In comparison with other hyper-growth companies, it’s the fastest we’ve seen scaling from $1M to $100M so far.

And all this while its north star isn’t revenue. The company is optimizing everything around how many people use Lovable. Like Lovable’s Head of Growth mentioned in Lenny’s Podcast here.

So all the more reason to have a look at its growth playbook and what caused this explosive growth.

Spoiler: it’s not luck, it’s strategic.

And you can take a lot over for your business (even if you are way smaller without the hype), which is exactly what I give you at the end of this article.

For this article I’ve broken down Lovable’s growth loop along the AARRR framework with a breakdown of what happens in each stage. And it’s amazing what they are pulling off. At the end of this article you will find access to the exact template with every activity they are doing in each stage broken down in one overview + you get a full video breakdown (in case it’s tl;dr).

Looking like this:

What we cover:

1. Building constant buzz: How Lovable attracts users at scale

2. The instant value moment: Getting users to actually use the product

3. Shipping features like a media company: How Lovable keeps users hooked

4. The self-feeding loop: How every user brings 10 more

5. Pricing that maximizes revenue while reducing churn

6. Full video walkthrough of the complete funnel

7. What you can steal from this playbook (even without the hype)

Building constant buzz: How Lovable attracts users at scale

Lovable uses a mix of different awareness strategies.

But one of the core things is that the company maintains constant “buzz” around its product.

The strategy here puts social in the center.

Lovable’s Social Strategy

The key pillars are:

• Influencer marketing

• Having own ambassadors

• Getting users to post and spreading word-of-mouth

• Having the team build in public and consistently talk about the product, new features and all the things happening in the Lovable universe

With X & LinkedIn being one of its main channels.

To create this level of users posting about you, you have to give them stories and experiences they want to share.

This is where Lovable excels.

Everyone can be a developer with it, so that’s exactly what triggers people. They want to show, share and tell the world what they have built.

Another rule Lovable follows: they are giving away for free.

Free credits for users

Remember, the company is optimizing for how many users are using it, not revenue.

So, be it a hackathon, ambassadors or whatever, Lovable is giving away credits so people can build. And this helps spread word-of-mouth tremendously.

And here comes into play what sets Lovable apart from other AI businesses.

Other businesses gate AI functionality because of usage costs. Lovable does the exact opposite. People can use it for free, which helps expose the solution to people, helps them experience the value extremely fast and accelerates word-of-mouth.

Ads to catch demand

Of course another pillar of its acquisition strategy are ads on all the usual platforms. Google, LinkedIn, Meta. This helps capture demand.

When people are constantly exposed to Lovable’s organic content, ads can push them over the edge.

This way Lovable is creating its own media company. Pushing out content all day long, making people aware and then capturing the demand.

Only to get users to the heart of Lovable: app usage.

The instant value moment: Getting users to actually use the product

As soon as a user lands on the website they are greeted with a text box where they can take direct action. No fluff on the website, no confused copy. Just a field where you can start prompting.

This is Lovable’s heart of user activation.

One thing that makes Lovable smart here is as soon as a user hits send, they are asked to log in. This works because at this point users already put effort into their prompt and are curious about the outcome.

So they are most likely to create an account.

And after this, people are getting instant value. They see the app they created with one prompt.

Templates to get users started

Another thing that helps users get started are templates. Lovable offers different templates for different business types like SaaS or portfolios. Those can be used to get right into it.

Which helps users even more to use the product. Especially if they have no idea where to start.

Once people are using the product, they need to be kept engaged and here Lovable is doing great.

Shipping features like a media company: How Lovable keeps users hooked

Instead of sending out classic newsletters Lovable is shipping feature after feature, often multiple times a day.

New features as a newsletter

That’s basically its “newsletter”.

Once a feature is released, users are notified and the feature release itself gives Lovable’s team content for posting.

This creates next to notifications to users a constant stream of content, which reinforces the strategy of being permanently in the heads of its users.

Locked-in effects

Next to this, to keep the engagement high you can of course connect your app to different other apps like databases (Supabase) or Shopify. Once you have your data there and built a whole app around it the locked-in effects are super high.

Chances are very low that someone leaves after.

Same with its community. With more than 140k members you will find everything here. From showcasing your apps to getting answers to your questions or simple networking with like-minded builders.

Once you are deeply involved, chances of moving away from it are low.

That’s how modern growth works. Community fuels the whole funnel from attracting new users to referrals.

But the most interesting part as I find is its referral strategy. Here Lovable built a loop in itself which brings a constant stream of new users:

The self-feeding loop: How every user brings 10 more

This is how Lovable’s word-of-mouth virality strategy works:

Lovable's creation loop starts with a user who builds an app. After they hit publish they are asked to share it with their friends and/or on social.

Once they share it's exposed to others (it will also be visible on the official app library if wanted).

Visitors who now click on the app see the Lovable button in the app's right bottom corner.

With a click on it you land on the Lovable website where you are greeted with the text field, where visitors can then directly start building their app.

This way Lovable built a constant stream of new users.

But those have to be convinced to pay for it. Its pricing strategy takes over here.

Pricing that maximizes revenue while reducing churn

Looking at its pricing page it seems like a typical SaaS pricing model.

But what differentiates the company here based on its AI nature is that you can choose how many credits you want in each package. Based on the credits the prices increase. Here like with many AI companies we see the "pay as you go" model where pricing is based on a monthly fee and usage.

But:

It gets more interesting once you are a paying user.

Because A) you then have the possibility to top up credits as needed.

And B) rather than upgrading into higher tiers, Lovable offers lower tiers to paid users. This way they reduce churn and offer possibilities to keep user's apps online even if someone decides to step away from Lovable.

What also stands out if you try to cancel is the cancel flow itself. Which is very persuasive.

It first suggests moving into a lower tier.

Then shows a video which explains what you miss out on and how Lovable can really improve your app building.

And then it emphasizes again the things you lose. Which is a smart usage of loss aversion here.

This makes it both user friendly but also maximizes revenue Lovable generates.

➡️ Access the template here: Lovable’s Growth Loop

What you can steal from this playbook (even without the hype)

Coming to the most interesting question.

What can be applied to grow your business?

I know Lovable is one of a kind hyper-growth company. Who relies a lot on hype. But there is a lot you can take over to fuel your own growth.

Its awareness strategy

Don’t try to force being found through AI search or whatever. Instead go all in on social. Build in public, share product updates and the most important part, give users stories they can share. Be it because your product makes things so easy or because your customer support is so exceptional.

Make using your product radically simple

In case you are an AI company, I know AI usage costs but you have to expose it to your users. Follow Lovable and create this easy entry into your product like they did on the website. Help users to use the product in just a few steps so they can experience its value ASAP. If you are not an AI company, offer a virtual demo tour and make them see and feel the value.

It’s all about community

Slack, Discord, Substack, wherever. Build a community around your product. Help them, answer questions, give things for free in the community, just keep people talking about your product. This helps in every step of the funnel.

The creation loop

Build sharing functionality in your product. As soon as someone successfully completed a step or task in your app, give them the possibility to share it and talk about it (this works best after someone had a success moment). This will help increase visibility and (like mentioned in the previous step) keeps people talking about your solution.

Pricing model

Look at the cancel flow of Lovable, take over its loss aversion. As soon as people cancel SHOW them what they will lose. This hurts and prevents churn to some extent. Also offer lower tiers. There shouldn’t be a pricing model where you either upsell them, keep them or they are gone. There should be the possibility that someone can lower their tier to a smaller price and keep a few features.

Last Words

Lovable shows us what happens when you optimize for users first, revenue second. The result? Both explode.

