Growth Loops are the New Funnels
The marketing funnel can be an outdated concept if you think about how linear and disconnected it is from what truly happens in reality. Customers don’t just pass through your 5-stage funnel once, in isolation, never to be seen again. They inhabit the same social media and networks your brand does. And their purchase behaviours can loop back and feed back into the brand in nonlinear and compounding ways.
This is the idea of the growth loop: growth as seen as a positive feedback loop that takes into account actions taken by people who are already your customers — something that the conventional marketing funnel model chooses to ignore.
The Most Precious Resource is Agency
“Gaining agency is gaining the capacity to do something differently from, or in addition to, the events that simply happen to you. Most famous people go off-script early, usually in more than one way. Carnegie becoming a message boy is one opportunity, asking how to operate the telegraph is another. Da Vinci had plenty of small-time commissions, but he quit them in favor of offering his services to the Duke of Milan. And of course no one has to write a book, or start a company. But imagine instead if Carnegie or Da Vinci were compelled to stay in school for ten more years instead. What would have happened?”
Going off-script is a great framing when it comes to assessing individual agency. When was the last time you did something truly off-script?
Operating Well: What I Learned at Stripe
“Operating well is a state, not an outcome.”
Sam Gerstenzang (Product at Stripe) unpacks what his time at Stripe taught him about being a good operator. The essay is loaded with good principles and systems to base your work off of. But it’s heavy on Silicon Valley lingo, so be warned.
Some food for thought
H/t: Hardik Pandya (@hvpandya)
Okay folks, that’s it for today! I’ll see you with another edition of the newsletter tomorrow morning. Till then, take care and enjoy your Sunday.
