Lessons from Morgan Brown

Morgan Brown, a prominent figure in the world of growth marketing and product management, has a wealth of knowledge for startups and established companies alike. Ex-VP of Growth at Shopify and co-author of the acclaimed book "Hacking Growth," Brown's insights focus on building sustainable, scalable growth through a disciplined, data-driven, and customer-centric approach.

On the Growth Mindset and Strategy

"Growth isn't free, it always has a cost."[1] This foundational quote emphasizes that growth requires investment, whether it's time, resources, or capital.
"The companies that grow the fastest are the ones that learn the fastest." This learning, often cited from "Hacking Growth," underscores the importance of rapid experimentation and iteration.
"Growth is a team sport. You can't leave growth in the hands of one person and expect it to be successful."[2] Brown advocates for a cross-functional approach to growth, involving perspectives from marketing, product, engineering, and data.[2]
"The goal of growth is to have the clearest picture of reality possible."[3] This highlights the necessity of being intellectually honest and objective in understanding what drives business growth.
"You have to be as intellectually honest and objective in kind of your view of the world as humanly possible."[3] A direct quote emphasizing the mindset required for effective growth leadership.
"Growth has lost its meaning...it's become a label that gets slapped on everything...But that doesn't mean it no longer has value."[4] Brown acknowledges the buzz around the term "growth" but stresses that the underlying principles remain crucial.
"If growth is taken as a mental model it can be helpful. Slapped on as a label, it's not helpful."[5] This clarifies the distinction between a superficial title and a deeply ingrained operational mindset.
"The best companies and the best teams, the level of understanding that they get to is like orders of magnitude better than the other companies."[3] A key learning on the competitive advantage of deep business and customer understanding.
"I think if you go to any kind of team right now...and ask five people in that organization how does this company grow...you will likely get five different answers. And that's a real problem."[3] This illustrates the common lack of alignment on growth drivers within companies.
"You cannot know ahead of time which experiments are going to be most effective. The best you can do is stay nimble and data-driven." A core tenet from "Hacking Growth," emphasizing agility and evidence-based decision-making.

On Product and Customer Centricity

"Growth only succeeds on the back of a must-have product."[2] Brown stresses that sustainable growth is impossible without a product that users genuinely love and need.[2]
"Too many people worry about growth, putting the horse before the cart. They're thinking about growth even before validating that they have a product that people love."[2] A common mistake that Brown warns against.
"The first step before you think about creating large scalable growth is to make sure that you've validated that people love your product."[2] A crucial sequencing for any startup.
"Shopify’s business model is...only works when Merchants are successful...that really strong alignment with our customer goals is actually the secret."[6] This reveals the power of aligning business success with customer success.
"Understanding...the like your end customer...understanding whether the thing that you're offering is something that they really want...that's more of a softer skill...but I see that as a big mistake is kind of...skipping that step."[6] Emphasizing the importance of qualitative customer understanding.
"Your product is the key to growth."[7] A succinct reminder of where the focus should be.
"Improving activation is at its core about increasing the rate at which you get new users to your aha moment."[8] A key learning on the importance of demonstrating product value quickly.

On Process and Experimentation

"Growth hacking is not about throwing ideas against the wall as fast as you can to see what sticks, it's about applying rapid experimentation to find and then optimize the most promising areas of opportunity." This quote from "Hacking Growth" provides a clear definition of the methodology.
"The more experiments you run, the more you learn. It's really that simple."[9] A straightforward mantra for any growth team.
"What we believe is that the faster you learn, the faster you can grow because you can figure out what works." A core principle driving the need for high-tempo testing.
"The growth hacking process that we use at GrowthHackers is first we put all the ideas on the table. So, there's no bad idea when you're thinking of new and innovative ways of growing your business."[2] Highlighting the importance of inclusive ideation.
"It's not about just trying the first thing that pops into your mind, it's about trying to understand which ones are going to have the most impact for you."[10] Emphasizing the need for ruthless prioritization of ideas.
"We want to test new ideas and be agile and nimble to try to learn things quickly." A summary of the desired operational tempo.
The framework: understand, identify, and execute.[6] A simple yet powerful model for approaching growth challenges. Too often, teams jump to execution without proper understanding and identification of the core problem.[6]
"If you don't do the analyze step you don't get the compounding positive feedback loop and you start from zero each time."[10] Brown stresses that learning from experiments is what fuels long-term growth.

