Loops not funnels

Don’t think of acquisition things in funnels form. That leads to a few problems:

  1. Funnels create strategic silos
  2. Funnels create functional and metric silos — optimization by teams at the expense of each other (e.g., marketing brings in low quality users to hit their user goals — ends up hurting retention metrics)
  3. Funnels push us to invest in linear activities — rather than loops to reinvest.

Funnels do not represent how the biggest products grow. Instead they are in loops that reinvest and grow, like compounding effect. How does one cohort of users lead to ANOTHER cohort of users?

Loops are vital

  1. If you’re not compounding, you’re dying.
  2. Loops are more defensible. Loops bring together channel, model and product, which is more defensible.
  3. Create a more efficient cost of distribution over time.

The Four Categories of Acquisition Loops

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  1. Viral loops
  2. Content loops
    1. Content loops (user generated)
    2. Content loops (company generated content) loop
  3. Paid marketing loops
  4. Sales loops - core as new customers are signed up, that revenue is reinvested in adding more reps. It’s always combined with a second set of loop - the leads loop (either content generated, or something else) to ensure we have leads for sales to tackle.

LinkedIn has been a master at layering in loops.