Lovable’s playbook isn’t rocket science. It’s executing the basics at scale with one clear focus: making it stupidly easy for people to build, share, and stay.

You don’t need hype or explosive revenue to steal from this. Pick one thing. Build your own creation loop. Give your users a story worth sharing. Keep them talking about you.

That’s how you accelerate growth… even without the hype.

Thanks for reading!

AJ

PS: If you enjoyed this, please tap the like button and leave a comment below. Thank you! 💛

Share AI x Growth

When looking at Slack's strategy, one thing stands out:

Slack didn't win just because of a great product. They won because they engineered a viral loop that bypasses the CEO and infects the company from the bottom up.

While most B2B tools try to sell to the C-Suite, Slack weaponized the end-user. They trusted that as more colleagues joined, others would naturally follow.

They were right.

For this breakdown I’m re-touching my article from last year - let’s jump in.

How Slack’s Growth Loop Looks Like

Slack’s team trusted the strength of their product, believing that as more colleagues joined, others would naturally be encouraged to do the same.

They were right.

This approach is how they built a powerful growth loop:

But I started wondering: what does this actually look like? And how does Slack pull people into its loop?

So, let’s answer this.

The Onboarding Process

Everything starts with a user who decides to try Slack.

And this is where Slack’s growth loop begins - on its sign-up screen.

When signing up, Slack suggests using your work email (highlighted in red in the screenshot).

This is because it makes it easier to invite your co-workers later.

And having more of your co-workers means more money for Slack.

But since we’re rebels, I used my personal email - and guess what? Slack pushed the suggestion again.

This time, instead of just making a suggestion, Slack provides a reason. And if I were using it in a work context, this reasoning would make a lot of sense.

So, once we sign up, Slack offers two options:

Option 1: Create a workspace → This is highlighted as the preferred option. Because once you create a workspace, you’re prompted to invite others. This brings more people into the platform = more revenue for Slack.

Option 2: Check if your team is already on Slack → A user-friendly way to hint that you might have used the wrong email address.

💡 This is a good example of how to use multiple call to actions at once. If you want to give your users more than one option, highlight the one that drives your core action. By "core action," I mean the one that ultimately makes you money.

But be careful not to confuse users. The 'Paradox of Choice' kills conversion. Slack offers two paths, but visually prioritizes only one (Create Workspace). This isn't an accident; it's conversion architecture. They guide you to the path of highest value (LTV), while keeping the support path (Find Team) visible but secondary

Once we decide to create a workspace, we’re immediately taken into the onboarding funnel, which is designed to encourage inviting more and more users (which is no surprise) - through both the copy and the mechanics.

This looks like this:

In the first step, you’re asked, “What’s the name of your company or team?”

Next, you’re asked for your name, accompanied by the subheadline: “Help your teammates recognize and connect with you more easily.”

The third step asks you to invite coworkers, with the headline: “Who else is on the [Workspace name] team?”

And while this step isn’t mandatory, you receive a “warning” if you try to skip it.

The fourth step asks, “What’s your team working on right now?”

Slack then creates a channel based on what you type in.

And the final step is - of course - upselling.

What caught my eye here is the offer Slack presents right away. This is a smart move because, if you’re already familiar with Slack and want to set it up for your organization, this is the perfect moment to offer a discount.

One thing I want to highlight here is this: go back to the beginning and take a closer look at the copy Slack uses.

Slack doesn’t ask questions about you - even for the question “What’s your name,” there is a subheadline referring to your team. Every piece of text is crafted around the team, the company, and collaboration.

This subtly makes you feel like you’re using a tool that provides value only when you collaborate and work together with others.

Using Slack

Once we’re ready to go, we land on our fully set-up Slack overview.

Now comes the point where Slack employs mechanics designed to encourage you to actively use the tool. Slack’s key activation metric is the number of messages sent per user after sign-up.

💡 The key activation metric is the metric you use to measure when someone reaches the point at which your product creates the most value—also known as the "AHA moment." Which is crucial in determining whether a user uses your tool or not.

And they figured out that users who sent at least 2,000 messages were far more likely to become long-term users.

As Slack’s CEO explains here:

“Based on experience of which companies stuck with us and which didn’t, we decided that any team that has exchanged 2,000 messages in its history has tried Slack - really tried it. For a team of around 50 people, that means about 10 hours’ worth of messages. For a typical team of 10 people, that’s maybe a week’s worth of messages. But it hit us that, regardless of any other factor, after 2,000 messages, 93% of those customers are still using Slack today.”

Slack achieves this key activation metric by guiding users step by step with simple but effective tutorials to ensure they quickly get value out of the tool and use it.

Once we jump into the channel, the tutorials continue by pointing out the next steps, as shown below with “👇 Start here”.

If you follow the steps, Slack continues to encourage you to use the tool.

After sending your first text, you’re rewarded with a success message like this.

All of this ensures that we not only know how to use the tool but also pave the way playfully for actually working with it.

Once we jump back into our overview after these tutorials, the “+ Invite people” button is highlighted.

This is because Slack wants to further drive engagement.

Invite More and More Coworkers

Hovering over the “+ Invite people” section, Slack offers a helping hand and encourages us to invite more people.

Once we click on the button, we’re taken to a form where we can invite other people with just a few clicks.

And Slack encourages you again to invite as many people as possible, highlighted in the red box: “Get all your coworkers on Slack.”

In addition, you have the option to invite people from your Google Workspace or external organizations. This makes it easy and seamless.

Once we invite someone (for this purpose, I invited myself again 😎), we’re sent to the next screen.

And here comes a smart move by Slack.

With one click on the box in the red-marked area, anyone with the same email domain as the email address used can gain access to this Slack workspace, making it 100 times easier to bring people from the same company on board.

And with that, the growth loop is set in motion, ensuring that more and more people from an increasing number of organizations choose Slack.

How Slack Upsells from Within Its Growth Loop

One last piece of the puzzle is Slack’s upselling strategy.

When we signed up, Slack granted us a 30-day free trial of its “Pro Package.”

This is a good move because, during these 30 days, if we hit the activation milestone of 2,000 messages per user - and assuming we’re part of the 93% that stick with Slack afterward - the upgrade feels like a natural next step.

And I’m pretty sure the 30 days were chosen to correspond to the time an average company needs to reach 2,000 messages + implement it in their organization.

The upgrade packages are designed in such a way that continuing with Slack becomes an easy decision.

Using Slack in a work context, having “Unlimited message history” is crucial - it means you have access to all messages, all the time. However, in the free version, your message history is limited to just 90 days.

This becomes one of the strongest arguments for upgrading.

The rest of the features are focused on collaboration, which becomes increasingly relevant as your team relies more and more on Slack.

What about those who stick to the free plan?

As of 2025, roughly 73% of all Slack users are on the free tier - that’s an estimated 38 million free users out of 52 million total registered users.

Sounds like a lot, right? And it is a lot… considering the typical SaaS conversion rate hovers around 5%, Slack is doing way better.

And that’s probably because Slack knows a lot about us, and it’s a big lever for upselling.

They know:

• Your email address

• Your workspace name

• What the workspace is for

• If you’re using it alone or have invited team members

• How many users are in your workspace

• How you use it (channels, messages sent, etc.)

And remember, Slack’s activation metric is 2,000 messages sent. Once you hit that, you’re far more likely to become a long-term user.

Based on this, here’s how I would architect Slack’s backend nurturing system with different triggers:

Example 1: User hits 1-500 messages → Action: Email like “5 tips to use Slack in your team” → Goal: Increase usage and invite team members (this naturally drives more usage)

Example 2: User hits 500-1,500 messages → Action: In-app pop-up: “You’re on fire! Don’t lose your history.” → Goal: Upsell pre-framing

Example 3: User hits 2,000 messages → Action: Check if enterprise or smaller company → notify sales (PQL - product qualified lead)

And you can play around with this.

