Flywheels vs linear channels

Now that you understand the four core acquisition motions (Paid, Content, Virality, and Sales), the next layer is how individual channels inside those motions actually behave.

This is where one of the most important distinctions comes in:

• Some channels have the potential to turn into a flywheel, where each cycle generates more fuel for the next.
• Others will always behave more like linear channels, where you get results in direct proportion to what you put in.

Understanding whether a channel behaves like a flywheel or a linear path — or has the potential to become one — is essential. It determines:

• How scalable your acquisition can become.
• How quickly your growth engine compounds.
• And how much support you’ll need from others channels to get momentum at the start.

With that context, let’s break it down.

Flywheel vs. Linear: What’s the difference?

• Flywheel channels are designed so that each cycle generates more input for the next. Example: a virality motion where every new user invites 2 more users.
• Linear channels produce outputs in direct proportion to what you put in. Example: a paid channel where you spend $1,000 on ads and acquire roughly $1,000 worth of customers.

👉 The important distinction: flywheel vs. linear is not necessarily baked into a channel itself. It’s kinda like the whole squares are rectangles but not the other way around thing. Some channels simply do not have the potential for flywheel effects. Others do, but it doesn’t guarantee that they will be a flywheel for your startup.

A flywheel channel has the potential for the compounding, positive feedback loop if it’s designed and fueled correctly. And if the conditions of our Growth Foundation, and really, our Growth System as a whole, are ideal for the particular channel. Otherwise, it will behave linearly.