| Strategy | Thinking (Rationale) | Specific To-Do/Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Shift from Funnels to Loops | Traditional linear funnels are inadequate and leaky. Growth Loops are self-sustaining flywheels where every interaction creates new input. | Focus on the core loop: Activation → Product Value → Referral Sharing. |
| 2. Define North Star Metric | Sustainable growth means prioritizing Unit Economics over vanity metrics. | Primary metric is Customer Count, supported by CAC, LTV, Trial-to-Paid %, and Week-2 DAU. |
| 3. Strict Unit Economics | Profitable unit economics are foundational. The cost to acquire a user must be recovered quickly. | Target CAC: ≤80$ for 1-to-1 SaaS. |
| 4. Fast CAC Payback Period | A fast payback period increases reinvestment capacity and proves model efficiency. | Target Payback Period: ≤2$ months. Calculate and track weekly. |
| Strategy | Thinking (Rationale) | Specific To-Do/Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Focus on Immediate Pain | Positioning must be locked around the core customer pain to drive purchase urgency. | Conduct Win/Loss Analysis (Week 1) by interviewing customers on "What problem were you solving when you found SHRAM?". |
| 6. Clarify Specific Problem | Messaging must be hyper-specific to convert cold leads and maintain a high conversion rate. | Refine messaging based on data: Which narrative resonates (e.g., churn prevention vs. productivity)? Update email subject lines and core copy. |
| 7. Product-Led Growth (PLG) | B2B users became buyers, shifting growth responsibility from sales to the product itself. | The product must be the marketing engine. Ensure the product directly addresses user pain points and delivers value immediately. |
| 8. Win/Loss Analysis | Necessary to determine if the initial 25% trial-to-paid rate is real PMF or enthusiast bias. | Interview 5 paying customers and 5 beta users (Week 1) to identify positioning angles and key objections. |
| 9. Test Urgency Language | Used to gather momentum and ensure the pain is urgent enough to justify a purchase. | Schedule weekly Office Hours (starting Week 2) and use it as a testing ground for messaging, capturing testimonials. |
| 10. Content CTAs | Content drives the awareness $\to$ demo $\to$ customer cycle. It needs a clear closing path. | Outline LinkedIn Teardown posts (Week 2): Problem-focused content with a clear call-to-action to book a demo. |
These are the low-CAC channels for proving a repeatable acquisition model.
| Strategy | Thinking (Rationale) | Specific To-Do/Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| 11. Refined Cold Outreach | Organic channels must drive 60%+ of acquisition. Cold outreach is the initial volume driver. | Launch 50 emails (Week 2) with a Loom video or 3-min value demonstration. Scale to 200/week by Week 3. |
| 12. Niche-Specific Sprints | Focus is required to maintain a high reply rate (10%+) and efficiently target the ICP. | Launch emails to specific ICP segments. If reply rate drops below 8%, immediately rotate templates or list segments. |
| 13. Community Building | Building foundational sticky infrastructure and generating referrals. | Create private Slack community (Week 2). Actively engage (Week 5) in 3 niche communities (e.g., r/SaaS) by answering 2-3 relevant questions daily. |
| 14. Referral Program | Referral triggers are key to a self-perpetuating growth loop. | Launch to the first 5 paying customers (Week 4) with an incentive: 1 month free trial/credit. |
These strategies are for leveraging momentum to scale volume and revenue.
| Strategy | Thinking (Rationale) | Specific To-Do/Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| 15. Partnerships Over Cold | The long-term plan requires exploring new channels for high-LTV customers and enterprise deals. | Months 10-12: Explore integrations, co-marketing, and partnerships (e.g., with complementary tools). |
| 16. Contingent Paid Ads | Paid acquisition must be contingent on healthy unit economics, reducing dependency on a paid addiction. | Week 6: Test with a small $500 budget on Reddit Ads for 2 weeks. Only scale to $2K/week if CAC < $300 AND payback is < 2 months. |
| 17. Content for Sales (Case Studies) | Case studies and examples drive trial-to-paid conversion by providing social proof. | Week 7: Interview the best customer for measurable results. Publish 3 case studies by Week 12 to use as sales ammunition. |
| 18. Content Multiplier | Maximize reach and efficiency by repurposing content across multiple channels. | Week 5: Publish 2 LinkedIn posts and repurpose each across Twitter, Reddit, and email (5 touch points from 2 core ideas). |
These strategies optimize revenue by validating price points and using discounts as an accelerator.
| Strategy | Thinking (Rationale) | Specific To-Do/Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| 19. Sales-Call Pricing Experimentation | Testing pricing on sales calls first validates willingness-to-pay and maximizes early LTV before publicizing. | Week 4: On the next 5 demo closes, test a 3-option pricing ladder (e.g., $3, $12, $9) and log each response. |
| 20. Hold Premium Price | Keeps the high revenue anchor price and preserves premium positioning, allowing for grandfathering later. | Weeks 1-8: Maintain the $12/month premium price. |
| 21. Tiered Discount Acceleration | This is the mechanism for rapid customer acquisition (1,500 users) once unit economics are proven. | Week 9: Launch the Tier 1 discount: 75% off lifetime ($3/month) for the first 200 customers (FOMO). |