Jesse Venticinque

On this episode: the trap of building for existing subscribers, incentivizing word of mouth, and why paid marketing should be an accelerant, not the foundation of your growth strategy.Top Takeaways📱 Growth comes from focusing on product retention: Build a product users really want, creating an engaged customer base and fueling the growth loop down the line.🗣️ ‌Build a viral growth loop based on word-of-mouth. A product that exceeds user expectations is the ultimate way to drive word-of-mouth — even if your app isn’t naturally social.👥 Paid advertising is an accelerant to user acquisition (UA) — not your sole UA channel. It should come after product focus and word-of-mouth virality.😀 ‌Measure and improve retention by finding your minimum engagement milestone. Look to your ICP for clues.🙅‍♂️ Talk to your users who aren't subscribers. There's a tendency to focus user research on super-users, but they won't tell you much about why others aren't subscribing.About Jesse Venticinque👨‍💻 Co-founder and chief product officer of Fitbod, a fitness app offering workouts that improve as you do.💡 “There’s a trap of listen[ing] to super successful, engaged customers as a clue for what the unsuccessful customers are missing.”👋  LinkedIn | TwitterLinks & Resources‣ Check out Fitbod‣ Work with Fitbod (Currently hiring a Core Experience Lead PM!)‣ Jesse’s product approach‣ Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn‣ Connect with Jesse on TwitterEpisode Highlights[2:07] Solving a personal problem: The business has grown largely on revenue alone, thanks to what Jesse calls a “maniacal focus on product retention” and a goal of challenging the status quo.[5:56] Catching a big break: The key to scaling was pioneering a subscription model based on AI and machine learning, as well as having the right product-market fit by tapping into a “secret hiding in plain sight.”[8:26] Money in the bank: Although they found themselves in an underdog industry, the Fitbod team crucially found investors who aligned with their mission and values.[12:06] Viral growth loop: Word of mouth is still a major growth driver for Fitbod today — especially given that Fitbod isn’t a naturally social product. They’re also considering content as another growth loop, both blog-based and user-generated.[15:40] Hooking them in: The best consumer companies have discrete, repeatable actions to create a habit loop. Reward visibility and shareability are critical components of this.[17:58] Referral science: Offering free referrals is a way to understand and measure the growth loop. This approach also offers hard data, whereas word of mouth is more challenging to measure.[20:29] Everyday workout: Driving retention requires deep analysis of the metrics, like when users are canceling before the end of subscription periods and account dormancy.[26:27] Leverage = focus: When retention is good, focusing on conversion and activation is a viable way to drive mass adoption.[28:44] Contextualizing feature requests: Once you establish your ICP, scale and own the market for that audience. Then, build for the non-ICP.[31:32] Digging into activation: Jesse explains that user research is critical to avoid focusing too much on the most engaged users at the expense of less engaged ones.[35:09] The depth of need: Before building a feature, identify a participant pattern with (at least) medium confidence. Then you can develop a hypothesis.

Jesse Venticinque (Fitbod) breaks down how to build features that move your metrics, followed by a presentation from LinkedIn's Tom Eschbacher on a founder's guide to thought leadership. Visit http://linkedin.com/founderu for $100 LinkedIn ad credits!   How to Build Features that Move Your Metrics   (0:21) How to identify and invest in features worth building   (1:21) Prioritizing features (offensive vs. defensive)   (2:05) Identify high-leverage features in your product  (5:32) What are need-gaps and how to identify them   (8:47) What to ask for in user interviews   (12:05) Tools to conduct user interviews  A Founder's Guide to Thought Leadership   (16:18) Thought exercise: I am a founder who...   (17:39) The importance of thought leadership   (19:10) How to identify whitespace in thought leadership   (20:06) Four types of thought leaders (which one are you?)   (21:01) Three stories every startup needs to tell   (21:55) How to build a strong community   (23:04) Tactical tips to jumpstart your thought leadership on LinkedIn - FREE GUIDE (http://lnkd.in/foundersuniversity)