growth-hacking

name	growth-hacking
description	Growth strategies, viral loops, acquisition funnels, AARRR framework, and rapid experimentation.
allowed-tools	Read, Glob, Grep

Growth Hacking

Systematic approaches to rapid, scalable growth.

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1. AARRR Pirate Metrics Framework

Stage	Focus	Key Metric
Acquisition	Get users	CAC, traffic sources
Activation	First value	Activation rate
Retention	Keep users	Churn, DAU/MAU
Revenue	Make money	ARPU, LTV
Referral	Spread word	Viral coefficient

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2. Acquisition Strategies

Channel Categories

Channel	Type	Speed	Cost
SEO	Organic	Slow	Low
Content	Organic	Medium	Medium
Social	Organic/Paid	Fast	Variable
Paid ads	Paid	Fast	High
Referral	Viral	Medium	Low
Partnerships	Leverage	Medium	Medium

Channel Prioritization (ICE Score)

Factor	Score 1-10
Impact	Potential effect
Confidence	Likelihood of success
Ease	Resources needed

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3. Activation Tactics

Onboarding Best Practices

Tactic	Purpose
Progress bar	Show completion %
Quick wins	Early success
Personalization	Relevance
Tooltips	Guidance
Checklist	Clear next steps

Activation Metrics

Metric	Calculation
Activation rate	Users who complete key action / Total signups
Time to value	Time from signup to first value
Setup completion	% completing onboarding

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4. Retention Strategies

Retention Types

Type	Timeframe	Focus
Day 1	24 hours	First impression
Week 1	7 days	Habit formation
Month 1	30 days	Core value
Long-term	90+ days	Loyalty

Retention Tactics

Tactic	How
Email sequences	Drip campaigns
Push notifications	Timely reminders
In-app messages	Contextual help
Feature education	Show unused features
Rewards	Gamification
Community	Build connections

Retention Metrics

Metric	Formula
Day N retention	Active on day N / Total signups day 0
Cohort retention	Users still active / Users in cohort
Churn rate	Lost customers / Total customers
DAU/MAU	Daily active / Monthly active

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5. Viral Loops

Types of Viral Loops

Type	Example	K-factor potential
Inherent	Invite to collaborate	High
Word of mouth	Product so good	Medium
Incentivized	Referral rewards	High
Social sharing	Share content	Medium
Embedded	"Made with X"	Low-Medium

Viral Coefficient (K-factor)

K = i × c

Where:
i = invites sent per user
c = conversion rate of invites

K-factor	Result
K > 1	Exponential growth
K = 1	Linear growth
K < 1	Declining growth

Referral Program Structure

Element	Best Practice
Incentive	Two-sided rewards
Friction	One-click sharing
Visibility	In-product placement
Tracking	Unique referral codes

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6. Growth Experiments

Hypothesis Template

If we [make this change]
Then [this metric] will [increase/decrease]
Because [reasoning]

Experiment Process

Phase	Activities
Ideation	Brainstorm, prioritize (ICE)
Design	Hypothesis, success metrics
Build	MVP implementation
Measure	Track results
Learn	Document, iterate

Sample Size Calculator

Baseline	Lift	Sample needed
2%	10%	~78,000 per variant
2%	25%	~12,500 per variant
5%	10%	~31,000 per variant
5%	25%	~5,000 per variant

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7. Product-Led Growth (PLG)

PLG Principles

Principle	Implementation
Free tier	Generous freemium
Self-serve	No sales needed
Bottom-up	Individual users first
Virality	Built-in sharing
Data-driven	Usage triggers upgrade

PLG Metrics

Metric	Target
Free to paid	2-5%
Time to paid	< 30 days
PQL conversion	10-20%
Expansion revenue	> 30% of new revenue

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8. Growth Levers

North Star Metric

Business Type	North Star
SaaS	Weekly active users
E-commerce	Weekly purchases
Marketplace	Weekly transactions
Media	Daily active readers
Consumer app	DAU/MAU ratio

Input Metrics

North Star	Input Metrics
Active users	Signups, activation, retention
Revenue	Customers, ARPU, frequency
Engagement	Sessions, actions, time spent

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9. Growth Stack

Analytics Tools

Tool	Purpose
Mixpanel/Amplitude	Product analytics
Google Analytics	Web traffic
Heap	Auto-tracked events
Segment	Data pipeline

Experimentation Tools

Tool	Purpose
Optimizely	A/B testing
LaunchDarkly	Feature flags
Statsig	Experimentation

Engagement Tools

Tool	Purpose
Intercom	In-app messaging
Customer.io	Email automation
Appcues	User onboarding

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10. Growth Team Structure

Roles

Role	Responsibility
Growth Lead	Strategy, prioritization
Growth PM	Experiments, roadmap
Growth Engineer	Implementation
Data Analyst	Insights, measurement
Growth Marketer	Acquisition, content

Process

Cadence	Activity
Weekly	Experiment review
Bi-weekly	Sprint planning
Monthly	Metric deep-dive
Quarterly	Strategy review

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Remember: Growth is about finding leverage points through rapid experimentation. Test fast, learn faster, scale what works.