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growthperclickHacker Playbooks.

After · Think

Design a growth loop, not a funnel

Funnels leak. Loops refill: output of usage becomes input of acquisition (referrals, user-generated SEO, network invites). Build the loop into the product.

Paid and launch spikes decay. A loop is why a marketplace or a directory still grows on a quiet Saturday.

How to run it

  1. 01Map: new user → value → artifact that can attract the next user.
  2. 02Artifacts: invites, public pages, templates, referral credit, embeds.
  3. 03Remove friction from the share moment until it is the natural end of the job.
  4. 04Measure cycle time. Slow loops are almost not loops.

In the wild

Dropbox's referral storage, Nomad List's city pages (users contribute, Google sends more users), every UGC SEO play.

Used by · 3

Pieter Levels

@levelsio

Itch-first · SEO + X

Profitable solo products, shipped in public, SEO + Twitter as the company

Andrew Chen

@andrewchen

Growth loops · networks

Network effects, cold starts, and loops versus funnels

Sean Ellis

@SeanEllis

Experimentation · PMF gate

Product-market fit as a gate, North Stars, and experiment cadence