Email drip campaigns. Ad retargeting. Outreach and calls.

It’s always a question of how to push users in the direction where they’re more likely to convert.

Final Thoughts

What Slack does exceptionally well is subtly influence you in every aspect.

The copy and the way the tool is built and structured emphasize three key points:

a) You’re using a collaborative tool → Invite coworkers
b) You have to send messages → Pushing you toward the activation metric
c) You implement it in your organization and take the effort to invite everyone → Pay for the tool

Bottom line: Slack has optimized its growth loop to the maximum. And if you want to set growth on autopilot, take a closer look at Slack.

So, to replicate this success, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does your copy align with your goal?
   Slack’s goal is to grow within organizations, and its copy reflects this perfectly. It highlights collaboration, teamwork, and value for companies in every text. → How can you tailor your messaging to align with your growth goals?

2. Do you know your activation metric?
   Slack’s activation metric is 2,000 messages sent per user. This clear metric enables Slack to build growth mechanics that push users toward this goal. → What is your activation metric, and how can you create features that drive users toward it?

3. Is it worth upgrading to your paid plan?
   Slack’s paid plan focuses on features essential for collaboration in a work context, such as unlimited message history. These features are gated without disrupting the core mechanics of the free version. → How can you gate relevant features in a way that makes upgrading a natural decision?

   
   

If you enjoyed this breakdown, please tap the like button below. Thank you! 💛

I was freelancing, working with this founder. Great guy. The kind you’d actually want to grab a beer with.

His startup had just raised Series A, so money was in the bank and the team was rapidly growing. They scaled marketing, they scaled sales, and from the outside everything looked fine.

They were doing all the right things:

• content output doubled and went out regularly

• they ran a webinar series with decent attendance

• ads were running across multiple channels with retargeting

• landing pages were actually converting.

But here’s the thing.

Over time, growth kept getting harder instead of easier. The team was complaining, with marketing and sales working in silos.

So we looked under the hood.

What we found was a total mess.

CRM data was all over the place with dozens of properties nobody needs that were only half filled in. Dashboards were showing data nobody trusts, and endless workflows were running into the void.

The outside was polished, but the inside was chaos.

And this isn’t rare.

Most scaling companies face this because they hire, they launch, they grow, and they build everything on top of a fragile system. The cracks don’t show until it’s too late, and instead of scaling, you get lost in the mess.

Here is how we fixed it.

Time to Hit Reset

Before you throw tools and money at the problem, before you try performing open-heart surgery, you need to zoom out.

That’s what we did by going back to basics. We forgot about HubSpot and whatever tools they were using and started with mapping out the funnels.

Simple and plain on the whiteboard.

And I mean every funnel: generating leads through webinars? Map it. Leads through ads? Map it. Every path a customer could take, every bottleneck and then we fixed them one by one.

Here’s how.

The Good Old Funnel

You know the typical funnel, right?

Attracting your customer = Top of the Funnel

Convincing your customer = Middle of the Funnel

Convert your customer = Bottom of the Funnel

And yes, the funnel sucks because no customer will ever run through a funnel like this. It implies gravity does the work and everyone runs linear through it, but in reality, systems do the work.

Here’s the thing: despite the wrong visualization it helps you get clarity in your system because it’s an easy way to understand what happens at each stage and touchpoint of your customer’s journey.

So let’s map each funnel.

Create Transparency Through Funnel Mapping

Start at the top with the awareness stage, which is the entry point.

So, let’s stick to the webinar funnel example where we map out everything that happens here and draw the paths a lead takes until conversion.

We have a landing page and create traffic through social posts, ads, and partner promotion. Leads land on the landing page and register for the webinar, which is the point where someone enters our system and gets segmented.

After the webinar, we send one follow-up email.

Now we move to the next stage, the middle of the funnel where we convince lead to become a customer.

Here we list everything that happens to help us convert leads to sales calls.

In this case, we had different nurturing emails based on the segmentation from the landing page registration, and we had ad retargeting campaigns also based on that segmentation.

Now moving to the last part where everything ends in a sales call.

From there, you map out what happens: deals are created, follow-ups happen, and deals close.

It’s simplified here, but you should also map out deal stages and nurturing in between.

So now we have a transparent overview showing stages, activities, and the path a lead takes to convert, all along a simple funnel diagram.

Add Properties That Actually Matter

Now we go alongside the funnel stages and add properties we need in our CRM (or that should being tracked automatically) to each activity.

In the upper part you have for example the UTM parameters that answer where leads are coming from, then you have the property that’s added based on segmentation, and then you track if someone opens the email, clicks the link, or ignores it.

Luckily, some of this is tracked automatically in most CRMs.

Now we map out properties to the rest of the activities in the lower part of the funnel and the diagram looks something like this at the end.

Once you do this, you have a clear picture of:

• What path a lead takes

• What you should track

• And what’s missing

To that last point:

Luckily this was a clear funnel we could paint, but sometimes things like retargeting or nurturing flows are completely missing.

Here the overview helps. Thanks to that you can easily think through and see what’s missing. And this is what you should do with every funnel and activity you’re doing to generate leads.

Yes, every funnel, because you want transparency, you want to know what works and what doesn’t, and you want to track the right things to scale with transparency, not blindness.

After doing this we ended up deleting 50% of the existing properties. Why? Because if you don’t use the data to make a decision, it’s a distraction.

Final Words

Look, most companies don’t need more leads. They need better systems.

You can double your ad spend, hire more marketers, and pump out more content, but if your funnel leaks at every stage because of broken processes, growth will always feel harder than it should.

The fix isn’t complicated: map every funnel, add properties that matter, build clean workflows & automations, and delete the rest. That’s how you create clarity from chaos and build a structure your team can actually scale with.

No more guessing. No more broken dashboards. No more workflows running to nowhere.

Just clean systems that scale.

Sometimes it takes a reset to move forward.

PS: If you enjoyed this, please tap the like button below. Thank you! 💛

Then something caught my eye: “Guideflow - The AI demo automation platform for SaaS”

I clicked and went straight to their website, as I’m a huge fan of what they offer.

Guideflow helps SaaS companies build interactive demos, allowing them to embed those demos directly on their own websites. With this, your users have already tested your tool before ever signing up.

Super smart.

After looking at their website, I started thinking: how would I build their growth system to make sure nothing falls apart when they scale?

That’s what I break down today.

The Homepage (And What Could Be Improved)

Let’s start at the entry to Guideflow’s solution.

I ignored everything else and focused on what happens above the fold on their website.

Here’s what you see when you land:

a headline, a subheadline, and chaos.

The subheadline is great - crystal clear and explains exactly what you can do. But the main headline just repeats what the tool does.

I’d flip it and use the headline to show the outcome: “Build an interactive demo. Watch your conversion rate climb.” Something like that.

After that is where the chaos begins: there’s the CTA overkill:

• Get a demo

• Talk to sales

And the demo CTAs:

• Interactive demo

• Demo center

• Sandbox

• Live demo

That’s four demo types before I even understand what the tool does.

Look, I get it. They want to showcase possibilities. But at this stage, I don’t know the difference between a demo center and a sandbox. I’d have to scroll down and read more.

Here’s What I’d Do Instead

Two options:

A) Add tooltips next to each option — quick explainer, hover and learn.

B) Reduce it to one option — this is what I’d pick.

One interactive demo that shows you how to build interactive demos with the tool itself. Meta, but it works.

And they already have this next to all the other options. So simply reduce it.

