Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Growth tactics, retention strategies, and becoming a better writer | Julian Shapiro (Demand Curve, Hyper, Webflow, TechCrunch)

Sep 25, 2022

59:27

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Quick takeaways

Having a clear objective is crucial when choosing topics to write about in order to gauge progress and achieve writing goals.

Tapping into creativity through curiosity, diverse content consumption, and creative thinking activities leads to more innovative and captivating writing.

Incorporating novelty into writing through counterintuitive information, counter-narrative insights, shocking facts, or elegant articulation captivates readers and enhances memorability and shareability of content.

Deep dives

Choosing Topics: Objectives and Motivation

When selecting topics to write about, it is important to consider two factors: the likelihood of completing the writing and the quality of the final piece. To determine these factors, it is crucial to identify the objective of the writing and the level of motivation to achieve that objective. Objectives can range from challenging the status quo, provoking thoughts, providing original insights, or telling engaging stories. By having a clear objective, the writer can gauge their progress and determine when the piece has effectively achieved its goal.

Trust Your Gut for Engaging Content

01:18

Billboarding Through Products and Technology

01:25

The Creativity Faucet: The Approach of Prolific Creators Explained

03:01

Rethink Your Product Feature Roadmap for Explosive Growth in Acquiring Customers

00:45

Introduction

4min

The Greatest Honor of My Life

2min

The Power of Twitter Followers

2min

How to Build a Twitter Thrill

2min

How to Build an Audience on the Web

3min

Product Lead Acquisition - The Absolute Best Way to Grow Any Startup

2min

Product Lead Growth - How to Get Users to Sign Up for a Product

2min

Product Ad Acquisition

4min

What Is Billboarding?

1min

10.

Billboarding - The Third Way

3min

11.

Using UGC in Your Product?

2min

12.

Building State Is the Best Strategy for Retaining Users

4min

13.

How to Build a Follower Graph in a Product

2min

14.

Is There a Company That Adds It on and Succeeds?

4min

15.

What Does Novelty Look Like?

4min

16.

Twitter - Some Examples of Novelty

2min

17.

How to Write the New Love Our Blow

3min

18.

Writing Quality, Novelty Times Resonance

4min

19.

Is Your Newsletter Really Actionable?

4min

20.

The Creativity Faucet

2min

21.

Dude, My Pleasure

2min

Julian Shapiro is widely known as the founder of Demand Curve, where he’s helped thousands of companies figure out their growth strategy. He also wrote the growth marketing column at TechCrunch, was CMO at Webflow, and even created an animation engine called Velocity that’s now used in apps like Uber and WhatsApp. In today’s episode, Julian dives deep on product-led acquisition (PLA) and why he believes it’s the best way to grow your company. He shares specific marketing strategies for growth and retention and speaks about his framework for creating novel, engaging content, and how to choose topics for that content. He also discusses a framework called the Curiosity Faucet, inspired by prolific creators such as Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Taylor Swift, and Neil Gaiman, to help you unlock your own creativity.

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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/growth-tactics-retention-strategies-and-becoming-a-better-writer-julian-shapiro-demand-curve-hyper-webflow-techcrunch/#transcript

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Where to find Julian Shapiro:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Julian

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-shapiro/

• Website: https://www.julian.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/