Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers
Why startup growth is rarely about the product and how to find your hidden channel to success
About This Book
Are you exhausted from building great products that never seem to reach the audience they deserve? 'Traction' takes you on a revealing journey through the real engine of startup success: getting customers, not just perfecting features. Discover how companies—from breakout apps to household brands—escaped obscurity by experimenting with strategic, often surprising channels. Vivid case studies demystify everything from viral marketing and unconventional PR stunts to social ads and community building. This framework doesn’t just teach you to grow—it gives you a system for finding your ideal growth channel, so your best work gets noticed, used, and loved.About the Author
Gabriel Weinberg is the founder and CEO of DuckDuckGo, a search engine that breaks the mold—prioritizing privacy and transparency. As an entrepreneur and seasoned angel investor, Gabriel has not only built companies from the ground up but also mentored dozens more through their earliest stages. Justin Mares, himself a founder with multiple startup exits, specializes in unlocking explosive growth for SaaS and consumer companies. Together, their mix of hard-won failures and headline-grabbing wins infuses this book with rare, real-world credibility.
Biggest Takeaway
By using the actionable system in this guide, readers will gain a crystal-clear path to acquiring real customers—consistently and cost-effectively. Expect to learn how to test marketing channels alongside product development, identify which efforts truly move the needle, and avoid wasting time on tactics that don’t scale. You’ll build habits for relentless experimentation, overcome blind spots, and develop an eye for missed opportunities that could leapfrog you over more established competitors.
Key Insights from This Book
Explore the most important ideas and learn how to apply them in your life.
The 50% Rule: Why Focusing Only on Product Is Not Enough for Growth
The Bullseye Framework: Stop Guessing, Systematically Find Your Best Channel
Critical Path Thinking: Ruthlessly Ignore Everything Except What Moves You Forward
The Law of Shitty Click-Throughs: Every Marketing Channel Gets Crowded and Stops Working—Unless You Keep Testing
Viral Loops Demystified: Build Exponential Growth by Engineering How Users Refer Others
Overcoming Channel Bias: Why True Innovation Comes From Trying What Competitors Ignore
Quantify Everything: Use Numbers, Not Hunches, to Guide Your Next Move
Move the Needle: Not All Wins Are Created Equal—Find What Brings Real Change
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