The rest of the website is pretty clear and I assume it converts pretty strong. But back to our system.

We take the interactive demo I mentioned above as a starting point. So let’s say someone clicks through it because he wants to know what he can do with Guideflow.

And you know what Guideflow does smart here?

The demo is long. Really long. Which means if someone clicks through to the end, they’re hooked.

Almost guaranteed conversion.

At the end of the demo, there’s a CTA: “Create your own demo” Click it and you’re taken to account creation.

The signup form is clean with social proof right there and name drops of customers. Strong for conversion.

After you sign up, you hit a segmentation flow: company size, what you’re using it for, and some hints about installing the Chrome extension.

Then you land in the product.

At this point, Guideflow knows: you used the interactive demo, you created an account, your company size, and what you want to use it for.

You’re in the free version.

The goal?

Upsell you. So, what to do now?

How I Would Build Guideflow’s Growth System

Let’s assume everything else is fine. The paid offer is solid, users get value, and product-market fit is there.

It’s “just” about upselling.

First thing I’d do? Track more.

Because in SaaS, it’s all about the AHA moment.

💡 The “aha moment” is the point where a user first experiences the core value of the product - the moment the product’s benefit becomes obvious.

It’s not just activation or onboarding. It’s the instant the user says: “Oh… this is why this product is awesome.”

This is where most SaaS fail nowadays, especially AI tools.

I’ve seen it over and over: A) there is simply no AHA moment because the tools are shit or B) the users aren’t pushed enough to ever reach this moment.

But let’s get back to Guideflow.

I assume the AHA moment here is when someone builds a demo, implements it on their website, and sees how users interact with it and convert.

And until that happens, they’re not ready to buy.

So the first goal for Guideflow is to push users toward the AHA moment.

Lead Scoring First, Pushing Leads Second

For this, I’d use a scoring system, 0 to 100 (and this is really simplified).

For simplicity, let’s say Guideflow’s ICP is somewhere between enterprise customers and scaling startups (based on a look at their pricing table).

Here’s the scoring I would start with:

That means:

• ICP creates an account = 60 points

• Non-ICP creates an account = 30 points

• ICP builds and implements a demo = 100 points (sales ready)

• Non-ICP builds and implements a demo = 70 points

This gives us a clear map of where everyone sits.

Make Them Sales Ready

Now we can build nurture flows based on scoring.

Four workflows:

1. ICP created account, but no demo built = 60 points → Goal: bring them to 75 points

2. ICP created account and built demo, but didn’t implement it = 75 points → Goal: bring them to 100 points

3. Non-ICP created account, but no demo built = 30 points → Goal: bring them to 45 points

4. Non-ICP created account and demo, but didn’t implement it = 45 points → Goal: bring them to 70 points

Start nurturing with regular emails, a few days between each one in the beginning, and push them based on behavior.

Example emails:

• “Hey, you created an account. Here’s how to build your first demo in 5 minutes.”

• “You built a demo. Nice. Now let’s get it live on your site.”

• “Your demo is live. Here’s what to track to see results.”

• …

If they don’t increase their points after 30 days, disqualify them and start a requalification campaign later.

Now let’s say we pushed a decent number of users to the AHA moment. Lead scores increased and we’ve got a pool of perfectly scored users. Time to upsell.

How to Upsell

100 points and above:

Route directly to sales with personal outreach and calls. Sales has all the info: where they came from, company size, what they want to use the tool for, and how sales-ready they are.

Why sales here? Because you’re fighting with limited resources, you channel them where the most money is made. The most promising leads go to sales.

If sales don’t convert them, either disqualify or push back into sales nurturing.

70 points (non-ICP):

Not worth sales effort. There’s decent money here, but not enough to justify sales time.

Goal: direct conversion and self-upgrade.

Go all-in on email nurturing and ad retargeting.

Build sequences with case studies, testimonials, and success stories - everything personalized and tailored based on segmentation.

That’s why Guideflow asks “How do you plan to use it?” in the beginning. Use that data.

To make this efficient, add more complexity to scoring by subtracting points if someone doesn’t open emails or click links. This way you get perfectly qualified leads and significantly increase self-upselling.

Making the flow look like this:

Last Words

Most SaaS companies throw leads into the product and hope they figure it out.

The difference between companies that scale and companies that stall? Better systems.

And if you have a good product, it’s not that hard.

Push users to the AHA moment, score them based on behavior, and route them where they belong. High-value leads to sales and everyone else to self-serve. Simple.

PS: If you enjoyed this, please tap the like button below. Thank you! 💛

Today, we’re breaking down the funnel of VEED, one of the most successful video editing startups of the AI era. I came across it recently while searching for a way to create engaging videos, and its growth loop is what caught my attention.

So, let’s jump in.

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Have you ever considered using video in your marketing?

Me too.

But I always struggled with how to edit videos to make them cool and engaging. When I last looked into this topic, I saw that there are now thousands of AI tools that can help.

However, VEED stood out. It’s probably one of the most successful ones: it started as a bare-bones video editor and now generates $40 million in revenue in 2024, up from $15 million in 2023.

So, I thought we could take a closer look at its growth mechanics.

VEED – From Side Project to Eight-Figure SaaS

SEO as a Key Pillar of Its Strategy

VEED started as a side project and relied heavily on SEO from the very beginning.

Today, it attracts about 11.7 million visits per month and is one of the world’s 20 most-visited design tools.

It all started simply, as the founder stated in a Reddit post six years ago.

So they started out with:

• Posting on Quora → which was found through SEO and drove traffic

• Building backlinks through an additional tool → which created trust in the VEED page and helped it rank better

If we dive into its traffic sources today, a Similarweb breakdown shows an unusually balanced traffic mix for a product-led SaaS:

• Organic search delivers 52.94% of desktop sessions, thanks to thousands of highly targeted landing pages (e.g., “compress WebM,” “add subtitles to TikTok”).

• Direct traffic contributes 35.33%, indicating that many people type “veed” directly into the URL bar after encountering the brand elsewhere.

• Social channels round things out—most visibly a YouTube channel with 146,000 subscribers and over 41 million lifetime views, plus 21,700 followers on TikTok, where quick-fire demos double as advertisements.

This indicates that VEED has a strong brand—with over 35% direct traffic—and drives significant traffic through SEO and social media.

Smart here is that they build landingpages for every use case like “add subtitles to TikTok”

Two Minutes to the “Aha” Moment

But how is all that traffic converted? And how do users see the value?

The answer is ruthlessly simple—it takes no longer than two minutes to reach the “aha” moment.

💡 The “aha moment” is the point where a user first experiences the core value of a product—when they go from just trying it to truly understanding it. It's the switch that flips when someone says, “Ohhh… now I see why this is useful.”

It’s not always the first login or feature click; it’s the first moment of realized value.

Start for free, no card required.

Once new visitors land on the site, they can jump straight into the editor from any landing page and are greeted with calls to action like “Get started” and “Start for free.”

The added note—“No credit card required”—helps lower the barrier to entry and encourages users to try the product without commitment.

Once you log in, you land directly inside the tool.

You can upload your video and have plenty of options to optimize it, from auto-generating subtitles to removing noise and improving quality.

This makes beginners feel like pros in less than 120 seconds, which turns out to be the aha moment.

Watermark Loop: Free Advertising Baked into the Product

Once users want to download their video (on the free version), VEED’s product-led growth tactic comes into play.

Every video exported on the free plan is stamped with a discreet “VEED” badge that cannot be removed without a paid subscription.

As many users don’t pay for the tool, they use these clips with the watermark intact. Because creators post them across TikTok, Reels, Shorts, and LinkedIn, the watermark travels with the content.

