Startup Growth Engines: Summary Review
This is a summary review of Startup Growth Engines containing key details about the book.
What is Startup Growth Engines About?
"Startup Growth Engines" by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown is a book about the strategies and tactics that successful startups use to achieve rapid growth. The book emphasizes the importance of focusing on product-market fit, using a data-driven approach, leveraging networks, experimenting and iterating, using growth hacking techniques, and building a strong team.
Startup Growth Engines is a book of case studies on how today's most successful startups unlock extraordinary growth. This book is packed with the most in-depth case studies on exactly what strategies these companies used to unlock massive growth. Each case study shows you the specific strategies (we call them "growth engines") that these companies used to grow, both in the early stages and later in their development. From the growth hacks they used, to the unique growth playbooks they employed, you won't find a more detailed look at how startups achieve growth than through these case studies.
Summary Points & Takeaways from Startup Growth Engines
Some key summary points and takeaways from the book include:
* Focus on product-market fit: Achieving product-market fit is critical to the success of any startup. Ellis and Brown suggest using customer research and data analysis to identify the features and benefits that are most important to your target market.
* Use a data-driven approach: Data should be at the core of your growth strategy. Ellis and Brown recommend using metrics such as customer acquisition cost, lifetime value, and churn rate to measure the effectiveness of your growth efforts.
* Leverage networks: Successful startups leverage networks to achieve rapid growth. Ellis and Brown suggest identifying influencers in your target market and building relationships with them to reach a larger audience.
* Experiment and iterate: Successful startups are constantly experimenting and iterating on their growth strategies. Ellis and Brown recommend using A/B testing and other methods to test different approaches and refine your strategy over time.
* Use growth hacking techniques: Growth hacking is a process of rapid experimentation across marketing channels and product development to identify the most effective ways to grow a business. Ellis and Brown suggest using growth hacking techniques such as referral marketing, content marketing, and search engine optimization to achieve rapid growth.
* Build a strong team: Building a strong team is critical to the success of any startup. Ellis and Brown suggest hiring people who are passionate about your vision and have the skills necessary to help you achieve your goals.
Who is the author of Startup Growth Engines?
Sean Ellis is the author of several novels. He is a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, and has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources Policy from Oregon State University.
Morgan Brown is a growth product manager at Facebook and a startup marketing veteran with more than 15 years helping early stage companies find traction and breakout growth. With his MBA from the startup school of hard knocks, and a passion for uncovering what makes some companies grow and others fizzle, Morgan puts his expertise in digital marketing to work for businesses of all kinds.
What are good quotes from Startup Growth Engines?
“In the past underwhelming products could survive and thrive merely on distribution alone. A bad product, backed by a large television campaign and retail distribution, could find growth and profits for the company, regardless of quality. This is no longer the case. Today, mediocre products can still be launched in this way, but their longevity and returns quickly crash as word of mouth spreads and demand dries up faster than ever before.”
“If you take the lowest common denominator approach using cross platform stuff, you by definition create something that’s average.”
“Growth came from product innovations, unique acquisition channels that their competition hadn’t considered, and rigorous optimization driven by analytics and a deep understanding of their customers.”
“Growth hacking is not anti-marketing, it is the evolution of marketing, it is pro-growth.”
Book details
- Print length: 166 Pages
- Genre: Business, Entrepreneurship, Nonfiction
What are the chapters in Startup Growth Engines?
Chapter 1: Learn How Companies Grow
Chapter 2: Yelp's Five-Star Growth Engine
Chapter 3: Cracking the Code to GitHub's Growth
Chapter 4: Upworthy - What Happens When a Growth Hacker Launches a Media Company
Chapter 5: HubSpot - How to Grow a Billion Dollar B2B Growth Engine
Chapter 6: Evernote - The $0 Groth Engine
Chapter 7: Snapchat - How Did Snapchat Reach a Rumored $3.5B Valuation?
Chapter 8: Uber- What's Fueling Uber's Growth Engine?
Chapter 9: Belly-How to Grow a Network Effects Startup, Lessons from Belly Card
Chapter 10: Square - How Did Square Grow So Quickly?
Chapter 11: LinkedIn's Growth Engine: The Never Ending Viral Loop
Chapter 12: Unlocking Growth
Chapter 13: GrowthHackers.com
* The editor of this summary review made every effort to maintain information accuracy, including any published quotes, chapters, or takeaways. If you're interested in furthering your personal growth, you may want to explore my list of favorite self-improvement books. These books, which have had a significant impact on my life, are carefully curated and come with summaries and key lessons.
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
