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Early Stage

4 claims2 moments2 on the cutting room floor
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Lenny's Written Position

Just seven strategies account for every major consumer app's early growth, and most found success from just a single strategy.

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The most popular early growth strategies for consumer apps involve going directly to users -- offline, online, and through friends -- embodying the principle of doing things that don't scale.

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Only three strategies account for every B2B company's earliest growth: tapping your personal network, seeking customers where they are, and getting press -- and almost every company uses the first two simultaneously.

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Having a strong personal network is an even bigger advantage in B2B than B2C because early customers need to trust you, which is why connector investors or incubators like YC are so valuable.

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Podcast Moments

Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth00:00:07
“I didn't sleep for more than four hours at a time. I'd wake up every four hours and check the report and see if anyone was attacking the site. They don't tell you about that stuff in the movies.”

Making Meta | Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth (CTO) · Boz

Crystal Widjaja00:00:00
“When I got there it was in a house and I realized I've probably made a huge mistake, but we were growing very quickly already, even at that small scale of 4,000 orders per day.”

How to scrappily hire for, measure, and unlock growth | Crystal Widjaja, Gojek and Kumu · Crystal W

Cutting Room Floor

Guest insights on this topic that Lenny hasn't (yet) written about in his newsletters. Potential material for future posts.

Andrew 'Boz' BosworthUnsynthesized
“I didn't sleep for more than four hours at a time. I'd wake up every four hours and check the report and see if anyone was attacking the site. They don't tell you about that stuff in the movies.”

Making Meta | Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth (CTO) · Boz

Crystal WidjajaUnsynthesized
“When I got there it was in a house and I realized I've probably made a huge mistake, but we were growing very quickly already, even at that small scale of 4,000 orders per day.”

How to scrappily hire for, measure, and unlock growth | Crystal Widjaja, Gojek and Kumu · Crystal W