Growth Tactics that Built a Unicorn, Three HR and Recruitment Tips - Tactician: #0091

"These unicorn folks are wizards at marketing. They’d say, ‘This isn’t just a laundry detergent; it’s a fabric wellness solution.’ And I’m convinced, thinking, ‘My towels didn’t just need a wash; they needed a spa day.'"

03/04/24

Growth Tactics that Built a Unicorn

Why Read:

• Learn crucial growth strategies from Amplitude's journey to become a billion dollar company, including identifying market pull, pricing and content and community

Authors:

• Jaryd Hermann, Author at HowTheyGrow.co

Link: 

• “How Amplitude Grows: Making Moneyballers”

Key Concepts and Tactics:

• Identifying the Right Idea and Pivoting to It:

  • Point: Pay close attention to any pull from the market, even if it's not your core idea. If there's more pull for something you've built on the side than your actual idea, consider fully pivoting to that.

  • "So many companies that we showed that data to were like, 'Holy shit, you guys know this stuff? This is incredible. Can I get this?' So we said, let's build a company that serves the infrastructure behind that, which is what Amplitude ended up being...When looking for a B2B idea, pay close attention to any present pull. Even if it's not your core idea, if you identify something you've built that is showing signs of pull, and more pull than your actual idea, then consider pivoting fully to that."

• Charging More and Charging Sooner for B2B SaaS:

  • Point: To find product-market fit, you need to find people who can pay you meaningfully. If you're acquiring people at a discount, you don't know if the market has a true propensity to pay. Ask for money earlier and charge more than you're comfortable with.

  • "My number one piece of advice is to ask for money earlier. We wasted a year. We could have been a year further along on the journey. If I build this, are you willing to pay for it? You're going to get a lot of no's, and that's fine. Just move on...Spend half my time talking to prospective customers and asking them for money. It's uncomfortable for you to do, but that's okay. That is exactly the point."

• Creating Lock-In with a Data Moat:

  • Point: Amplitude's Behavioral Graph and Data Layer are key pillars of defensibility. The more data companies feed in, the better Amplitude can help them, creating a powerful retention play and making it difficult for customers to leave.

  • "Once companies are using Amplitude and have data flowing in, it's incredibly valuable to keep that data inside the system. There's historical context, and there's volume. And that volume makes features like Experiment and Session Replay super powerful. It's a great self-reinforcing loop. And porting that all off Amplitude is, at the very minimum, incredibly complex and tedious."

• Building Breadth and Depth for Compounded Growth:

  • Point: By building new products on top of their existing data platform, Amplitude can leverage the same data stream to address adjacent high-value use cases. This platform approach creates compounded growth inflections.

  • "The thing about building a Swiss Army Knife vs just a pocket knife product is that your shipping velocity becomes a compounder that (1) drives your overall utility, (2) strengthens your network effects, and (3) creates more friction around switching."

• Driving Growth with SEO-Focused Content and Community:

  • Point: Content is a central pillar of Amplitude's customer acquisition, helping drive organic traffic, educate the market, and build an authoritative brand. They leverage unique data, create evergreen content, enable power users, and foster a thriving community.

  • "Content is a long game, but after studying tons of companies here, I can say confidently it's one well worth playing...Educational content acts as a free lubricant to glide people along the curve...A dynamic community isn't just a 'nice-to-have'; it's a must-have strategic asset for any SaaS company aiming to win their category."

Three HR and Recruitment Tips

• Why Read:

  • Insights from experienced CEOs on building diverse teams, hiring executive talent, fostering meaningful connections, clearly defining roles, and adapting leadership styles as the company grows

• Author:

  • Bessemer Venture Partners, an American venture capital and private equity firm

• Link: 

  • “How to build and lead a world-class startup team”

• Key Concepts and Tactics:

  • Break through bias in the recruitment process:

    • Point: Address personal bias and structural inequities in the recruiting process to build diverse leadership teams.

    • "Anyone should look at the leadership team and see themselves mirrored in some way," Jennifer says. "Representation matters because it proves to everyone that there's opportunity."

    • "Create behavioral questions that pertain to your company values rather than relying on vague, biased "culture fit" assessments."

    • "Even if your company is scaling quickly, resist pressure to make a hire before interviewing a diverse slate of candidates for each role."

  • Consider an executive recruiter — it could be your highest ROI investment:

    • Point: Hiring an executive recruiter can help bring in top leadership talent that founders may not be able to access on their own.

    • "We ended up hiring a president I never could have hired, or even talked to." While it cost $150,000 (a staggering sum to Dave at the time), it paid off in ways he could never have anticipated. "The trickle-down effect of solid leadership has been huge."

  • Avoid the trap of transactional working relationships:

    • Point: Create spaces for employees to connect on a personal level beyond just work tasks, especially in remote settings.

    • "When that disappeared, you really started to notice how transactional distributed work could feel. It's an email, a Slack, a quick Zoom — and it's right down to business. When you do that for a prolonged period of time, you start to notice things just don't click quite in the same way."

    • "One simple thing we've started doing in our meetings is check-ins to make sure we understand how people are doing. It's a reminder that we're working with other people who have rich and full lives, and those reminders help us treat each other as humans."

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