Origins and Principles of Growth Hacking

Sean Ellis, famously known for coining the term “growth hacking”, who has led growth at multiple unicorn-scale companies like Dropbox, Eventbrite, and LogMeIn, joins us to open Season 7 of the podcast.

Reflecting on more than 15 years since the term first spread, he shares how growth hacking has evolved from a startup tactic into a discipline fit for today’s market.Sean unpacks the shift from distribution-first strategies to product-led, product-focused ones, covers staged feature exposure, and finding north stars as teams within larger organisations.

In this episode, an opportunity to revisit the roots of growth hacking today, Sean, the best-selling author of Hacking Growth and host of the Breakout Growth podcast, explores how this is an era where product quality and market fit drive growth. Each feature, according to Sean, should be seen as a mini-product, refined until it becomes indispensable for users.

Tune in to learn how to build & scale in the world transformed by AI, as this one is not an episode to miss.

Key Highlights
👉 Experimentation helps distinguish between activities that are merely correlated with success and those that directly drive it.
👉 Product-market fit remains the most important driver of traction; without it, distribution alone won’t sustain growth.
👉 Growth is not about doing everything; it’s about doing the right things and measuring their impact.
👉 Startups can compete with incumbents if they solve unmet needs, even if their distribution is initially limited.
👉 When product-market fit is strong and distribution is optimised, growth can become exponential.
👉 Treat new features like standalone products - test, validate, and refine before broad promotion.
👉 Feature adoption reveals deeper insights: low use can indicate complexity, unclear value, or a misalignment with user needs.
👉 A/B testing should be focused on optimising feature presentation and accessibility, not compensating for poor product fit.
👉 Viewing your product as a platform lets each feature enhance the core experience, increasing retention and revenue.

Topics /chapters
(00:00) Growth Systems: reducing Friction to find Product Market Fit - Intro
(01:15) Introducing Sean Ellis
(08:21) Do small or big companies capture the market quicker?
(14:37) Reshaping Growth Strategies for B2C to B2B
(19:49) Marketing to Product: The Evolving Focus of Growth
(27:14) Creating a continuous feedback loop
(29:49) Growth in Larger Corporations through Organisational Design
(35:31) Top-Down vs. Collaborative: Driving Coherence in Growth Systems
(38:35) Product Market Fit as Paramount
(43:40) Breadcrumbs and Suggestions

Remember that you can always find transcripts and key highlights of the episode on our website: https://www.boundaryless.io/podcast/ellis-sean/

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Music

Music from Liosound / Walter Mobilio. Find his portfolio here: https://blss.io/Podcast-Music