Understanding Growth Hacking in 5 Minutes
Posted: Sun Jan 12, 2025 4:20 am
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Growth Hacking intrigues, Growth Hacking fascinates and disturbs at the same time. Old school marketers are tearing their hair out: the disruptive ideas of Growth Hackers drive them crazy, as does the insolent growth of some start-ups. The term Growth Hacking was coined by a certain Sean Ellis, in the early 2010s. The reality is at least a decade or two older.
Growth Hacking is a set of techniques, or rather a state of mind, a methodology, whose objective is the rapid growth, by all means, of a service or a product. Growth of what? What techniques? What means? What business? To see more clearly, we have worked on a complete guide dedicated to this phenomenon, to this marketing revolution. This guide is quite theoretical, if you are looking for techniques and tools, it's here .
Summary
What exactly is Growth Hacking?
This concept resonates more and more loudly in our ears without us always knowing what it is. The answer to provide is not simple. We can try to define Growth Hacking in one sentence (as we will try to do at the beginning) without touching on the concrete reality of Growth Hacking. To define Growth Hacking, also called Growth Marketing , quickly, we very job seekers database often use a subterfuge, both relevant and insufficient. All Growth Hackers or GH "experts" will tell you that Growth Hacking is a state of mind, before being a set of techniques, tools and know-how. This is a very relevant way of describing Growth Hacking, as we will see, but at the same time, inevitably, it leaves us wanting more. "State of mind" is, to say the least, a very vague notion.
So, let's try to come up with a simple definition of Growth Hacking, to start with. Growth Hacking is a set of practices and techniques, often unconventional, used to ensure the rapid growth of a service or product. In this definition, we emphasize two elements:
Growth Hacking aims at rapid growth, exponential if possible, of a product or service. In "Growth Hacking" there is "Growth".
Growth Hacking uses all means to achieve these ends – growth. Unconventional means sometimes on the edge of legality or “decency”. Hence the term “Hacking” contained in “Growth Hacking”.
This definition is quite disappointing, because it does not explain what growth is. Nor does it explain what these unconventional practices, these "hacks", consist of. We must therefore continue the analysis. We have chosen four paths, four ways to explain Growth Hacking in a more precise manner. We will start by recalling the history of Growth Hacking, we will then try to describe the typical profile of the Growth Hacker, before talking about the AARRR matrix and citing some concrete examples of GH.
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The all-in-one marketing solution for VSEs and SMEs
Marketing emails
CRM
SMS Marketing
Transactional emails
Customer segmentation
Marketing Automation
Test Brevo
Growth Hacking: where does it come from?
Growth Hacking, as a concept, was born in the early 2010s in the United States. More precisely: in Silicon Valley. The inventor of the term "Growth Hacking" is Sean Ellis. At the time, Sean Ellis was working at Dropbox, but already had other professional projects in mind. In short, he wanted to leave Dropbox. So much so that Sean Ellis had to look for someone to take over his position. Problem: he didn't know how to title and define his position. His job was to develop the Dropbox user base. The term "marketing" was not suitable, because it was completely insufficient to describe what he did. Finally, he opted for "Growth Hacker".
Growth Hacking intrigues, Growth Hacking fascinates and disturbs at the same time. Old school marketers are tearing their hair out: the disruptive ideas of Growth Hackers drive them crazy, as does the insolent growth of some start-ups. The term Growth Hacking was coined by a certain Sean Ellis, in the early 2010s. The reality is at least a decade or two older.
Growth Hacking is a set of techniques, or rather a state of mind, a methodology, whose objective is the rapid growth, by all means, of a service or a product. Growth of what? What techniques? What means? What business? To see more clearly, we have worked on a complete guide dedicated to this phenomenon, to this marketing revolution. This guide is quite theoretical, if you are looking for techniques and tools, it's here .
Summary
What exactly is Growth Hacking?
This concept resonates more and more loudly in our ears without us always knowing what it is. The answer to provide is not simple. We can try to define Growth Hacking in one sentence (as we will try to do at the beginning) without touching on the concrete reality of Growth Hacking. To define Growth Hacking, also called Growth Marketing , quickly, we very job seekers database often use a subterfuge, both relevant and insufficient. All Growth Hackers or GH "experts" will tell you that Growth Hacking is a state of mind, before being a set of techniques, tools and know-how. This is a very relevant way of describing Growth Hacking, as we will see, but at the same time, inevitably, it leaves us wanting more. "State of mind" is, to say the least, a very vague notion.
So, let's try to come up with a simple definition of Growth Hacking, to start with. Growth Hacking is a set of practices and techniques, often unconventional, used to ensure the rapid growth of a service or product. In this definition, we emphasize two elements:
Growth Hacking aims at rapid growth, exponential if possible, of a product or service. In "Growth Hacking" there is "Growth".
Growth Hacking uses all means to achieve these ends – growth. Unconventional means sometimes on the edge of legality or “decency”. Hence the term “Hacking” contained in “Growth Hacking”.
This definition is quite disappointing, because it does not explain what growth is. Nor does it explain what these unconventional practices, these "hacks", consist of. We must therefore continue the analysis. We have chosen four paths, four ways to explain Growth Hacking in a more precise manner. We will start by recalling the history of Growth Hacking, we will then try to describe the typical profile of the Growth Hacker, before talking about the AARRR matrix and citing some concrete examples of GH.
logo brevo
The all-in-one marketing solution for VSEs and SMEs
Marketing emails
CRM
SMS Marketing
Transactional emails
Customer segmentation
Marketing Automation
Test Brevo
Growth Hacking: where does it come from?
Growth Hacking, as a concept, was born in the early 2010s in the United States. More precisely: in Silicon Valley. The inventor of the term "Growth Hacking" is Sean Ellis. At the time, Sean Ellis was working at Dropbox, but already had other professional projects in mind. In short, he wanted to leave Dropbox. So much so that Sean Ellis had to look for someone to take over his position. Problem: he didn't know how to title and define his position. His job was to develop the Dropbox user base. The term "marketing" was not suitable, because it was completely insufficient to describe what he did. Finally, he opted for "Growth Hacker".