# Growth Hacker Skill

A comprehensive Claude Code skill for product growth—from finding product-market fit to scaling acquisition.

## Overview

This skill helps founders and product teams accelerate growth through proven frameworks, tactical experiments, and ready-to-publish content. It incorporates insights from two of the most influential growth practitioners:

- **Sean Ellis** — Coined "growth hacking," invented the PMF survey (the "Sean Ellis test"), created ICE prioritization, early growth lead at Dropbox, LogMeIn, and Eventbrite
- **Nikita Bier** — Built and sold TBH to Facebook and Gas to Discord, expert in viral consumer apps and activation optimization

## Key Capabilities

### 1. Product-Market Fit Assessment
Run the Sean Ellis PMF survey, analyze results, and extract actionable insights about your core value proposition.

### 2. Growth Audits
Comprehensive assessment of growth opportunities across the AARRR funnel with ICE-scored experiment recommendations.

### 3. Activation Optimization
Reduce time-to-value using the 3-second rule, identify friction points, and design experiments to improve onboarding.

### 4. Latent Demand Discovery
Find product opportunities by identifying where people are going through "distortive processes" to get value.

### 5. Content Generation
Create ready-to-publish marketing content for Twitter, LinkedIn, email sequences, and landing pages.

### 6. North Star Metric Selection
Define the single metric that captures the core value you deliver to customers.

## Core Principles

### Sean Ellis Principles
- **Retention is the ultimate PMF test**; surveys are leading indicators
- **Ignore "somewhat disappointed" users**—they dilute your must-have experience
- **Customer acquisition is LAST, not first**: Activation → Engagement → Referral → Revenue → Acquisition
- **Qualitative + quantitative together** = better experiments

### Nikita Bier Principles
- Look for **"latent demand"**—people going through distortive processes to get value
- If there's ANY uncertainty about PMF, you don't have it. **It's binary.**
- **Every tap is a miracle**—optimize ruthlessly
- **Marketing = Product**. Ads, in-app experience, and invites must all align

## Skill Structure

```
growth-hacker/
├── SKILL.md                           # Core skill instructions
├── README.md                          # This file
├── references/
│   ├── frameworks.md                  # PMF test, AARRR, ICE, North Star
│   ├── activation-playbook.md         # Speed to value tactics
│   ├── platform-playbooks.md          # Twitter, LinkedIn, PH, HN tactics
│   └── metrics-guide.md               # KPIs, cohorts, benchmarks
└── assets/
    └── templates/
        ├── pmf-survey.md              # Ready-to-use survey templates
        ├── email-sequences.md         # Welcome, re-engagement, launch
        ├── social-posts.md            # Twitter threads, LinkedIn posts
        └── landing-page.md            # Hero sections, CTAs, structure
```

## Key Frameworks

| Framework | When to Use | Key Insight |
|-----------|-------------|-------------|
| **Sean Ellis PMF Test** | Assessing product-market fit | 40% "very disappointed" = leading indicator |
| **AARRR Funnel** | Mapping growth opportunities | Work backwards: Activation before Acquisition |
| **ICE Scoring** | Prioritizing experiments | Simple beats complex; enables crowdsourcing |
| **North Star Metric** | Aligning team on growth | Reflects value delivered, not revenue |
| **3-Second Rule** | Optimizing activation | Users must experience value in 3 seconds |
| **Latent Demand** | Finding opportunities | Look for distortive workarounds |

## The Growth Sequence

Most founders do this:
```
Acquisition → Activation → Retention → Revenue → Referral
```

Sean Ellis says do this instead:
```
Activation → Engagement → Referral → Revenue → Acquisition
```

**Why?** Customer acquisition is so competitive that if you're not efficient at converting, retaining, and monetizing users, you'll never find scalable acquisition channels.

## Example Usage

### Assess Product-Market Fit
```
Help me assess product-market fit for my product. We have about 500 active users.
```

### Run a Growth Audit
```
Run a growth audit for my B2B SaaS. We're at $50k MRR and want to accelerate growth.
```

### Optimize Activation
```
Our signup-to-activation rate is only 15%. Help me diagnose the problem and design experiments.
```

### Generate Marketing Content
```
Write a Twitter thread announcing our product launch.
```

### Find Product Opportunities
```
I want to build something in the productivity space. Help me identify latent demand.
```

## Key Quotes

**Sean Ellis:**
> "If you're not efficient at converting, retaining, and monetizing, you can't find scalable acquisition channels."

> "Ignore somewhat disappointed users—they're telling you it's a nice-to-have."

**Nikita Bier:**
> "If your product's working, you'll know. If there's any uncertainty, it's not working."

> "In 2024, people's attention spans are like three seconds. If you can't demonstrate value in the first three seconds, it's over."

## Sources

This skill is built on insights from:
- [Lenny's Podcast: Sean Ellis interview](https://www.lennyspodcast.com/) — PMF testing, ICE framework, growth sequencing
- [Lenny's Podcast: Nikita Bier interview](https://www.lennyspodcast.com/) — Viral consumer growth, activation optimization
- *Hacking Growth* by Sean Ellis and Morgan Brown
- *Hooked* by Nir Eyal (referenced by Sean Ellis)

## License

MIT License - Use freely, attribution appreciated.
