Our definition of “growth”

Welcome to our lesson on what growth actually means. You've just overviewed our growth system and have a view of what you're about to not only learn, but build and achieve through the rest of the program.

However, before we can get into designing our growth engine and more broadly architecting our growth system as a whole, I want to take some time to explore and cover some really important concepts and misconceptions that will help you level up as a growth leader and operator, as well as give us a shared language and mental model throughout the program.

Overview — 7 Key Concepts

So let's get into it. We're going to start with our definition of growth, and what we mean is how we at Demand Curve view and define growth, and how we teach growth in this program.

Why does this shared definition matter?

In short, growth can be misunderstood and quite nebulous. If you ask 10 different people to define growth, you're likely to get 10 different answers. And since we don't know your background coming into the program, establishing that shared definition gives us a blank slate to start and build from.

To be clear, we're not interested in setting this definition for the sake of saying what is or is not technically correct. We're not interested in trying to coin proprietary concepts. We simply want this shared language as it will help you as you move through the program.

The 7 Key Concepts

• Our definition of “growth”
• Growth = Systems design
• Grow like a scientist
• Growth = focus = leverage
• Grow like an artist
• Founder-led growth is key
• Growth in the AI era

The next key concept we will examine is how systems design is a core component of our philosophy and approach to growth. We'll take a look at how you'll need to grow like a scientist. We'll examine the more data and hypothesis-driven approach to growth that we teach. We'll then explain why focus is such a key concept for startups and growth operators as a whole.

From there, we'll explore why you need to think like an artist. Our approach to growth is a balanced approach, valuing both the science and the art equally.

We'll make a case for why we believe founder-led growth is so critical in the early stages. And finally, we'll discuss how the AI era may (or may not) force us to rethink how startup growth should be approached.

Our Definition of Growth

So let’s start with our definition. What is growth?

A Simple Analogy

There are a couple of different ways that I like to think about and teach when it comes to understanding what growth really is.

A simple one — and I don't remember when I was initially introduced to this, but it stuck with me early on — was someone saying:

• If a finance team is responsible for how money flows in a business,
• Then growth is responsible for how our users and customers flow through a business.

Why This Matters

This is a powerful analogy because it clears up misconceptions:

• Growth is not purely marketing.
• Growth is not A/B testing.
• Growth is not about chasing short-term “hacks.”

Instead → Growth is holistic.

• Growth is responsible for managing and owning how users flow through the entire business.
• This spans across all business functions — exactly what the Foundational Five framework is meant to convey.

Another Simple Definition

Growth’s role is to maximize the number of people who experience our core product value.

This reframes the finance analogy and makes clear:

• Growth is not purely customer acquisition.

Why? Because there are many ways to maximize how many people experience core value.

Levers for Growth

• Acquiring more customers is one lever.
• Eliminating friction in the funnel → decrease the number of people who drop off before experiencing value.
• Opening up the funnel → remove constraints and friction that prevent users from flowing through.

Beyond Acquisition

• Ensure more people actively use the product and experience its core value repeatedly.
• Yes, product teams focus on maximizing the value of the product itself.
• But growth is about maximizing how many people experience that value.

Growth also has purview across the product:

• Identify triggers and channels within and outside the product
• Make it easier for users to experience value the first time and keep coming back for more

Revenue as a Lever

We can maximize how many people experience core product value by optimizing our revenue model.

Why does this matter?

• If we maximize the value we capture in a monetary sense → we can afford to reinvest.
• Invest more in customer acquisition.
• Invest more in product improvements.
• Invest more across the Foundational Five → strengthening brand, story, and customer value.

The Bigger Picture

Growth, as we define and teach it (especially at the startup stage), has no bounds.

• It spans your entire foundation.
• It spans your entire funnel.
• It spans your entire customer journey.

The Ultimate Goal

It’s worth taking a step back and remembering, very simply, what our ultimate goal is at the startup level.

Yes, we can think about it as maximizing how many people experience core value… but why do we do that?

Because core value is a proxy for our ultimate company objective — typically to produce as much revenue or profit as possible.

So at the end of the day, the role of growth is very simply to:

• Increase the number of customers we have.
• Increase the value per customer.

So to wrap up, you now have a pretty good sense of what growth is by our definition — which also informs what growth is not.

• You are not learning just growth marketing.
• You will not only learn about ad channels.
• Growth is not just running A/B tests or funnel optimization.
  

All of these things are subsets of growth — tools in our toolkit.

You’re going to learn a far more expansive skill set.