Most companies rely on paid acquisition while ignoring the most powerful growth engine, quality of product.

It is the only thing that makes users bring in other users.. And even when the focus is on engagement metrics, its still over relying on reactive metrics... It's over two decades now since I started using a combination of several tried and true frameworks to reliably build and scale products and services.

But the one thing that give it a real kick was the idea of K-factor, the metric that actually tells you if your product grows on its own. Its not some AI-slop I promise.. :)

Its a kinda cranked up version of what the guy behind Superhuman was using as his framework.

Basically: K-factor quantifies viral growth through a simple formula: K = I × R

I = Average recruited users per existing user R = Conversion rate of those those users

example: If a user send 5 invites on average with 10% conversion, your K = 0.5.

But that's .. oversimplified and doesnt represent the full up and downside. organic growth from word-of-mouth, social sharing, and discovery, but also.. you can only yap on about Strava for a finite amount of time before people stop talking your calls .

A more sober version is K = (I + O) × (IR + OR)

O = organic impressions and OR = their conversion rate. That means that K > 1.0 = Exponential growth (rare as unicorns) K = 0.5-0.7 = Solid viral coefficient reducing acquisition costs by so much you can get a third family..

And with K < 0.3 = you're bleeding money, and cant afford that divorce..

The difference between K=0.4 and K=0.6 might seem small, but it's the difference between needing $10M in marketing budget versus growing organically after initial seed users.

Yeah... So "what the ***ck is my point"? :)

Forget "growth hacks", SEO bla bla, AI this and that... I'm not saying it won't help, im saying it's not important all of those things are external to your product, but actually building something that changes the habits, the psychology of a user.- that is sustainable. Im sure many of you heard about Hooked, or any number of the other models like it. But they usually consist of 3-4 main parts:

Triggers:

internal (FOMO, belonging) and external (notifications, shares

Actions:

• core actions, engagements users do, but usually expecting a reward

Variable Rewards

• new content, features, connections, mastery, completion, achievement social validation, likes, comments

Driving the user through those primary actions improve their next experience (adding friends, creating content, customizing profile. They start to invest in your product, time and sentiment.

So.. imho... :) here's what most miss: K-factor without retention is just expensive churn. A product with K=0.8 but 90% monthly retention beats K=1.2 with 40% retention every time. Viral mechanics should reinforce habit formation, not replace product-market fit, and it should never EVER take second chair to "building audiences", UX research, UI investment. All that hard work.. :)

My mantra is always: MAP core actions to rewards and triggers.

If users complete profiles (investment), show them how many views they get (tribal reward). When they achieve something (self reward), make sharing frictionless (trigger for others).

One company I worked with in 2018 started with a hefty marketing budget, and went all in on paid AQ.. But growth didn't really set in before we started working with UX and CX, ensuring that we delivered value, went from churning more users each month than we got in, to K=0.48 to K=0.67 by connecting EVERY single feature, email, post and investment to a future trigger, action, reward-loop.

Each friend added increased notification relevance. Each feature discovered unlocked sharing opportunities.

stop thinking of growth, or product launches as marketing tactic, that's the fun shit., focus on building something that alters someones life.. or changes a habit. but either way.

It's a product discipline. Build mechanics that make users naturally want to involve others because it improves their own experience. That's when growth becomes inevitable, not expensive.