Warm Up
Discuss these questions with your partner before you start the lesson.
Question 1
Think of a product or app you use every day that seems to grow without much advertising. How do you think it grows? What keeps you using it?
Question 2
Has your team ever run an experiment or A/B test to improve a marketing result? What did you learn — and did you act on it?
Question 3
If you had to double your sign-ups or leads in six months without doubling the budget, what would you try first?
Vocabulary
8 key words for this lesson
Listen to the audio for the full abbreviation
Growth hacking
Finding fast, cheap and creative ways to grow.
Free invites to friends was our best growth hacking idea.
Pirate metrics
Five steps used to measure a company's growth.
We use pirate metrics to see where users leave.
AARRR
Short for acquisition, activation, retention, referral and revenue.
AARRR helps us check each step of growth.
Viral loop
When users bring new users, who then bring more users.
Our 'invite a friend' button created a viral loop.
Product-led growth
Growth that comes mainly from people using the product.
Our free plan drives product-led growth.
Activation
The moment a new user first sees the value of a product.
Activation happens when a user sends their first invoice.
Experimentation
Testing ideas to see what works.
Experimentation helped us find the best price.
Retention
Keeping customers coming back.
Our retention is high: most users stay for a year.
Phrases
6 phrases and their meanings
Where is the funnel leaking?
A question about where you are losing customers.
Sales are low. Where is the funnel leaking?
We need to find the aha moment
A way to say we must find when users first love the product.
We need to find the aha moment for new users.
Let's run an experiment on that
A way to suggest testing an idea.
Good idea. Let's run an experiment on that next week.
Double down on what is working
To put more effort into what already works.
Video works well, so let's double down on what is working.
The viral coefficient is...
A way to say how many new users each user brings.
The viral coefficient is 1.2, so we are growing.
Fix the retention before you scale acquisition
A rule to keep users before you look for more.
Fix the retention before you scale acquisition, or you waste money.
Videos
Watch these terms used in context
Dialogue
Read the dialogue and hover the blue words for definitions
Marcus
RileyRiley, the CEO has asked us to double our sign-ups in six months without doubling the budget. Where do we even start?
Start with pirate metrics. Walk me through the AARRR numbers. Where is the funnel leaking?
Acquisition is fine — we get about 5,000 sign-ups a month. But only 18% complete the onboarding and become active users.
That is your leak. Activation is broken. We need to find the aha moment — the one thing that turns a sign-up into a loyal user. What do your best customers do in the first session that others do not?
Our data shows users who invite a team member in the first 48 hours have a 70% retention rate at 90 days. Everyone else is around 25%.
That is the aha moment. And that insight is also the seed of a viral loop. If every user invites one person, your experimentation budget goes further than any paid channel.
How do we get more users to invite someone in the first 48 hours?
Let's run an experiment on that. We redesign onboarding to make the invite step the second action after sign-up — not a later optional step. We test it on 50% of new users. In three weeks we have a real answer.
And what about retention? Should we be working on that at the same time?
Fix the retention before you scale acquisition. At 25%, you are spending money to fill a leaking bucket. Fix that first — then turn on the tap.
Is this what product-led growth looks like in practice?
Exactly. You are not adding more ads or sales calls — you are building the growth into the product itself. The invite mechanic, the aha moment, the retention hook — those are product decisions, not campaign decisions.
And if the experiment works — what then?
Double down on what is working. Move more budget, more engineering time, more focus there. That is growth hacking in its simplest form — test, learn, scale.
Exercises
Complete all three exercises to see your final score
Complete the Sentence
Choose the correct answer to complete each sentence.
Choose the correct word or phrase to complete each sentence. Only one answer is correct.
1.AARRR stands for Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, and .
2.The moment a user first understands the real value of your product is called the moment.
3.If every existing user brings in more than one new user, you have a coefficient above 1.
4.Slack's growth model is product-led — the product the selling, and marketing supports the motion.
5.When a test shows strong results, you should down on what is working.
6.In product-led growth, the product is the primary driver of , not marketing or sales.
Matching
Click a word, then click its correct definition.
Click a word on the left, then its definition on the right.
Words
Definitions
Fill in the Blank
Drag the correct words from the word bank to complete each sentence.
Sentence 1
Our activation rate is 18% — users are not reaching the aha — — — before they leave.
Sentence 2
Fix the — — — before you scale acquisition — you cannot grow sustainably if users leave as fast as they arrive.
Sentence 3
We do not need to guess — let's run an — — — on that and get a real answer in two weeks.
Sentence 4
Referral is generating 40% of sign-ups at half the cost — we need to double — — — on it.
Sentence 5
The AARRR framework shows us exactly where the funnel is — — — — and which stage to fix first.
Sentence 6
Slack grows through product-led — — — — the product does the selling, and marketing supports the motion.
Tip: Think about the meaning of each word and what makes sense in the sentence.
Multiple Choice
Choose the best answer for each question about the dialogue.
1.What does Riley say is the first thing to do before talking about new acquisition channels?
2.What does Marcus's data reveal about the aha moment in their product?
3.What does Riley say about fixing retention before scaling acquisition?
4.How does Riley describe the core principle of growth hacking?
Group Activities
Role-play scenarios and discussion questions for group classes
🎯 Choose the Best Response
Read what the team member or stakeholder says. Choose the best response from the three options.
Customer says
“We are spending more on ads but sign-ups are not growing. What are we doing wrong?”
Salesperson responds…
Customer says
“Our retention at 30 days is 22%. Should we be worried?”
Salesperson responds…
Customer says
“The team has an idea to change the sign-up flow. Should we just do it?”
Salesperson responds…
🔍 Spot the Mistake
Read the conversation. Three lines have a mistake. Can you find them?
Riley
Let's review our AARRR metrics — Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, and Results.
Marcus
Actually, the final R stands for Revenue, not Results — it measures whether users are generating money for the business.
Riley
Our activation is low — users are not finding the eureka moment before they leave.
Marcus
The standard term is 'aha moment', not 'eureka moment'. Same idea, but aha is the one the industry uses.
Riley
Fair point. And once we find it, we should lean lightly into referral — it looks promising.
Marcus
If referral is working, we should double down on it — not just lean lightly. That is where the growth is.
✏️ Finish the Salesperson's Line
The growth marketer starts a sentence. Work with your partner to finish it naturally.
Customer
“We want to grow sign-ups fast but we have a limited budget.”
Salesperson
“Then the first thing we do is map the funnel and find where it is leaking. More spend cannot fix a broken funnel — but fixing activation can double your results without spending a penny more on acquisition. Let's start by looking at... …”
Customer
“How do we build a viral loop into our product?”
Salesperson
“Look for a natural reason for users to invite others — not a gimmick, but something that makes the product better when more people use it. For example, we could make collaboration the core of the experience, so that... …”
Customer
“Our retention is 22% at 30 days. What do we do?”
Salesperson
“Fix the retention before you scale acquisition — otherwise you are filling a leaking bucket. The first step is to find your aha moment: what is the one thing that users who stay always do in the first session? Then... …”