Viewers who click—or simply remember the short domain—land on VEED, use the free editor, and, in turn, push more branded videos back into the wild. Direct traffic numbers confirm that this loop sustains itself at scale.

How VEED Makes Money

Huge traffic and smart product-led growth aren’t enough. What counts is revenue, and VEED uses multiple streams:

1. Subscriptions
2. Credits

For subscriptions, the cheapest paid tier—Lite, at roughly $9/month—removes the watermark and unlocks 1080p resolution.

Higher-tier plans offer 4K exports, brand kits, language translation, and eye-contact correction. Enterprise pricing includes even more features, which are typically needed by companies using the tool at scale (and it’s interesting that such a tool even offers enterprise packages).

Credits, on the other hand, are used for AI functionality—such as AI avatars—and follow a typical usage-based pricing model.

Loops That Keep Customers—and Bring in New Ones

VEED.io has over 12 million users per month and more than 100,000 paying users. It has grown from a small startup into a global, industry-leading platform by leveraging various growth mechanics.

One of these is the “Invite Your Friends” discount, which incentivizes users to refer others in exchange for benefits, helping to fuel viral growth and expand the user base organically.

Affiliate Program

The affiliate program has no limit. Participants receive a 25% commission on every successful referral for up to 12 months.

Final Words

VEED’s growth loop is a textbook example: long-tail SEO filled the top of the funnel; the watermark turned every user into a micro-advertiser; social video added reach; and AI features increased trial-to-paid conversions and average revenue per user.

VEED’s badge may occupy just a few pixels in the corner of a video, but it’s the engine behind its success.

If your product naturally produces shareability, your next growth breakthrough might be hiding in plain sight—right where your users click “Publish.”

Takeaways

1. Put your brand in the product itself. If users share what they create, find a subtle way to include your logo or name.

2. Show value before asking for money. Let people experience the “wow” moment quickly, and then they'll be more open to upgrading.

3. Stick with what works. Keep your best growth channels running, even as you try new ones.

4. Educate instead of advertising. Tutorials and webinars build trust better than pop-ups or ads.

5. Raise money to grow, not to survive. Being profitable gives you more choices and better deals when fundraising.

PS: If you enjoyed this case study, please tap the like button below. Thank you! 💛

Today, we’re breaking down the funnel of Stripe - a company you’re probably already familiar with. It’s been on my list for a while, but I stumbled across it again “by accident” last week, and figured it was time.

So, let’s jump in.

I recently purchased a tool I wanted to use.

Down below on the checkout page, I saw this:

And I thought, that's a cool way of free marketing. So my next thought was, 'Hey, Stripe would be interesting for a breakdown.'

And here we are.

But diving deeper into its marketing and channels, I found out that Stripe originally started by focusing on developers as their main target group. This slightly shifted over the years, but developers still play a major role for Stripe.

Targeting developers as the audience for a payment solution didn’t make much sense to me at first. But on second thought, it does - because they’re the ones who have to work with it and implement it.

And this helped Stripe reach a valuation of $91.5 billion today and generate multi-billions in revenue.

Let’s break it down.

Stripe’s Multi-Billion Dollar Funnel

How Stripe Drives Awareness

When we talk about organic channels, Stripe is mainly active on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Meta (though the Meta account is inactive and primarily used for ads). And also leverages SEO.

Unlike other companies, there is no fully developed strategy for TikTok or Instagram (yet).

On its channels, Stripe addresses different types of content and target groups - for example, on LinkedIn, where the company promotes a lot of features:

Or so on Twitter:

But here, it gets more interesting.

In addition to their main account, we also find a “Stripe Developers” account.

Here, you’ll find more technical content that speaks directly to developers themselves.

And this makes a lot of sense because Twitter’s audience has a lot of tech people and developers.

On Instagram and TikTok, they’ve adapted to the nature of the platforms.

It seems like they started some kind of podcast or videocast format, using Reels and TikTok videos featuring speakers from their events. However, this content isn’t posted consistently and only appears from time to time.

But what’s more interesting is Stripe’s integration of its service. And this is how I came across the tool (again).

Every shop, platform, tool, or service that uses Stripe includes a “Powered by Stripe” label on the checkout page, which is essentially free marketing.

With each click, users are taken to the Stripe website.

All of this drives a lot of traffic, specifically, 4.5 million clicks each month, almost entirely from organic content.

Of course, this needs to be captured somewhere.

How Stripe Captures Demand on Its Website

When we look at Stripe as a solution, it's quite complex.

The tool combines a payment solution with many different use cases and unites several smaller products under one platform.

Visualized, it looks like this:

So, what’s a good way to promote a tool like this?

Looking at the website, we see that Stripe smartly handles this.

Feature-driven:

Under the navigation bar, there's a “Products” tab. Here we see all features listed under different solutions, all unified within the tool itself.

With a click on each feature, we’re directed to a landing page where each one is promoted individually.

Use Case-Driven

Under the “Solutions” tab on the website’s navigation, we find a section that is structured by customer stage, business model, and use cases.

With a click on the links, we’re guided to a landing page, and each one is tailored to a specific use case.

💡 Users always come to your website with different perspectives and varying levels of knowledge. While the general rule of thumb is to build your marketing for the dumbest customer, Stripe handles this in a smart way.

In their case:

A) A user arrives while looking for a specific feature to solve a particular problem.

B) A user arrives while searching for a use case tailored to their company size, stage, or industry.

This is a great way to capture organic traffic and redirect users to use cases most relevant to their initial situation.

So, but what about the funnel(s)?

Stripe’s Paid Ad Funnels

This is where Stripe begins to drive targeted leads into its solution.

Looking at the channels, we see two funnels in place - one targeting startups and one targeting enterprises.

In other breakdowns in this newsletter, we’ve seen companies build only paid funnels for enterprise customers, while Stripe also targets startups, which, in my opinion, makes a lot of sense.

A payment platform has a strong anchoring effect. Once a startup implements it and grows with it, the chances of switching later are very low, not like other tools that mainly make (big) money with enterprise customers.

Startup Funnel

Starting at the top, Stripe has a layer of awareness-building content and ads.

Creating Demand

Stripe starts by educating users on startup-related topics and providing helpful resources on how they can improve their business.

On LinkedIn, we therefore see a lot of ads targeting problem-unaware startup audiences with educational material that doesn’t primarily focus on Stripe’s solution but rather on topics every startup deals with.

The same goes for Meta:

These ads don’t lead to typical landing pages or leadgen forms like we’ve seen in other breakdowns. What Stripe does instead is direct users to PDFs that are not gated, without putting in their data.

These PDFs break down startup tactics and growth stories.

Each PDF includes a section about Stripe, highlighting different solutions tailored to startups, with a call to action at the end.

And Stripe highlights features that are specifically relevant for startups.

Capturing Demand

What they appear to do next (at least how it looks from the outside) is build their retargeting around case studies of startups successfully using Stripe.

Like this ad:

Here, they use the same format (a click on the ad leads to a PDF that explains the case study and includes a call to action at the end).

This means that first, users are presented with a PDF on general startup topics (where they become familiar with Stripe). Then, they see a case study showing how startups succeed with Stripe. Finally, there’s usually a third retargeting layer that aims for a direct call to action, such as “Test our solution.”

However, that final step isn’t something I see on LinkedIn - but it’s a tactic Stripe uses on Meta. Here you’ll find ads that promote a clear call to action.

These likely also function as part of a retargeting layer. Therefore, they feature popular startups, highlight their growth, and lead users directly to a landing page.

So, the ad funnel seems somewhat complex.

