In 'Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products,' Nir Eyal explains how the most successful products create habits in their users. The book introduces the 4-step Hook Model: Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, and Investment. Eyal discusses how these steps work together to form habits, making products an integral part of users' daily routines. He also addresses the ethical considerations of creating habit-forming products and provides frameworks like the Manipulation Matrix to ensure that these products improve users' lives. The book is invaluable for entrepreneurs, product designers, and anyone interested in understanding how to build products that users return to repeatedly[2][3][4].
In 'Demand-Side Sales 101', Bob Moesta and Greg Engle introduce a new perspective on sales by shifting the focus from selling products to helping customers achieve their goals. This approach emphasizes understanding the customer's needs and creating solutions that align with their objectives, rather than pushing features and benefits. The book provides frameworks for understanding buyer motivations and creating pull rather than push in sales.
In 'Obviously Awesome,' April Dunford provides a practical, step-by-step guide on product positioning. Drawing from her extensive experience in tech marketing, Dunford explains how to identify a product's 'secret sauce' and sell it to the right audience. The book covers key topics such as the five components of effective positioning, how to connect an audience to the product's value, choosing the best market, and leveraging market trends. It is punctuated with witty anecdotes and compelling case studies, making it both entertaining and illuminating for entrepreneurs, marketers, and salespeople.
When Coffee and Kale Compete by Alan Klement explores the Jobs to be Done theory, helping entrepreneurs and marketers understand how to create products that people will buy. The book provides insights into customer motivations and how to analyze competition effectively.
Georgiana Laudi is the co-founder and CEO of a consulting agency called Forget The Funnel, where she helps SaaS companies scale and improve conversion rates through customer-led growth. She’s also a marketing and growth advisor to companies like MarketerHire, SparkToro, and Sprout Social. Previously, she was the VP of Marketing at Unbounce and has worked in growth marketing for over 20 years. In today’s episode, Gia speaks about how to identify your ideal customer, how to map their user flows in order to find the biggest growth opportunities, and examples of product changes she’s recommended that have led to the largest growth unlocks. She shares the exact process she works through with founders to uncover opportunities, as well as how to increase subscriptions and retention for SaaS businesses.
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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/customer-led-growth-georgiana-laudi
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Where to find Georgiana Laudi:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ggiiaa
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgianalaudi/
• Website: https://www.forgetthefunnel.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/
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Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:
• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/
• Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lenny
• Maven: https://www.maven.com/lenny
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Referenced:
• How SaaS Marketers Can Hold High-Impact Customer Research Interviews: https://www.forgetthefunnel.com/resources/saas-customer-research-interviews
• Jobs To Be Done: Email Invite Template & Interview Questions by Forget The Funnel: https://docs.google.com/document/d/183PzYjQi2vsIRlPMUrtzRwZF1VdnZWNDAZsrJ4MRT4Q/edit
• The Growth Framework for Customer-Obsessed SaaS Teams: https://www.forgetthefunnel.com/resources/saas-customer-journey-mapping
• Project Snow White: https://marker.medium.com/what-seven-years-at-airbnb-taught-me-about-building-a-company-e1d035d49c56#:~:text=middle%2C%20an[…]0White,-was%20one%20of
• Startupfest: https://startupfestival.com/for-startups/
• Pirate Metrics: https://fourweekmba.com/pirate-metrics/
• How Airbnb Proved That Storytelling Is the Most Important Skill in Design: https://www.inc.com/yazin-akkawi/the-surprising-technique-airbnb-uses-to-better-sell-an-experience.html
• Jobs to Be Done: https://jtbd.info/
• Demand-Side Sales 101: https://www.amazon.com/Demand-Side-Sales-101-Customers-Progress/dp/1544509987
• When Coffee and Kale Compete: https://www.amazon.com/When-Coffee-Kale-Compete-products-ebook/dp/B07C7HH662
• Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning So Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It: https://www.amazon.com/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers/dp/1999023005
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products: https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/dp/1591847788
• Forget the Funnel: https://www.forgetthefunnel.com/customer-led-growth/book
• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Thousand-Weeks-Management-Mortals/dp/B08XZY5ZF7
• Shine Theory: https://www.shinetheory.com/
• April Dunford’s website: https://www.aprildunford.com/
• SparkToro: https://sparktoro.com/
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In this episode, we cover:
(04:33) Georgiana’s background
(07:03) Why funnels are antiquated
(08:52) Better positioning and messaging to find the ideal customer
(13:59) How Gia was inspired by Airbnb’s storytelling
(19:23) How to analyze what’s successful and what to invest in
(21:54) The ideal customer to learn from
(26:37) How to choose which customer job to prioritize
(32:21) Value moments in the customer relationship
(36:45) Applying customer feedback
(44:40) Metrics for measuring the customer’s meaningful engagement
(49:45) What’s included in the messaging and positioning guidebook
(51:15) Tips for messaging
(54:13) Example of a customer job at SparkToro
(55:58) What is the Jobs to Be Done framework?
(59:50) Lightning round
(1:04:18) How Gia manages her time
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career 
