Before You Grow
"""Startups are defined by growth, but growth isn’t step one in building a great company."""<p>I'd argue it is. Building something people love is all about growth. If they love it, they'll talk about and champion it. In fact measuring generic word of mouth growth is a decent way of figuring out if people love the product (my working hypothesis is that engagement is great but if they go beyond that...we're golden).<p>I'd say ignore all kinds of growth except word of mouth growth. I don't care about user acquisition schemes...as soon as the word of mouth growth flattens the alarm bells must go off and all other measures are probably just life extending measures.<p>I'd also say ignore "growth hacking" especially of the "I'll trick people to like my product" variety. Genuine product improvement is the best growth hacking there is.