewards with Australia's biggest brands when you donate to charity. A friend of mine recommended I apply, I was a little hesitant and wasn’t sure it would be completely relevant to the stage that my business was at. However, after the information on the sessions and speakers were sent out, I could see that it would be time very well spent. I was particularly excited to hear from the people who had taken successful companies through their teething phase and onto global domination.

‍What are three insights that stood out to you during the live sessions? ‍

‍Paulwyn:

1. Thinking in terms of loops, rather than just funnels, enables you to envision and create compounding effects.
2. Acquisition models are tied to business models. Don't blindly copy acquisition models that worked for other businesses.
3. Experiment, learn, iterate. The best way to figure out the tactics and channels that work for you is to test them out, and learn fast.

Camille:

1. There is no magic bullet. Growth is first of all a curiosity and customer-centric mindset, followed by rigorous processes and tenacity to try, measure, learn and repeat.
2. To implement a strong growth strategy, your entire business must be contributing to the thinking and avoiding silos at all costs. You need to blend science, analytics, design, marketing sales and product.
3. Look beyond the simple product-market fit. Check out the four-channel fit framework by Brian Balfour.

‍Ed:

1. Think of all campaigns and initiatives as an experiment. Nothing is a failure - it’s all just testing, learning and adapting.
2. Your channels and creative will depend on your business. For example, furniture brands work well on Pinterest ads because they’re more design focused than an accounting firm.
3. Successful tech companies have used tools (like Segment) to capture all data and communicate it to every other platform, with one single connection.

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‍In what ways did the program challenge your previous beliefs (or misconceptions) about growth?‍

‍Paulwyn: Previously, I had a slight negative bias towards certain aspects of this space as I’ve seen dark patterns being employed in the pursuit of growth. I believe that growth should not come at the expense of a negative customer experience, or worse, cause customer pain. Going through Growth Chapter helped me reset this bias and engage with growth strategies and tactics with a more constructive frame of mind. Thank you for this!

‍Camille: My biggest surprise was to see that the successful growth leaders who presented during the program have all created a very unique strategy that is anchored in what makes their business, or the problem they are solving, unique. There were some similarities in their methods, but the solutions and what worked were vastly different from one business to another. The biggest challenge for me was to look at our processes and operationalise growth.

‍Ed: It was interesting to learn that each company has differently defined growth roles. Not just relating to company specific tasks, but the entire structure of the role - all with growth in mind.

‍If you could recommend one resource to startup founders who are interested in levelling up their understanding of growth, what would it be? ‍

‍Paulwyn: Anna Cheng shared a compilation of growth case studies, which I thought was a great resource.

‍Camille: I loved the Bullseye framework (developed by Gabriel Weinberg and shared by Anna Cheng) which you can use to prioritise traction channels.

‍Ed: Definitely Phil O'Connor’s ‘Big Ass Spreadsheet’ that essentially compiled multiple spreadsheets into one big overview of all relevant data sets.

‍For any founders considering Growth Chapter 2023, how would you describe the experience? ‍

‍Paulwyn: An intense, condensed and fun learning experience about product growth. I’m already applying my takeaways!

‍Camille: An insightful and practical learning experience packed with unique opportunities to meet with the best growth operators in the country. We have greatly improved our processes around how we plan, measure and learn from our growth activities. The program has also encouraged us to reduce the resources we dedicate to our "business as usual" marketing and be even bolder in our growth experiments.

‍Ed: Extremely valuable - I was able to learn from and network with the best brains in the biz. We are currently in the process of updating our tech stack, and are testing some ads with the frameworks and advice I got from the marketing royalty I met in the cohort.

‍Finally, what do founders need to know in order to scale their startup? ‍

‍Paulwyn: Be mindful that acquisition models are tied to business models, so there's no cookie cutter model that works for all startups. Thanks to Anna Cheng for this nugget of wisdom!

‍Camille: Talk to customers every single week - no matter what stage you are at. This is my golden rule at Bloom to make sure we keep their needs and pain points front and centre.

‍Ed: All great things take time, so learn to love the journey.