I don’t like to use the phrase “growth hacking” to describe the work required to adjust marketing campaigns and systems. In fact, successful marketers are constantly iterating, measuring and testing their efforts to minimize waste and maximize ROI.
Finding new ways to get people into the sales funnel isn’t about using sunglasses for a phone stand or repurposing an old ketchup bottle to make pancake-free pancakes. In reality, growth hacking involves continuously testing new ideas.
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“If each test results in 1% improvement, you’re well on your way to 100% improvement after 100 tests,” writes Jonathan Martinez, a self-described “marketing nerd” who has fueled growth at Uber, Postmates, and more. Chim.
The best way to find marketing hacks, he advises, is to “use a rigorous testing framework to run countless A/B tests.” This article includes a spreadsheet of RICE (Reach, Influence, Trust, and Effort) ideas about gaining and activating growth hacks.
“It’s important to remember that there is no such thing as infiltration of development. Instead, you should think about how you can run 100 tests to move the needle forward.
Thank you very much for reading
Walter Thompson
Editorial Manager, TechCrunch+
@your main actor
TechCrunch Disruption 2022: Taking the BS out of Your TAM
Every founder should understand the sector they intend to compete in, but calculating the total addressable market (TAM) is a difficult process, especially for first-time startups.
In reality, TAM is only a planning tool that gives potential investors a better understanding of a company’s potential.
Next week at TechCrunch Disruption in San Francisco, I’ll be interviewing three investors to find out how they think about TAM and what they’re looking for in a voice moment.
- Cara Norman, Managing Partner, Upfront Ventures
- Aydin Senkut, Founder and Managing Partner, Felicis Ventures
- Deena Shakir, Partner, Lux Capital
I ask you to share methods and strategies for achieving TAM, how to calculate it for new products and services, and describe some of the red flags you often see from startup entrepreneurs.
If you’re visiting SF for the Riot, be sure to bring warm layers — and if you can’t, I hope you’ll join us online.
5 Key IPs for AI Startups
Image Credits: Soil (Opens in a new window) / Getty Images
No rational person would leave a bag of cash in a restaurant, but entrepreneurs who don’t protect IP from their AI creations are just as reckless.
Eric L. Sophir and Matthew Horton, both IP attorneys at Foley & Lardner LLP, said: “The unplanned and accidental disclosure of technology at a conference or partner meeting can result in loss of patentability.
In this highly detailed explainer, the duo uses plain language to help you understand which inventions are patentable and why “common conventions may be obsolete.”
Is the RPA market in trouble?
Image Credits: NicoElNino/Getty Images
Robotic process automation (RPA) startup growth has picked up since it started slowing down. As evidence, consider Automation Anywhere, which recently closed a $200 million loan rather than raising a new funding round.
“RPA vendors leverage many of the benefits of RPA, such as empowering sales teams to perform more meaningful tasks for their employees and modernizing IT infrastructure,” writes Kyle Wiegers.
But what they don’t mention is that implementing an RPA solution is often a challenge.
Can corporates be good matches for startups and VCs?
Image Credits: Kinsei-TGS/Getty Images
When creating the initiative to connect startups using the software with VC funding, Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince said, “They initially hoped for $100 million to $250 million in commitments, so we would have something big to announce,” reports Rebecca Scuttock.
Last week, Cloudflare announced a $1.25 billion funding program to encourage companies to build on its serverless computing platform (and eat into AWS market share).
“Companies that enter this program will get access to many software features for free for a year, even if they enter VCs,” which can be a real advantage for some bootstrap companies.