We have cold-layer ads (targeting leads not familiar with Stripe) running on both LinkedIn and Meta. Then there are retargeting ads aimed at warmer leads, using case studies — also on Meta and LinkedIn.

Additionally, we see Meta ads used specifically for retargeting that drive leads to a landing page with the goal of conversion. And finally, we have Google ads that lead directly to landing pages, aiming for conversion.

Which is totally possible, as you can combine LinkedIn and Meta for smart retargeting (but it still left me wondering).

But where do the startups land?

The landing page that most of the startup-focused ads lead to speaks directly to the target audience. However, instead of promoting specific startup solutions, it emphasizes the DIY mentality of startups (aka also speaks to developers).

Next to a strong headline that emphasizes growth, they highlight relevant benefits and features, and build trust by showcasing well-known brands that use Stripe.

Further down on the landing page, Stripe continues to reinforce the DIY startup mindset by emphasizing the ease of using their solution.

And speaking directly to developers.

But also to founders in general (or for sure also to technical co-founders).

At the end, they close with a call to action and highlight their strongest features.

Leading startups either directly to account creation…

… or funnel them in a sales call.

This makes the startup funnel look like this:

Enterprise Funnel

What Stripe is doing on the enterprise side is quite similar to what they’re doing on the startup side - but with different messaging and formats, of course.

Creating Demand

On LinkedIn, it appears they’re investing more in ads here, as there are clear retargeting funnels in place.

In general, they’re also using ungated PDFs to educate users on various topics, tailored to enterprise matters like tax and compliance.

With retargeting ads in place.

This leads to Stripe’s enterprise landing page, which starts with a strong headline and highlights well-known customers to build trust right away.

Promoting features that are relevant for enterprises.

Always building trust by showcasing logos on the site.

Leading users to more resources in case they’re not ready to convert.

And ending with a call to action to contact sales, which is different from the approach used for startups and individual users.

This makes the enterprise funnel look like this - a straightforward path from cold targeting to conversion on LinkedIn. And only on LinkedIn.

(Of course, a funnel is never truly straightforward, as leads rarely follow the exact path you design for them - but that’s how it’s structured.)

After Conversion & Paying Customers

Once someone decides to move forward with Stripe, it becomes clear again how much Stripe prioritizes developers.

The website offers detailed guides and step-by-step instructions on how to build solutions using Stripe.

There’s an entire support center to help you with the setup.

This way they reduce confusion and help the probably most overlooked stakeholder in a company, a user-friendly way to work with the solution.

One other thing worth highlighting is Stripe’s retention, and this is based on my own opinion. I believe Stripe’s retention rate is very high. We're talking about a payment solution that you don’t just implement and abandon the next day if you’re not satisfied.

Once a company decides to implement Stripe and run all payments through it, they’re likely to stick with it for a long time, which gives Stripe a strong lock-in effect.

Also, Stripe’s pricing model isn’t based on a monthly fee but on transaction fees. So, when you earn money, Stripe earns money too.

Last words

Stripe shows how powerful it can be to build for the overlooked, communicate clearly across user levels, and turn your product into its own marketing channel. From developer-first positioning to ungated content and smart retargeting, Stripe’s funnel shows how to attract, educate, and convert.

And there are some golden takeaways here that can truly accelerate growth.

Takeaways

• Who is your audience?
  Stripe didn’t start (and still doesn’t fully focus) with the obvious customer group. They began by targeting an underserved audience - developers - and made their solution easy to use while speaking directly to them. So, who is your underserved target audience?

• What level is your user coming from?
  Stripe handles this well on their website. They capture users at different stages by providing information based on features, use cases, or company size. It’s a great example of how to speak effectively to your customers.

• Can you implement free marketing?
  If you offer a solution that gets implemented or used by others, like Stripe, think about how you can turn that into free marketing. Stripe does this by placing their logo on every checkout page.

See you next week! 👋🏼

PS: If you enjoyed this case study, please tap the like button below. Thank you! 💛

Today, we’re diving into a startup with probably the most impressive growth journey we’ve covered so far—one that even outperformed OpenAI’s explosive rise.

So, let’s jump in.

If you're interested in startup growth and have kept your eyes open over the past few months, you've probably seen this graphic:

This shows the impressive growth numbers of several popular SaaS startups - all in comparison to the tool we're covering here:

Cursor.

Cursor is a code editor with built-in AI features, like an AI chat. You know, those (for us non-techies) weird-looking control centers where you type in lines of code and - magically - a full product comes out.

That means, with Cursor, developers now have an AI sparring partner - one they can ask questions while coding, that helps find bugs and assists in coding at light speed.

But not only does this sound fascinating (at least to me), but what's even more fascinating is that the startup is hitting $100M ARR in just 12 months. IN. JUST. 12. MONTHS.

With zero marketing budget.

That alone is reason enough to break it down. But while many articles only scratched the surface of its growth story - and left me unsatisfied after reading - I had to take a closer look myself.

So, ladies and gentlemen, buckle up — we’re diving deep.

Cursor’s Explosive Growth

The Engineer of the Future

In 2022, an “applied research lab” called Anysphere came into existence. As it describes itself, it is “working on automating coding.”

Its ultimate goal is “to build the engineer of the future: a human-AI programmer that's an order of magnitude more effective than any one programmer.”

The team's first step in this direction was the launch of the AI startup Cursor - co-founded in 2022 by four gentlemen: Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark, and Aman Sanger, all of whom were students at MIT at the time.

This alone gave the team some credibility in the space.

When we look at the story of Cursor, it’s a straightforward “we’re doing things better” kind of success story.

In an episode of Lex Fridman’s podcast, the Cursor founders talked about how they had used GitHub Copilot for several projects. Copilot is GitHub’s AI-powered code editor that helps speed up development.

But when the Cursor founders first heard about the ChatGPT-4 model back in 2020, they decided to step in and take things to the next level.

One founder in particular I want to highlight - who played a major role in Cursor’s growth story - is Aman Sanger.

More specifically, his tweets were a catalyst for Cursor’s early success.

How to Build Momentum with Twitter for a Product Launch

Aman had been posting consistently over the past couple of years.

Then in November 2022, one of his tweets took off. He shared some proof about how well AI coding tools were working - which is exactly what Cursor is all about. That tweet kicked off the momentum build-up until the launch of Cursor.

Over the following weeks and months, he continued posting consistently about these topics - sharing his thoughts on AI coding and AI models.

This served both to build momentum ahead of Cursor’s official announcement and, it seems, to test the very hypotheses the team would later pursue with Cursor.

More and more of Aman’s tweets started to resonate with the audience, helping him build a strong voice in the AI coding space.

Until he finally announced the launch of Cursor with a video snippet showing how it can be used to fix bugs, develop features, and use an AI chat to ask questions about your codebase - a post that went viral with his newly built audience.

With a ton of engagement, retweets, and comments - including Notion’s founder, Ivan Zhao, asking if he could test it at Notion - Aman ended the post with a subtle call to action, hinting at a waitlist. In the comments, people were actively asking to try the tool.

This moment marked the beginning of Cursor’s growth.

💡 That’s a very valid strategy for testing hypotheses for your startup. Once you’ve built a (small) audience, start posting about the problems or hypotheses you’re trying to solve with your product or startup.

Based on the engagement and comments, you can get an indication of whether it resonates or not.

Cursor’s landing page was simple.

It featured a header, a value proposition, and a field to enter your email address to join the waitlist.

In the top right corner, there was a tweet linked with the call to action: “Read the announcement.”

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find details on how the waitlist signups went. But judging by the engagement numbers on Twitter and the comments, I assume it was pretty successful.

Three months later, they publicly launched their beta - announcing a partnership with OpenAI, early access to GPT-4, and further improvements to the tool. That likely led to a significant increase in signups.

