How you can apply startup growth models to your personal growth
I have always been fascinated by the core concepts in growth — namely that of conversion rates in the user acquisition funnel.
I have, at times, also used them in other areas of my professional life — when I connect with other people interested in startup growth. I note down the different steps of the contact funnel and note down the base conversion rates, keeping in mind the number of people I send the connect requests to and sample size. I think this is one of those Mental Models that I use. Not so bad..
I came upon the growth equation by Andy Johns (the image you see below) sometime ago and started using it to gauge startups by myself by asking questions like — What is their magic moment? Core Product Value? Is there an internal trigger or an external one? How does the user acquisition funnel look like?
On a personal level, I try to understand what lessons I can learn from startups to incorporate them in my personal/professional growth.
I thought it might be useful to you, my reader. So if this is useful to you, use it. Else, no worries.
It starts off with how you define personal growth. Here I define personal growth to achieve your professional goals. I believe that the best professional opportunities don’t just knock on your door and that you must prime yourself with a strategy that is in marketing terms, outbound, and ensure that you develop your core value.
I added a similar design to show you the similarities in the content.
To facilitate my explanation, I will take an example — Let’s say my aim is to improve myself in growth with the aim of becoming the best growth marketer in Paris. “Best” defined by your own standards. I create a central hypothesis, where I say that I think I will be the best growth marketer in Paris if I have grown a product from 0 to 1m users in a year (an example) and that I am a reference for people in growth in Paris.
How can I use this equation with this specific example? Let’s see.
Breakdown
Top of the Funnel (TOFU)
Startup growth perspective: In startup growth, the user funnel depends on i) the top-line traffic, essentially, how many people visit your page ii) the number of steps in the funnel to take the intended core action of your product (pinning for Pinterest..) iii) the conversion rate between each step and iv) the speed with which a person goes through the funnel.
Personal growth perspective: In personal growth, the contact funnel depends on i) how many people know you exist ii) the way in which you establish your relationship with them iii) how likely are you to get responses from them iv) how long does it take you to establish a good relationship with them.
Answer:
- How am I connecting with people that can help me reach my goals?
- How often am I reaching out to people?
- How am I disseminating my know-how and skills?
Magic Moment
Startup growth perspective: The moment when the user understands your product’s value and see it create value.
Personal growth perspective: Think about your growth for a second. What is your story? What qualities do you have that make people develop an interest in you? What qualities make you who you are? And are these qualities aligned with your goals? Leadership is a quality that is essential to reach my aim. Have I exhibited this quality? What other qualities are required to reach my goals?
Answer:
- What is my story?
- What are my strengths and weaknesses?
- Am I using my strengths to the fullest?
Core Value
Startup growth perspective: This is the value that a product adds to its customer. In other words, does it solve a real problem.
Personal growth perspective: I look back at how I add value to the people around me. This is where my skillset, my past experiences, my ability to communicate these effectively come into play.
Answer:
- What skills and experiences are required to reach my goal?
- What skills have I acquired till now?
- Do I have a concrete plan to improve my skills? Timeline?
Conclusion
No TOFU without Magic Moment and Core Value
As with the startup growth perspective, without a concrete value add to the user and an evident magic moment, a product cannot sustainably grow. We come back to the saying,
You can’t grow something that sucks.
Similarly, without a certain skillset, qualities and experiences, one cannot sustainably grow by just networking. Again, I’m not suggesting a complete halt to the TOFU, just grow your Magic Moment and Core Value along with your TOFU. This will demand time and effort.
Answer:
- Am I working on improving myself daily?
Voilà, this is my take on this subject. This made sense to me and hope it does to you too. This model needs to obviously be refined and improved upon, so let me know what you think in the comments.
