Growth Unhinged

This week I'm celebrating a big milestone: 50,000 subscribers 😲🎉🥹 Growth Unhinged certainly isn't the biggest tech/B2B newsletter, but I’m proud of what it's become and the community of people I’ve met along the way. Here's how I grew Growth Unhinged — 7 surprising learnings from writing 120+ editions for more than 3 years. (Don’t worry, I’m bringing data 🤓) 1. Consistent quality > viral hits - Singles & doubles generated 55% of new subscribers - One-third of posts are still 'strikeouts' (ouch) 2. It’s not about big name brands - Readers like two things (a) when I bring a fresh perspective or original data not available elsewhere (shoutout: Palle Broe), (b) when domain experts get tactical at the thing they're great at (shoutouts: Anthony Pierri 🎸, Tom Orbach, Kate Syuma) 3. I neglected SEO for way too long  - In the first few years search only generated ~2-5% of new subs - Now it's up to ~10%+. Small tweaks made a big difference 4. Bylines were… fine?  - I've written 12+ bylines for other publications. They generally didn't move the needle with one (big) exception 5. Substack recommendations can be a false signal  - This feature accounts for ~50% of new subs, but these readers are far less engaged than others - It’s a wakeup call that chasing growth hacks can distract from building a highly engaged community 6. Word-of-mouth is hard to rely on - What helped: launching a referral program (~3% of new subs), engaging with "my favorite newsletter" posts on LinkedIn 7. The content <> community flywheel improves everything - Many of my newsletters start out as LinkedIn posts - Many posts bomb. But I’d rather know that before I invest hours in writing and research! Full deep dive here: https://lnkd.in/gTFUSuin THANK YOU again for your support, it really does mean the world to me 🙏🙏 My theme for 2024 is consistent quality and I hope to bring you plenty more 🔥 stories. If you have a story idea, simply hit reply — I’d love to hear from you. #marketing #content #newsletters

PMMs, check out this cancellation flow from Canva 👇 Shoutout to Kyle Poyar for sharing it: "I went to cancel my Canva for Teams account today -- but Canva's cancellation flow was so good that I changed my mind. And, no, it wasn't because they made me jump through hoops. Things I ❤️: 1️⃣ They reminded me that I have an amazing deal. I still pay $12.95/month, but prices have increased to $29.99/month. I'll lose my deal if I cancel. This is how you turn a price increase into a marketing tactic. 2️⃣ They created loss aversion by reminding me of the premium features I've put to use. Did I really use the background remover 622 times? Why?! (I mean, it is genius...) Loss aversion is a big part of why reverse trials work so well, too. After you've tried a premium feature, you become much more hesitant to lose it. 3️⃣ They made some clever UX choices that subtly influenced my decision. "Continue cancellation" is in a bright red button -- aren't you NOT supposed to click on the red button? Keeping my plan felt as simple as closing out an unwanted pop-up." -- Simple but powerful example. 👋 P.S. Make sure to give Kyle a follow!

You might recognize ClickUp for its Super Bowl ad, viral music album (>1 million streams on Spotify), or path to crossing $100M ARR in under five years. I've long admired them as one of the *very few* who've nailed a modern GTM strategy combining product-led & sales-assist. Gaurav Agarwal joined as Chief Growth Officer in Feb 2022. He was recently promoted to COO as a result of a 🔥 track record. He shared ClickUp's GTM playbook in today's Growth Unhinged. Full story: https://lnkd.in/eAV8rfF5 What stood out to me: 1️⃣ SaaS is obsessed with attribution. But attribution isn't the point; incrementality is what matters. 2️⃣ Hybrid SaaS companies often make mistakes in how they divide up the PLG/GTM orgs. ClickUp's biz is built around five pillars: - Self-serve new logo (KPI = new quality workspaces, predicted LTV of those workspaces, self-serve ARR) - Self-serve NDR (KPI = NDR) - Sales-assisted commercial bookings (KPI = bookings) - Sales-assisted enterprise bookings (KPI = bookings) - Sales-assisted gross retention (KPI = GDR) 3️⃣ Regardless of the team, everybody needs to focus on a KPI that ladders up to incremental revenue. For ClickUp, the segment lens matters far more than the self-serve vs. sales-assist lens. 4️⃣ PLG sales teams usually begin with a very inbound-first, hand raiser approach. They struggle to cross the chasm where they can't move to a relationship-driven sales motion. That's what unlocks a true sales-led pillar. 5️⃣ Product-qualified leads doesn't need to be a massive data science effort. MVP-based thinking is what's needed. Focus on operationalizing the engine (focusing on "plays") rather than waiting for perfect, precise signals. Hope you enjoy this post as much as I did. And shoutout to Amrita Mathur for making this happen 🙏 #sales #plg #saas #growth

Need inspiration for your onboarding? Look at Miro, it's brilliant. I come across a bunch of product onboarding mishaps, especially for those launching self-serve: 🚫 The product is too confusing w/o sales or success helping out 🚫 There's too much of a blank slate 🚫 It's unclear 'what's in it for me' as a user 🚫 There's no personalization for use cases, jobs to be done, or intent Miro avoids these & has my all-time favorite product onboarding. What I'm digging: 😍 Onboarding begins on the website. Miro has compelling messaging ("take ideas from better to best"). They build trust with social proof ("based on 5,149+ reviews"). Users start building familiarity with the product through product images across desktop, mobile, and presentation-ready devices. All of this gets people inspired and motivated to put in the work. 😍 Nudges folks to sign up with a work email, but doesn't require it. The disclaimer below the signup button is 🔥: "We recommend using your work email — it keeps work and life separate." This positions Miro as a business-grade product while still offering people flexibility. Why care? Business sign-ups are far more valuable than freemail/Gmail signups, but you may not want to entirely shut off the ability to sign up with a freemail domain (especially if you sell to developers). Some people want to test a product for a personal use case before taking the relationship to the next level. 😍 There's no blank slate. The app comes pre-populated with recommended Miro boards. These templates include templates sourced from the Miroverse community, adding social proof. Template recommendations are personalized to different use cases. 😍 It's obvious what to do next. Miro doesn't have excessive in-product tours or pop-ups. The product doesn't need them; the whole experience is extremely intuitive without it. Well done 👏👏👏 Read more & get inspired by other🔥 growth examples in today's Growth Unhinged: https://lnkd.in/eu-VX8X8 Then join the conversation & share your go-to fave below. #growth #product #startup #plg

It’s hard to find someone in tech who hasn’t heard of Calendly or been sent a Calendly link. Calendly now serves >20 million (🤯) users. Millions more sign up each year. And these aren’t only individuals — 86% of the Fortune 500 use it. Their funnel is a CMO’s dream — and biggest nightmare. Just ask Jessica Gilmartin. “It worked, but it was inefficient and expensive,” she told me. Starting in January, Jessica overhauled the sales motion. Calendly changed how they organize their sales team, score leads, route leads to reps, and bring automation into the process. And the results are pretty dramatic. Do yourself a favor and read the full story in Growth Unhinged: https://lnkd.in/ea2k4Js4 The takeaway: folks pay too much attention to getting new leads & not nearly enough on serving the ones they already have. #marketing #saas #growth #sales