How Cursor Got User Input to Iterate

Unlike other startups we’ve covered here, like Linear, Cursor didn’t build a closed community on platforms like Slack for discussions and feedback - instead, they built a simple forum.

They regularly updated their users on changes and gave them the opportunity to provide feedback.

Looking at the oldest entries, the forum dates back to August 2023 - a couple of months after the launch. It’s clear that people were engaging, actively using the product, and sharing feedback that Cursor could iterate on. Which made the forum an integral part of the tools’ product development.

💡 If you launch a product, create a way for people to provide feedback and for you to update them quickly.

This doesn’t necessarily have to be a community, but it’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to stay close to your target audience. Of course, you need to be active and keep them updated regularly.

And the way Cursor is doing it is a prime example of engaging with their target audience and actively listening to feedback - even updating them beyond the forum.

From Developer Hype to Real Traction

At some point, Cursor started spreading like wildfire among developers. Whether it was on Twitter, Reddit, or niche dev communities, people were talking about it.

There were a few clear reasons behind this momentum:

1. The Product
Cursor delivers real value to its target audience. It improves on existing solutions and solves real developer pain points. When a product truly helps, people naturally talk about it - and that’s exactly what happened.

2. The Focus
Unlike traditional SaaS companies that rely on top-down enterprise sales, Cursor took a developer-first, bottom-up approach. It let individual developers try it out, fall in love with the tool, and eventually bring it into their teams. This kind of adoption feels organic, works quickly, and is far more cost-effective than traditional sales methods.

3. The Freemium Model
Cursor offers 2,000 free AI code completions per month. That’s enough for developers to really understand the value without committing upfront. Once they see what it can do, many naturally upgrade to paid plans. This approach allowed Cursor to grow steadily from the ground up.

Thanks to this strategy, they managed to attract developers from companies like OpenAI, Midjourney, Perplexity, and Shopify. And they used those names smartly in their marketing, which helped boost awareness even more.

And of course, having world-class investors doesn’t hurt either.

Cursor raised $8 million in seed funding led by OpenAI’s Startup Fund, with participation from GitHub’s former CEO Nat Friedman, Dropbox co-founder Arash Ferdowsi, and other top-tier angels.

But the momentum didn’t stop there.

In 2024 and 2025, Cursor went on to raise both Series A and B rounds, with Andreessen Horowitz joining in.

And they put it best:

“Cursor, distinctly among AI coding tools, has simply gotten it right... Users give glowing reviews, many have started to pay, and they rarely switch back to other IDEs. Most of the a16z Infra team have also become avid Cursor users!

This early success is due to the clear vision and relentless execution from Michael Truell, Aman Sanger, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark, and the rest of the Cursor team. They are obsessed with the problem of better AI coding, and they are laser-focused on building a great developer experience. ”

All of this?

Achieved with zero marketing budget.

Now, Cursor is starting to shift focus toward scaling into the enterprise world - and building the team to do it.

Final Thoughts

Cursor is a great example of explosive growth - and of hitting a real, widespread need. At its core, though, it's a simple story: take something that exists (like GitHub Copilot), do it better, and aim it at the right people.

That’s what led to its virality, big-name backing, and now - according to various sources - Cursor is reportedly in talks to raise hundreds of millions at a valuation nearing $10 billion.

You might be thinking: “Sure, but Cursor had famous investors. That’s not something I can replicate.”

Wrong.

There’s a lot here that you can take and apply:

Takeaways

• Validate your problem on social media
  Cursor’s founder used platforms like Twitter to test ideas, share progress, and confirm there was real demand. You can do the same - fast, free, and direct.

• Create a space for feedback
  Cursor used a simple forum. You don’t need anything fancy - just give users a place to talk, and listen closely. Then iterate based on what you hear.

• Don’t go after the biggest fish first
  Instead of targeting enterprises, Cursor focused on individual developers. Once they loved it, they brought it into their teams. Bottom-up growth > traditional sales.

See you next week! 👋🏼

PS: If you enjoyed this case study, please tap the like button below. Thank you! 💛

Today, we’re covering Canva - a tool that probably needs no introduction. But someone who definitely does deserve an introduction is my friend , whom I brought on board for this issue.

On her Substack, she analyzes website and app design through the lens of neuroscience and psychology. You should definitely check out her content - it’s AWESOME.

Now let’s jump in.

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In 2024, Canva reached 180 million users globally. With 16 million premium users, it generated $2 billion in revenue, making it a heavyweight in the SaaS space.

All the more reason to take a closer look at how Canva’s growth and sales funnels work.

Quick Note

A classical sales funnel does not reflect how marketing and sales work. You cannot strictly separate content and channels that solely drive awareness from those responsible for conversions. However, for the purpose of this analysis, it is easier to break it down this way.

What a $2B Sales Funnel Looks Like

Canva is doing a lot in terms of sales and marketing.

No wonder - it's a widely used tool with a diverse target audience.

Looking at the website alone, we can identify several main target groups:

• Students, teachers, & Universities

• Single users

• Teams & enterprises

But when navigating this jungle of activities, one thing stands out:

Canva follows a smart segmented marketing approach.

Instead of promoting Canva as a whole, they tailor their marketing to each target group.

This makes the sales funnel look like this (link to the full breakdown at the end).

Let’s dive in.

How Canva Drives Awareness

Like every major tool with millions in funding and significant media buzz, Canva is in the fortunate position of not having to educate people about the tool.

It is mainly done by others:

And this opens up a whole new playing field for Canvas's own content.

Which looks like this:

Instead of educating their audience about what the tool is doing, they focus on content for people who are already aware of the tool.

For example, on LinkedIn. Providing tips on how to use the tool:

But also playing with some memes - making fun of its target audience’s clichés:

The Same goes for X & Instagram:

While on X they are also trying some creative things - but unfortunately the crowd is dead:

And on Facebook.

But here’s something interesting.

Canva uses country-specific pages, at least for German- and English-speaking countries.

This allows them to reach a much broader audience.

The content here is mainly reels, but the topics remain the same - insights about the tool, engaging posts like riddles, and product updates.

What I really like is Canva’s Pinterest strategy - and, of course, it’s a design tool, so it’s predestined to reach an audience there.

But Canva showcases creative designs from the community, inspiring ideas, and target-audience-specific design drafts created with the tool itself here.

On YouTube, Canva is building a whole library of tips, tutorials, and how-tos - which have gained a lot of views.

And even when covering topics like "Hierarchy in Design" or "Create Videos with Photos," it's always done in Canva - sneakily connecting the content to the tool.

💡 Btw. this is a smart approach for your content strategy.

When creating content, think about how you can help your audience achieve a specific goal or solve a problem—just like Canva does with "Create videos with photos in minutes." Then, record a video demonstrating how to solve the problem using your tool.

Of course, this won’t work for every tool, but if it works for your tool it is a smart strategy to acquire users

But what stands out is Canva’s SEO strategy.

As I mentioned at the beginning, others are taking care of educating people about what Canva is.

So, Canva focuses on ranking its use cases and features in Google.

By using keywords like "website builder" or “custom business cards” Canva drives a HUGE

amount of traffic to its site.

With thousands of visits a month.

All of this helps Canva drive 191.5 million organic visits to its site, ranking for nearly 15 million keywords - which is insane!

And of course, with all this traffic, Canva’s website is optimized for conversion rates down to the last detail.

💡 When you start with SEO, you’ll probably come across expert advice like: “You have to find keywords for content that solves problems for your target group.” For example, if you run a product studio, this could mean writing articles such as “How to build an MVP?”

I agree with the idea that content should solve problems for your target group.

