Product‑Led Growth: A Playbook for Onboarding & Viral Loops
A great product sells itself only when you intentionally design it to. For early-stage companies, the two levers that move the fastest are the first few minutes of a user’s journey (onboarding) and the loops that carry your product from one person to the next (virality). This playbook provides the patterns, metrics, and checklists you need to design and ship both effectively.
PLG on One Page
Product-Led Growth (PLG) is a go-to-market strategy that relies on the product itself as the primary driver of customer acquisition, activation, and expansion.
The Goal
- Turn cold traffic into activated users as quickly and efficiently as possible.
- Turn those activated users into a distribution channel for the next cohort of users.
Two Numbers to Watch
- Activation Rate: This measures the efficiency of your onboarding.
Activation Rate = Activated Users / Sign-ups
- Viral Coefficient (k): This measures the effectiveness of your viral loops.
k = (Invites sent per active user) × (Invite acceptance rate)
Aim for a k ≥ 0.1 in the early days. A k
greater than 1.0 signifies exponential growth but is rare and often fragile. Remember, the cycle time (t)—the time it takes for a user to invite others—matters as much as k
. A shorter cycle time compounds growth much faster.
Your North Star
Choose a single weekly metric that is deeply tied to the core value your product delivers. Examples include "weekly active teams," "documents shared weekly," or "tasks completed by more than one collaborator." This keeps your entire team focused on what truly matters.
The First-Mile: Design for Time-to-Value (TTV)
The first five minutes a user spends with your product are the most critical. Your only goal is to get them to the "Aha!" moment—the point where they experience the core value—as fast as possible.
Define “Activation”
Before you do anything else, you must define what "activation" means for your product. It's not just logging in; it's the smallest, measurable action that correlates with long-term retention. Be specific.
- Examples: "Created their first project and invited one teammate," "recorded and shared their first video," or "sent their first API request that returns a 200 OK status."
Choose one definition, instrument the tracking for it, and commit your team to improving this number above all else.