Growth Hacking
In one line
Growth hacking is the discipline that combines data, rapid experimentation and product changes to find scalable levers for user and revenue growth.
Going deeper
Growth hacking is the term Sean Ellis coined for marketing driven by rapid experiments and data. Unlike traditional brand-led marketing, it pulls product changes, referral systems and signup-flow optimisation into the marketer's remit.
The canonical examples are Hotmail's signature link, Dropbox's referral storage program and Airbnb's Craigslist integration — each of them planted a growth mechanism inside the product itself rather than buying it on a media plan.
A real warning: don't confuse it with one-off tricks. Durable growth hacking is the work of building a continuous experimentation system, not a clever stunt. Starting growth hacking before product-market fit is set is almost always wasted motion.
Sources
Related terms
AARRR
AARRR — Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue — is the five-stage growth metrics framework popularised by Dave McClure and used as the default scaffolding for growth teams.
MarketingA/B Testing
A/B testing randomly splits users between two variants and uses statistical comparison to decide which version performs better on a defined metric.
MarketingPMF
Product-market fit (PMF) is the state where a product clearly satisfies a real market demand — usage compounds, churn drops and word of mouth starts doing real work.
MarketingRetention
Retention is the share of users who continue to use or purchase from your product over time after their first touch — a primary signal of long-term product health.
MarketingCAC
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the total marketing and sales spend required to win one new paying customer.
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