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Lenny Rachitsky Profile picture
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8 Dec, 14 tweets, 12 min read
Founders often ask me how to create buzz around their launch. I finally have an answer: Do something remarkable. *Something worth remarking about*

In this week's post, I share examples and strategies of remarkable ✨

A few favorites in thread below 👇
lennyrachitsky.com/p/creating-buz…
First, why does it need to be "remarkable"? Watch this clip by @ThisIsSethsBlog
Strategy 1: Create a remarkable video, e.g. @DescriptApp, @DollarShaveClub, @PooPourri
Strategy 2: Create a remarkable product demo, e.g. @mmhmmapp, @Dropbox, Mailbox
Strategy 3: Offer a remarkable value prop

@RobinhoodApp: “$0 commission stock brokerage”

@Dropbox: “Throw away your USB drive”

@gmail: “Free email w/ 1GB of storage”

@netflix: “No due dates, no late fees”

@WarbyParker: “Try on 5 pairs of frames at home before buying any”
Strategy 4: Execute a remarkable offline stunt, e.g. Half.com, @salesforce, @WePay, @Snapchat, @tommeetippee

wired.com/1999/12/welcom…
Strategy 5: Start a remarkable controversy

@Quibi: Celebrity founders raise ~$2B for a pre-product video platform

@Hey: Public figure calling out Apple for their App Store fees

@getstolen: An app that lets you “buy” your friends on Twitter
Strategy 6: Offer a remarkable giveaway, e.g. @fast, @PushForPizza, @UniswapProtocol
observer.com/2015/10/a-pizz…
Strategy 7: Include a remarkable viral mechanic, e.g. Jet, @harrys, @Dropbox, @RobinhoodApp, @ritual_co

bizjournals.com/newyork/blog/t…
Strategy 8: Get a remarkable hard-to-get product to be shared by influencers or press, e.g. @joinClubhouse, @Superhuman, @hey, @ThirdLove, @oneplus
thenextweb.com/market-intelli…
Strategy 9: Carry out a remarkable pre-launch tease, e.g. @itiseyemoutheye, @Chobani, @Segway

Strategy 10: Be remarkably everywhere, e.g. @JoinToucan, @venmo, Twitter and Foursquare at SXSW
twitter.com/search?q=%40jo…
11/ Notable mentions for remarkable ongoing drum-beat of buzz: @Levels, @fast, @mschf, @stir, @LambdaSchool
Any others I'm missing? Please share!

Much more in the full post
lennyrachitsky.com/p/creating-buz…

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More from @lennysan

Lenny Rachitsky Profile picture
9 Dec
With Airbnb going public tomorrow, I thought I'd revisit the lessons Airbnb taught me about building a company (my very first public post!)

Read on for a glimpse into what makes Airbnb so special 👇
marker.medium.com/what-seven-yea…
1/ Founders obsessed with culture

From day one, Airbnb has been a company obsessed with culture, values, and quirky rituals. This helped with hiring, move quickly when opportunities arose, and also overcoming adversity.

Exhibit A 👇
medium.com/@bchesky/dont-…
2/ Set wildly ambitious goals

@bchesky is (in)famous for doubling our proposed goals and often pushing us to 10x our goal. This ambitious approach pushed teams to think bigger, and at the end of each year we were often shocked at how close we came to hitting those goals.
Read 9 tweets
Lenny Rachitsky Profile picture
30 Nov
One of my biggest surprises from researching B2B growth is that 100% of successful bottom-up B2B companies eventually add a sales team. It's not a question of if – it's a question of when and how.

Below are my fav 5 tips from @Kazanjy for setting this transition up for success👇
1/ First, do sales yourself. As a foremost expert in the problem space, you’re best positioned to have the first few dozen sales conversations.

Later on, these sales tasks will be handed to a specially hired salesperson but only after the initial motion has been roughed out.
2/ To get a sense of the need for a full-time salesperson, add a “Contact Us” or “Contact Sales” CTA to your home page in a place that wouldn't distract the user from self-sign up. Watch for inbound requests asking for large-company-type needs (e.g. SOC 2, consolidate billing)
Read 7 tweets
Lenny Rachitsky Profile picture
24 Nov
If you're building a B2B SaaS product, one of the biggest decisions you'll have to make is if/when/how to layer in a sales team.

Lucky you: @Kazanjy just dropped a 🔥 step-by-step guide to help you navigate this transition.

Summary in thread below 👇
lennyrachitsky.com/p/sales-bottom…
2/ One of the most surprising takeaways from my own research into early B2B growth was that *100%* of the bottom-up B2B companies ended up layering on a sales team. It’s rarely a question of if — it’s more a question of when, and how.
3/ First of all, should I even start with a self-serve product?

Yes, if:
1. Is the product simple enough for self-serve?
2. Is this truly new and differentiated? 
3. Can this co-exist with a (less good) incumbent in a given company’s stack?
4. Will you focus on small orgs?
Read 12 tweets
Lenny Rachitsky Profile picture
17 Nov
Data points from Airbnb's S-1 that get me excited about its future:

1. *91%* of all traffic comes organically from direct or unpaid channels. This is the key to Airbnb's strategy (winning at direct traffic, avoiding paid growth), and it's working.

More in thread 👇
2/ Not only is traffic cheaper (since it's mostly organic), but guest cohort retention is also much higher than the competition. It's also a rare "smiling curve" – it goes UP over time.
3/ Similarly, host cohort revenue retention hits *100%* over time, and also increases after year two. That doesn't mean tons of hosts don't leave (note: this is revenue retention, not user retention), but this is promising.
Read 6 tweets
Lenny Rachitsky Profile picture
17 Nov
What DoorDash, Faire, Substack, Eventbrite, and Cameo have in common? They all have what I call "magical" growth loops: loops where most of your growth comes from existing users. I've collected 30+ examples of these loops in action.

A few examples below👇
lennyrachitsky.com/p/magical-grow…
1/ Context: Normally, to grow your business, YOU need to go find every new users or customer. For example, if you’re building Google, you need to go tell people about Google and convince them to use Google. Each additional Google user doesn’t directly drive more Google users.
2/ However, if you’re building a product like DoorDash, Faire, Substack, Dropbox, Eventbrite, and many of the companies I cover in this post, a very cool thing can happen: your users grow your business for you. THEY recruit your new users. Magical!
Read 12 tweets
Lenny Rachitsky Profile picture
13 Nov
Some things I've learned about the newsletter'ing life, so far 👇
1/ It's really easy to start a newsletter. It's very hard to keep it going.

The key to keeping it up, at least for me, is (1) being genuinly curious and energized about the topic, (2) having a broad enough topic to keep it novel, and (3) having consistent time to write.
2/ Optimize for a topic YOU'RE excited about, not what you think other people will be excited about.

This is so important. It's the reason I went against the classic advice of finding a single focused niche. I would have been so bored thinking all day about just one thing.
Read 15 tweets

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