BACK

1. Types of Founders and Growth Approaches
- Example of Robert Greene: Highly visible founder with flashy projects (metaverse, crypto), faced collapse due to overhyped products and poor execution.
- Example of Piotr Kononow from Dataido: Low profile, bootstrapped founder growing a company steadily with realistic promises and solid repeat business.
- Key insight: Sustainable growth favors realistic goals and consistent delivery over hype and marketing alone.

2. Principles of Growth
- Growth can arise from multiple sources, including product, sales, IT, not just marketing.
- Growth must be measurable through key metrics such as acquisition, retention, and monetization.
- Growth is iterative; requires hypothesis-driven experiments and continual adjustments.
- Adopt the concept of "One Metric That Matters" (OMTM) to focus improvement efforts.

3. Case Study - Brainly (Homework Q&A Platform)
- Core growth driven by user-generated content that attracts more users via search engines (growth loop).
- Entering the US market required new tactics such as targeted Facebook ads to specialized users and forecasting popular questions.
- Product improvements like gamification increased engagement.
- Growth achieved through continuous weekly experimentation and measurement, leading to milestone successes and Series A funding.

4. Case Study - Pomelody (Music for Children Startup)
- Initial app and Kickstarter campaign failed to gain traction.
- Pivoted to ecommerce selling existing music albums through a simple online store, leveraging existing community.
- Iterative improvements in ads, products, and discounts led to revenue growth from near bankruptcy to millions.
- Returned to product innovation after stabilizing core revenue.

5. B2B Growth Example - OmniPack (Logistics Startup)
- Used Google Ads for lead generation.
- Implemented lead qualification forms to prioritize valuable leads despite reducing volume.
- Optimized landing pages iteratively for better results.
- Established a simple, repeatable lead generation flow foundational for further expansion.

6. Dataido Growth Tactics
- Expanded product features, team, content types, partnerships, and customer success efforts.
- Gradual, stepwise transformation of the business supported growth from $0.4 million to $3.1 million in 5 years.

Key Takeaways and Actionable Tasks:
- Understand and document your business’s growth model: identify core levers of acquisition, retention, and monetization.
- Assemble a small focused team and select a key growth metric to improve through iterative experiments.
- Recognize that fundamental growth rules apply universally but tactics should be adapted to local conditions and industry context.
- Use growth loops to create self-reinforcing acquisition cycles (e.g., user-generated content + SEO).
- Be prepared to pivot strategies based on user behavior and market feedback.
- Continuously optimize marketing channels and product features with a data-driven approach.

Final Advice:
- Growth is a climb that requires patience, measurement, experimentation, and a flexible strategy.
- Reach out to growth experts or networks to discuss and refine your growth approach.

Why marketing is overrated and how startups really grow

Share:

13:25 - 13:45, 28th of May (Wednesday) 2025 / GROWTH STAGE

Many startup founders focus on PR and visibility, which doesn't always translate into business success. I’ll debunk the myths surrounding rapid growth and present a systematic approach from my work with Brainly, Pomelody, Dataedo, Omnipack, and 100 other firms I helped scale up. 

I’ll explain:
1) How to differentiate between hype-driven marketing and sustainable growth
2) Why growth is a long process, not a sprint.
3) What a growth model is, how to discover it for your business and develop it.
4) Why small, agile teams are key to success.
5) How universal growth principles work across various business/delivery models (B2B, B2C, SaaS).

We will analyze specific case studies and discuss holistic frameworks that will help founders build rapid and sustainable growth for their startups.
 

AUDIENCE:
Startup Scaleup Profitable Company
TRACK:
Growth Startup / VC
TOPICS:
Startup

Wojtek Skalski

Skalski Growth