From Budapest to Growth Hackers: Sean Ellis's Journey in Building the Ultimate Growth Community

Company profile

Growth Hackers

https://growthhackers.com

Description:

Growth Hackers is a platform that connects businesses with growth marketing experts to share insights and strategies for increasing growth. It aims to solve the challenge of discovering and implementing effective growth strategies by providing a community where users can learn from each other and access a catalog of growth ideas. By leveraging the collective experiences of its users, Growth Hackers helps businesses refine their approach and accelerate their growth journey.

Category:

Marketing & Sales / Lead Generation & Outreach

Product type:

community

Founding year:

2013

Number of founders:

Country:

United States

Company business details

Motivation to build the product

The founders were motivated to start Growth Hackers after realizing the importance of the early stages of a company's growth and how critical it is to get the right product to the right customer. They wanted to create a community that could help businesses navigate these challenges through shared experiences and valuable insights.

Problem that their product solves

Growth Hackers addresses the problem of businesses struggling to find effective growth strategies and best practices. The end users include startups and companies of various sizes looking to improve their growth metrics and overall performance. Solving this problem is important as it helps companies optimize their resources, reduce waste, and ultimately scale successfully in competitive markets.

Their unfair advantage

Growth Hackers has built a large community of growth experts, providing a unique platform where users can access diverse and tested growth ideas that aren't readily available elsewhere. This community-driven approach gives them insights and support that many businesses lack.

Strategies

Idea Validation Stage

Sha Ellis Test

The Sha Ellis Test is a strategy used to gauge product-market fit by asking users how they would feel if they could no longer use a particular product. Specifically, the test asks users to choose from three responses: 'very disappointed,' 'somewhat disappointed,' or 'not disappointed.' The target percentage for success is at least 40% of respondents indicating they would be 'very disappointed.' This test is aimed at identifying must-have features of a product and understanding user sentiment regarding its value. The founder, Sean Ellis, implemented this test across various startups in Silicon Valley and observed significant patterns in user feedback that guided product modifications and indicated growth potential.

Pre-Launch (Product Development & MVP)

Market Research and Validation

Sean Ellis emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs and validating assumptions before launching a product. He conducted surveys and gathered user feedback while developing the insights that led to the creation of the Growth Hackers platform. This initial research informed the product structure and value proposition, ensuring that it addressed real market needs.

Leverage User Feedback

Ellis emphasizes the importance of digging deeper into why users feel a certain way about a product to improve it effectively. For example, instead of focusing on those who say they would be 'somewhat disappointed' with the product's absence, the strategy involves interviewing the 'very disappointed' users to pinpoint what specific features they value the most. This feedback is then used to optimize onboarding processes and eliminate unnecessary features. In one notable instance at a mobile security company called Lookout, Ellis helped increase the percentage of users who felt 'very disappointed' from 7% to 40% in just two weeks by realigning the product focus on antivirus features that users cared about most.

Beta Testing and Community Engagement

When launching GrowthHackers.com, Sean Ellis initially focused on creating a community-driven platform. By requiring users to join with their real names and encouraging open discussions about marketing articles, he aimed to create a trustworthy environment. This strategy helped build a loyal user base that contributed to the content and fostered engagement through shared ideas and feedback, setting the base for a robust community as the platform evolved.

Launch Stage

Building a Community

After transitioning into the Growth Hackers project, Sean initiated the creation of a community centered around growth marketing. This was initially a place for sharing articles and insights, which evolved into a hub for professionals in the field. The community helped position Growth Hackers as a thought leader in the industry, increasing engagement and attracting users who sought knowledge and networking opportunities in growth hacking.

Learn more about Growth Hackers

Sean Ellis | GrowthHackers

Sean Ellis is credited with coining the term “growth hacking” in 2010 and has played key early growth and marketing roles at several companies that have exceeded billion dollar valuations including Dropbox, Eventbrite, LogMeIn, Lookout and Uproar. He led marketing at both LogMeIn and Uproar from customer zero until IPO filings and is now the founder and CEO of GrowthHackers, an integrated community and workflow system for the next generation of agile growth organizations.

YouTube

The original growth hacker reveals his secrets | Sean Ellis (author of “Hacking Growth”)

Sean Ellis is one of the earliest and most influential thinkers and operators in growth. He coined the term “growth hacking,” invented the ICE prioritization framework, was one of the earliest people to use freemium as a growth lever, and, most famously, developed the Sean Ellis Test for product-market fit (which a large percentage of founders use today to track if they’ve found PMF).

YouTube

Mind Loom Podcast Interview with Sean Ellis - Father of Growth Hacking

Sean Ellis is the host of The Breakout Growth Podcast, author of Hacking Growth (published in 16 languages), keynote speaker and runs workshops around the world to implement a cross-functional approach to growth he calls growth hacking (a term he coined in 2010).Sean helped to bring five companies to market as VP Marketing/Growth that exceeded billion-dollar valuations including Dropbox, LogMeIn, Eventbrite, Uproar, and Lookout in addition to launching and selling two businesses as Founder/CEO.

YouTube

E15: Sean Ellis, Founder and CEO of GrowthHackers – Interview

Sean Ellis, a renowned growth hacker, shares his insights on growth strategies, key experiences in marketing, and the concept of growth hacking. He discusses his journey and the valuable lessons learned from working with various successful companies.

Listen