Tech Startup Growth Hacking 101 - Basics on Growth Marketing

# 1 Growth Targets
- 3 Stages of growth: Idea Validation, Product Market Fit, & Scale-up
- 4 Growth Drivers: Sales/Market/Product/Community Led Growth
- Why and how to set honest growth targets

# 2 Growth Strategies
- Save time & money by talking to the right people
- "Spy" on competitor’s growth strategy & metrics

# 3 Growth Operations
- Create iterations on channel, messaging, & audience
- Build a funnel ready for experiments
- Pick & evaluate growth channels
- Key Channels Crash Course

# 4 Growth Metrics
- Internal metrics to measure your growth efforts
- Industry benchmarks to set your growth targets

1. HashMatrix
Startup Growth
Crash Course
Shawn Pang Co-founder
April 17, 2024
hashmatrix.xyzHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

2. -3 Stages: Idea Validation, Product Market Fit, & Scale-
up
-4 Drivers: Sales/Market/Product/Community Led
Growth
-Why and how to set honest growth targets
# 1 Growth Targets
Agenda
# 2 Growth Strategies
-Save time & money by talking to the right people
-”Spy” on competitor’s growth strategy & metrics
# 3 Growth Operations
-Create iterations on channel, messaging, & audience
-Build a funnel ready for experiments
-Pick & evaluate growth channels
-Key Channels Crash Course
# 4 Growth Metrics
-Internal metrics to measure your growth efforts
-Industry benchmarks to set your growth targetsHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

3. -3 Stages: Idea Validation, Product Market Fit, & Scale-
up
-4 Drivers: Sales/Market/Product/Community Led
Growth
-Why and how to set honest growth targets
# 1 Growth Targets
Agenda
# 2 Growth Strategies
-Save time & money by talking to the right people
-”Spy” on competitor’s growth strategy & metrics
# 3 Growth Operations
-Create iterations on channel, messaging, & audience
-Build a funnel ready for experiments
-Pick & evaluate growth channels
-Key Channels Crash Course
# 4 Growth Metrics
-Internal metrics to measure your growth efforts
-Industry benchmarks to set your growth targetsHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

4. The growth game differs across 3 startup stages
Stage Idea ValidationProduct Market FitScale-Up
Growth Objective
Throw out a product
and gather market
reaction
Find a pain point
that people are
willing to pay you to
solve
Build a growth
flywheel and
monetize
Growth Strategies
Fake Door Testing +
Quick Wins Traffic
MVP + Incremental
Traffic
Mature Product +
Big Bets TrafficHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

5. Pick your key growth drivers
Driver Sales-Led Growth Marketing-Led GrowthProduct-Led GrowthCommunity-Led Growth
Cycles
Prospect ->
Outreach ->
Leads ->
Qualification ->
Opportunity
In-bound Leads ->
Qualification ->
Opportunity
Activate ->
Adopt ->
Adore ->
Advocate
Engagement ->
Trust ->
Relationship ->
Feedback
Driver
Build an efficient sales
pipeline
Build a strong inbound
lead gen sys
Build a product that
promotes itself
Build a community that
attracts members
Efforts High Touch Mid Touch Low Touch Varies
CasesHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

6. Be realistic and also honest about what growth you need
Total Downloads
User Base
Daily Active Users
Month Recurring Revenue
Big Logos
Media Reports
Industry Awards
Category Ranking
Actionable Metrics Vanity Metrics
Do you want/need to
-capture larger market share?
- Build healthy cashflow?
-Raise awareness/funding?HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

7. -3 Stages: Idea Validation, Product Market Fit, & Scale-
up
-4 Drivers: Sales/Market/Product/Community Led
Growth
-Why and how to set honest growth targets
# 1 Growth Targets
Agenda
# 2 Growth Strategies
-Save time & money by talking to the right people
-”Spy” on competitor’s growth strategy & metrics
# 3 Growth Operations
-Create iterations on channel, messaging, & audience
-Build a funnel ready for experiments
-Pick & evaluate growth channels
-Key Channels Crash Course
# 4 Growth Metrics
-Internal metrics to measure your growth efforts
-Industry benchmarks to set your growth targetsHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

8. Save time & money on your GTM by talking to the right people
-Founder / Growth Managers at companies that offer
different product to the same audience
-Agencies that have helped similar products or targeted
similar audience
-Existing customers of your competitor’s product
-Your competitor’s ex-employees (be honest &
respectful)
…HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