On Team and Organization

"If you're a startup, it's the whole team is the growth team."[10] For early-stage companies, growth should be a collective responsibility.
"If you're a founder, you should be the head of your growth team."[10] Highlighting the importance of leadership involvement in the growth process.
"You cannot outsource growth to a growth hacker or to anyone else."[10] Brown warns against the idea of hiring a single person to solve all growth problems.
"Growth cannot be a side project. Without a clear and forceful commitment from leadership, growth teams will find themselves battling bureaucracy, turf wars, inefficiency, and inertia."[7] A critical learning about the organizational requirements for a successful growth function.
A growth team must have cross-functional expertise, including business strategy/goals, marketing, data analysis, and product development.[11] A blueprint for the ideal composition of a growth team.
"Modern growth teams have flourished because of the gap that often exists between marketing and product."[12] Brown explains the organizational void that the growth discipline fills.
What is important is to assign clear ownership to the business outcomes that get lost in the middle.[12] A key takeaway on ensuring accountability for growth metrics.
"One of the things we've done over the last year is to get them into a true cross-functional operating model...which bring all of these collective strengths together."[12] Sharing a practical example of how to structure for growth.

On Acquisition and Channels

"Growth hacking at its core is about finding innovative and creative new channels to reach people that love your product."[2] A concise definition of the channel-focused aspect of growth hacking.
"Overly relying on ad platforms to drive your customers...is...a big mistake."[6] A warning against the vulnerability of single-channel dependence.
"The smallest changes in language can have the most outsize impact in bringing new customers."[8] A powerful insight into the importance of messaging and copy.
"Start with language, and then go from there."[8] A practical tip for where to begin with acquisition experiments.
"Explore new channels for acquiring customers; teams should experiment with adding new channels."[9] A learning that emphasizes the need for diversification in acquisition strategies.

On Retention and Monetization

"The most promising strategy for growth wasn't to focus exclusively on building the company's customer base, but also on making the most of the customers they already had."[9] A key insight from "Hacking Growth" on the power of retention.
"Many of the best growth opportunities appeared to lie farther down the funnel."[9] This learning encourages looking beyond top-of-funnel metrics.

On Data and Metrics

"The North Star Metric is the best way to measure if...the people that you're trying to reach are getting value from your product."[13] A clear definition and purpose of a North Star Metric.
Your North Star Metric should be "stated in terms of the...value you deliver not the value that you extract from people."[13] A crucial distinction for setting a customer-centric North Star.
"Everything rolls up into that [North Star Metric]."[12] On the importance of having a single, unifying goal.
"The idea is to standardize the way people think about the potential opportunities they have to work toward that goal, so that everyone's speaking the same language and prioritizing the same things."[12] The organizational benefit of a well-defined North Star Metric.

On the Future of Growth

"Some things will always be true...companies will always be looking to grow and and drive their performance."[6] A fundamental truth about the enduring nature of the growth discipline.
"The ability to move faster...have a higher likelihood of successful outcomes, and have more understanding of what you're doing...will always be true."[6] The core skills that will remain relevant in the future of growth.

On Personal Development in Growth

"My degrees in the school of hard knocks...getting like punched in the face a lot by business...that's the only real way to learn growth I think."[5] A candid reflection on the experiential nature of learning growth.
"My background...it's really kind of a hobbyist and kind of a learn as you go kind of a career path."[5] An encouraging insight for those without a traditional marketing background.
"One of the regrets of the phrase 'growth hacking' is it means many things to many different people."[6] A reflection on the ambiguity of the term.

A Final Thought

"You have to analyze the situation, come up with great ideas to impact your growth model, prioritize those ideas and test them, and then learn whether those tests worked or not."[10] This quote encapsulates the entire growth hacking process in a single, actionable sentence, providing a clear roadmap for anyone looking to drive growth.

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