Growth experiments: Airbnb, PayPal, Canva examples

Hi, I’m Sergey Osipov @s_osipov, cofounder of Placy (AI real estate agent). Launched about 20 startups and had some exits, including a unicorn IPO. Sharing here my observations and tips for AI founders. Join! #AI #Startup #PropTech

growth experimentsAirbnbPayPal
  • 💡 Airbnb wrote a script to automatically post each new listing to Craigslist bringing them loads of free qualified renters
  • 💡 PayPal wrote a script to message eBay sellers, pretending to be a buyer, to ask if they would accept payments via PayPal. Sellers thought their buyers wanted PayPal, so they quickly added the payment option
  • 💡 Canva created thousands of SEO-optimized pages with design templates and tutorials because they realized many basic design tasks start with a Google search like “award certificate template”
  • 💡 Facebook and LinkedIn created an onboarding process in which new users automatically invited friends and colleagues to join
“With every growth experiment you're fundamentally learning and making progress toward a simple question: How are we going to grow this business?

Insightful reading on the subj

#startup #knowledge

Hand-drawn diagram comparing Product Sprint vs Growth Sprint, listing differences in success rate, prioritization, team composition and typical duration.
Diagram comparing product sprint and growth sprint differences: success rate, prioritization, team, and duration.