Growth marketing is simple to get started. Sell the product directly to 10 paying customers. Review the sales process with those customers and identify an ideal customer profile and their “aha” moment—preferring customers with low friction and grow organically. Experiment with automated ways to acquire the next 100 customers from that profile. Once you’ve built a playbook that works repeatedly, move on to the next cohort.
When you sell the product directly you’re getting immediate feedback on what’s working and you can iterate on the messaging (and product) much faster. If they’re not buying then something isn’t working. If you can sell 10 times you start to get clarity on the right people to talk to and their “aha” moment that crystallizes the value of what you are selling.
Choosing a single ideal customer profile focuses your efforts in finding the next 100 customers. If your profile encompasses too many use cases and kinds of buyers, it will make it harder to find repeatable ways to find them.
Experimenting with different ways to identify potential customers that match the ideal customer profile and reach them is important for error correction. Using automation is a key constraint otherwise you won’t be able to reach enough people to make the next 100 sales (not everyone you talk to will be interested or respond at all).
If you find a repeatable playbook then great, keep running it while you work on the next customer profile and repeat the cycle.
Based on my conversation with Jesus Requena, VP of Growth at Figma.
See also:
- Product-led growth is another way to do this but isn’t a fit for every kind of product
- You should be able to get from Seed to Series A on your network alone and get your first 10 customers