9. Save time & money on your GTM by talking to the right people
But people lie and make mistakes,
While numbers mostly don’tHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

10. “Spy” on competitor’s marketing strategy & metrics
Who and how many people use their product?
How do users find them?
What content drives traffic?
How much cost to acquire a customer?
What ads your competitors run? At how much budget?
What do people talk about your competitors?HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

11. “Spy” on competitor’s marketing strategy & metrics
Site Traffic: SimilarWeb
Search Engine: Ahrefs
Ads: TikTok/Facebook/Google Ads Library
Social Listening: Brand24HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

12. “Spy” on competitor’s marketing strategy & metrics
Site Traffic:
-Monthly visits
-Unique visitors
-Visit duration
-Bounce rate
-Incoming trafficHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

13. “Spy” on competitor’s marketing strategy & metrics
Search Engine:
-Search Keywords
-Backlinks
-Anchors
-On-Page SEOs
-Site StructuresHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

14. “Spy” on competitor’s marketing strategy & metrics
Ads Library:
-The Meta Ad Library.
-TikTok Ad Library.
-Google Ads Transparency
Center.
-LinkedIn Ad Library.
-SEMrush Ads History.HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

15. “Spy” on competitor’s marketing strategy & metrics
Social Listening:
-Volume
-Source
-Influencers
-Sentiments & Stories HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

16. -3 Stages: Idea Validation, Product Market Fit, & Scale-
up
-4 Drivers: Sales/Market/Product/Community Led
Growth
-Why and how to set honest growth targets
# 1 Growth Targets
Agenda
# 2 Growth Strategies
-Save time & money by talking to the right people
-”Spy” on competitor’s growth strategy & metrics
# 3 Growth Operations
-Hypothesis-Driven Growth Operations
-Build a funnel ready for experiments
-Pick & evaluate growth channels
-Key Channels Crash Course
# 4 Growth Metrics
-Internal metrics to measure your growth efforts
-Industry benchmarks to set your growth targetsHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

17. Focus on hypothesis-driven growth operations
Experiment
MeasureLearn
Channel
Messaging
Audience
-80/20 Rule: 20% of growth
channels drives 80% of results
-Nail & Scale: if it works, double
down your investments
-Make assumptions & validate use
plausible/mixpanel/Google
AnalyticsHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

18. Build a funnel ready for experiments
Funnel  What to Build What to Measure
Awareness Traffic Channels Impressions & Reach
Acquisition Call to Action & Demos Click Through Rate
Activation Landing Page Bounce Rate, Signup Rate
Retention Onboarding Process & Aha MomentN Day Retention
Revenue Value Metrics / Gated FeaturesMonthly Recurring Revenue
Referral Support, Reviews, Referral Net Promotor Score, Referral Revenue
Don't flood and don't starve your funnel!
-Are you ready to convert and keep a user?
-Can you do accurate & timely data monitoring & attribution? HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

19. How to pick and evaluate growth channels
Content
Social Media
Search Engine
Media Reports
Community
Partnership
Directories
Events
Blogs
Corporate Accounts
On Page SEO
Discord Servers
Event hosting
Guest Blogging
Organic Influencers
Organic Backlinks
Media Pitch
Forums
Co-Marketing
G2/Trust Pilot
Guest Speakers
Sponsored Content
Social Ads
Search Ads
Advertorial
Sponsored Community
Affiliate Marketing
Event Sponsors
Owned Media Earned Media Paid MediaHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

20. How to pick and evaluate growth channels (What We Think)
Level of Efforts
Expected
Impacts
Easy Wins Big Bet
Incremental Money Pit
Growth Priority Matrix
-Start from Easy Wins
-Work on both incremental & big bets
-Avoid money pitHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

21. How to pick and evaluate growth channels (Reality)
Easy Wins Big Bet
Incremental Money Pit
Level of Efforts
Expected
Impacts
-We tend to overestimate impacts and
underestimate efforts.
-Big bets could easily turn into money
pit if done wrong; money pit might
become a moonshot with luck and
persistence
-Do the methods that don't scale, aim
the moonshot, and also build the
foundation HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

22. How to pick and evaluate growth channels (There is more)
Spend
Speed
Scale
How quick can you see your initial result? How fast are the iterations?
How much to activate this channel? How much is expected CPC?
How big is the traffic pool? When will marginal costs increase drastically?HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

