The best posts on growth hacking: our monthly selection

We know you were extremely busy during August implementing retention strategies. That’s why we’ve decided to dedicate our Top Picks monthly section to growth hacking.

Dear startup CEO, did you miss the best and most discussed posts on growth hacking?

No worries. We’re wrapping them up for you.

1. “Growth Hacking is bullshit“. A surely controversial title -talking about headline hacks?-, but as always, intercom‘s blog yields a thoughtful post on what really growth hacking is beyond the delusive seduction of this concept’s coolness. We’ve enjoyed especially the paired concept “micro-efforts”-“micro-definitions”. When starting up, too much focus on minor hacks might sidetrack us fast. Don’t miss the discussion in the comments section, the best part of the post.
2. “Uber’s playbook for sabotaging Lyft“. Uber‘s aggresive plan to take out Lyft competition and gain riders has been the topic of the month, and it’ll surely be the favorite discussion for weeks to come. Is this about growth hacking? Of course it is, although too close to poaching. This post from the Verge unveiled their strategy, including the creation of dummy Lyft accounts and the use of Uber-branded phones, and makes you think about the legal boundaries of growth tactics.
3. “Growth hacking distribution for your startup” I must admit this is my favorite one. An extraordinary resourceful post highlighting the best moments of the 500 Startups one day conference “Weapons of Mass Distribution”. Thoughts and tips from Gustaf Alströmer (Airbnb) -his point is just great-, Sean Ellis or Jean-Denis Greze (Dropbox). And an amazing bonus: all the videos from the conference, free for everyone.
4. “Traditional marketing vs growth hacking” This infographic might be a little bit biased, to put it nicely. You want to bet? After reading it, you’ll deny you’ve ever suggested to implement an ad campaign. That’s for losers. So why is this infographic in this list? Because it’s faulty but that’s ok. Why? Comparisons based on experiential evidence can’t pass the antifallacy test. But let’s give it some credit, it may do a lousy job describing what marketing is but it can be a useful infographic to validate your growth-hacking tactics, ie. if you’re actually focused on the hacking side of growth.
5. “5 growth hacking success stories, for ecommerce merchants“: the give something to get something type of hacks applied to ecommerce examples, but that can be translated to any platform or product as a service.

Did you like it? The first friday of each month: our selection of the best posts on a given topic, just in case you missed them.

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