Lean Startup – How to Not Lose Your Hair
I recently changed the language setting on my Facebook account to “Pirate”. That might be why I like the Startup Metrics for Pirates – “AARRR!” by Dave McClure. Its a real thing, evidently, and it stands for Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue (so is the Pirate language setting on Facebook a real thing, by the way).
At a MeetUp group I went to last month we were practicing developing AARRR techniques for startup ideas. First of course, we had to come up with a StartUp idea. Easy! First brainstorm a list of colors. Then brainstorm a list of random nouns. Then a list of random categories of people. Then brainstorm a list of random problems that people might have. Combine a color with a noun. BOOM! You’ve got your new company name (‘Tan Hats’). Select a category of people randomly – ‘Bankers’. BOOM again! A problem to solve? ‘Baldness’. BOOM!
Put all these together into a Value Proposition: “Tan Hats helps aging, balding bankers to feel less inadequate by providing them with custom-fit Donald Trump toupees” BOOM!
Now construct the AARRR strategy for our MVP prototype:
- ACQUISITION – go to where the market is – high-end, custom tailor shops. Attach a cut-out picture of Donald Trump’s hairstyle at head-height onto the changing room mirrors, so that our target audience (bankers being fit for a new suit) can see their reflection, with Donald’s hair. BOOM!
- ACTIVATION – on the order for the suit, have the tailor add a small opt-out clause, if the patron does NOT want to receive marketing information about toupees (by default they are opted in). Also, collect their email address, of course. BOOM!
- RETENTION – every month email out a marketing piece featuring pictures of Donald Trump, powerful people wearing Donald Trump toupees, and special offers. BOOM!
- REFERRAL – engine of growth will be a side effect of product usage – people seeing their colleagues using our product. BOOM!
- REVENUE – in order to gauge initial interest, before we invest in actually licensing and creating the toupees, we will sell the introductory offer that you see above – LinkedIn Profile pictures of you wearing one of our toupees. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