23. How to pick and evaluate growth channels
Content
Social Media
Search Engine
Media Reports
Community
Partnership
Directories
Events
Blogs
Corporate Accounts
On Page SEO
Discord Servers
Event hosting
Guest Blogging
Organic Influencers
Organic Backlinks
Media Pitch
HackerNews
Co-Marketing
G2/Trust Pilot
Guest Speakers
Sponsored Content
Social Ads
Search Ads
Advertorial
Sponsored Community
Affiliate Marketing
Event Sponsors
Owned Media Earned Media Paid MediaHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

24. Key channels crash course: Content Marketing
X (Twitter) TikTok YouTube LinkedIn Instagram Facebook Substack/Medium
Audience General General General Enterprise +
Prosumer
Consumer + GenZConsumer +
Millennials
Enterprise +
Prosumer
Format Short blurbs Short Video Long Video Article
+ Blurbs + PDFs
Photos
+Short Video
Photos
+Blurb
Long Article
Content Industry news;
Product updates;
User feedback;
product demos;
Thought leadership;
tutorials;
Corporate updates
case studies;
- - Thought Leadership;
Case Studies;
Frequency 2-3 times a day
Quantity > quality
3-5 times a weekSearch
Quantity < quality
1-2 times a week
Quantity < quality
1-3 1-2 times a day2-3 times a month
Quantity < quality
Note: In-App Search In-App Search + SEO Low priority SEOHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

25. Key channels crash course: Content Marketing
Build a pipeline: content pipeline +
content calendar
(ideas->draft->feedback->approval)
Choose topics: overlap between
thought leadership & audience
interests; keywords heavy!
Repurpose your content: video/audio/
article/tweets +
cross-postingHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

26. Key channels crash course: Influencer Marketing
Step 1: Influencer Prospecting
Step 2: Influencer Outreach & Negotiation
Step 3: Brief & Media Assets Creation
Step 4: Content Promotion
1. Make the content as native and original as possible;
2. Choose a right mix of top, mid-tier, and KOC creators
3. Purchase content usage rights for high impacts content &
repurposeHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

27. Key channels crash course: Media PitchHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

28. Key channels crash course: Search Engine Optimization
SEO Setups Keyword Research Technical SEO On-Page & Content Off-Page SEO
Sitemap, Robots.txt,
indexing
Competitor & customer
research; keyword gap
HTTPS; Loading speed;
Page depth; URL
structure;
Tags; content; internal-
links
Backlinks; Anchors
In-House In-House or Agency Consulting In-House AgencyHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

29. -3 Stages: Idea Validation, Product Market Fit, & Scale-
up
-4 Drivers: Sales/Market/Product/Community Led
Growth
-Why and how to set honest growth targets
# 1 Growth Targets
Agenda
# 2 Growth Strategies
-Save time & money by talking to the right people
-”Spy” on competitor’s growth strategy & metrics
# 3 Growth Operations
-Create iterations on channel, messaging, & audience
-Build a funnel ready for experiments
-Pick & evaluate growth channels
-Key Channels Crash Course
# 4 Growth Metrics
-Internal metrics to measure your growth efforts
-Industry benchmarks to set your growth targetsHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

30. Internal Metrics: Gas or Brake?
Metrics Calculation Interpretation
CAC Payback PeriodCAC / (MRR * Gross Margin) Average 12 months
High Performing 5-7 months
LTV/CAC Ratio Lifetime Value / Customer Acquisition Cost <1 too inefficient
3-5 Nice
>5 too conservative
The Rule of 40 Revenue Growth Rate + Margin of
Profitability >=40
SaaS Magic Number (Current Q Revenue - Prev. Q Revenue) * 4 /
Sales & Marketing Expenses Prev. Q
<0.75 → Inefficient
0.75 to 1 → Moderately Efficient
>1.0 → Very Efficient
Bessemer Efficiency
Score
Net New ARR / Net Burn
= (New ARR + Expansion ARR - Churned
ARR) / (Revenue - Operating Expenses)
Good → Score = 0.5
Better → Score between 0.5 and 1.5
Best → Score >1.5HashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§

31. [email protected] [email protected]
Contact
Jennie
Co-founder
Shawn
Co-founderHashMatrix π˛œ£‘ˆ≥§