However, ranking for generic things like “How to build an MPV” won’t help you rank on Google anymore (in most cases). Search is saturated with this type of awareness-creating, top-of-the-funnel content. Marketers have been following this approach for years.

Nowadays, you should focus your SEO content around your product and create awareness through social media. That way, when someone Googles your product or product category, you’ll be the top result. This could include articles like “[Your Product] vs. [Your Competitor’s Product]” or “How to do X with [Your Product]”, and so on.

How Canva Converts Traffic on Its Website

Canva’s Homepage

Most of the traffic lands on Canva’s homepage first, which is well-optimized for lead generation.

To have a look at it, I’ll hand it over to to analyze it from a neuromarketing point of view:

Canva’s homepage is as perfect as it gets. Check out this detailed breakdown here.

Here are the top things I want to cover about Canva’s landing page:

• Visual perfection

• Simplicity and Cognitive Ease

• Emotional Connection

• Built for Businesses

1. Visual Perfection

At a glance, the design is modern, clean, and consistent. They follow all the principles of visual hierarchy.

Even looking deeper, it is evident that Canva has dotted their i's and crossed their t's:

• Structured grid system for balance and proportionality

• Whitespace keeps things uncluttered and easy to navigate.

• CTAs stand out with strategic placement, white space, and subtle micro-interactions.

• Fonts are modern and readable, with no inconsistencies.

• Icons and images are high quality, with clean placement and no visual clutter.

• Perfect spacing and alignment, so nothing feels cramped or awkward.

2. Simplicity and Cognitive Ease

Do we understand what Canva is?

Their headline is:

What will you design today?

They are letting us know that whatever we want to design, they got us covered.

To be more clear, they go ahead and visually list all the use cases. This helps us see exactly how we can use Canva in our own work.

🌀 But could they improve the heading?

“What are you designing”

It’s open-ended and inviting, but could it be clearer? A bit more specific, something like “A tool to design anything and everything”

Maybe Canva is so well-known that they don’t feel the need to explain what they do. But for new users, a little more clarity might help.

Is Canva’s Homepage Easy to Scan? Is it simple to go through?

A study by NNGroup shows that people don’t read websites, they scan them instead.(In a study, 79% skimmed new pages, while only 16% read word-for-word.)

Canva gets this. Their homepage is built for quick scanning. Their homepage is optimized for scrolling and quick scanning of the text. How do they actually implement it?

• Layout uses grids for clear structure which makes content easy to follow.

• Follows an F-shaped pattern, and places key information where people naturally look

Also, Canva keeps text minimal and relies on visuals to communicate—the classic ‘show, not tell approach’. This is related to the Picture Superiority Effect, where people remember images better than words.

Is the Cognitive Load High or Low?

It’s low—and that’s a good thing.

3. Emotion Connection

Purple isn’t just a random choice for Canva—it’s strategic. In color psychology, purple represents creativity, ambition, and positivity, which fits perfectly with Canva’s brand. Their shade of purple even has a hint of blue, adding a touch of trust and reliability while still feeling fun and approachable.

Their copy is casual and inviting:

• “Templates for absolutely anything” (Casual)

• “What will you design today?” (Conversational)

• “We’re full of surprises”. (Curiosity)

Together, the color and tone make Canva feel fun, creative, and reliable.

Overall, Canva doesn’t feel cold or corporate—it has a personality.

4. Built for Businesses

Yeah, Canva is a design tool for everyone. But their landing page makes it clear—they mean business. The homepage speaks directly to businesses.

Why?

• Pricing is very B2B-centric, they have tailored options for

  • Canva Pro: Solopreneurs/freelancers

  • Teams: Medium to small companies, startups

  • Entreprise: Big corporations

• Social proof highlights large companies across different industries, not individual creators or freelancers.

• Testimonials are framed as ‘Business Wins with Canva’, reinforcing its value for companies.

• A dedicated section—“Plans that get down to business”—makes it clear that Canva is a serious tool for professionals.

Even Educational institutions aren’t on the main page—they have a separate pricing section, reinforcing that the landing page is business-first.

This isn’t just about targeting businesses; it’s about earning their trust. Canva positions itself as a reliable, scalable tool for teams, startups, and enterprises that need high-quality design at scale.

Overall, Canva’s landing page is smartly designed—clean, scannable, and easy to navigate. Every detail, from layout to copy, keeps things simple while reinforcing trust.

Canva’s Landingpages

here again - If someone arrives from the mentioned Google rankings, they won’t land on the homepage. Instead, they’ll be directed to landing pages tailored to specific features and use cases.

Like this one for the “website builder" keyword:

Or the one for the video editor:

All of these pages follow the same structure (full breakdown at the end of the article):

• Header with a value proposition

• Logo wall to build trust

• Examples of things created with Canva

• Features & benefits overview

• Explanation of how it works

• FAQs to answer important questions

• 6 to 9 call-to-action buttons guiding users to the free version of the tool

But what Canva does here is super cool.

For some use cases, like video creation, Canva lets users jump straight into the tool - without requiring them to sign up first.

The user can upload a video and fully edit it. But as soon as they want to use or save it, Canva prompts them to sign up.

At that point, they’ve already put in the effort of making the video —which means it is much more likely that they’ll complete the sign-up process.

On other landing pages, however, Canva forces users to create an account before they can use the tool at all.

This feels like a missed opportunity, and I don’t understand the inconsistency. As mentioned, when someone puts in the effort to edit an image, video, or anything else in the tool before creating an account, they are more likely to sign up after.

Meanwhile, the rest of the site is also very well optimized - as states on the Navigation bar:

The navigation bar is clean, simple, and easy to use. It follows best practices with a minimalist design and plenty of whitespace. Nothing feels cluttered.

It keeps things simple with just five main options, following Miller’s Law (people can only remember about 5 to 7 things at once before feeling overwhelmed) —so you’re not overwhelmed with too much at once.

It also hides extra options until you hover, keeping the interface sleek while still offering depth when needed. Each section is carefully structured for quick scanning and familiarity.

This is what shows up when you click on “Design Spotlight”:

Overall, everything feels smooth, simple, and effortless to navigate.

So, to sum it up, with all of this—and 190 million monthly visitors—Canva seems to be doing pretty well in terms of conversion.

But how do they drive targeted demand to create revenue?

How Canva Creates Targeted Demand

: While the website captures organic traffic - seemingly driven by a broad multi-channel strategy - the more strategic and targeted approach happens one level deeper.

A look at Canva’s pricing page shows that it divides its pricing packages into sections for free users, solo users, and smaller teams & organizations. Another tab links to dedicated pages for schools & universities.

But when it comes to creating targeted demand, schools & universities are approached almost identically to enterprises.

This means we have these different target groups to look at:

• Free/Solo users

• Smaller Teams

• Enterprise/Schools Universities
  

How Canva Targets Free & Solo Users

There is no explicit strategy for how Canva targets free and paying solo users, as they are not the primary revenue-generating group.

Therefore, free and solo users are mainly acquired in two ways:

• Organic content (which is free for Canva and includes social media, SEO, and media buzz)

• Google Ads (though these are also used to target teams and organizations)

For the latter, Canva also promotes these use cases and features with targeted keywords on Google Ads.

By clicking on it, you land on the same landing pages we discussed earlier - where users are led straight into the tool.

How Canva Targets Smaller Teams

This one is more interesting.

Even though the line between targeting solo users and teams is somewhat blurry.

From what I’ve seen, Canvas ads for teams include:

• Google Ads – The same as those for solo users, capturing members of smaller teams as well.

• LinkedIn Ads – Showcasing product features useful for smaller teams without specialized roles, such as video editing.

• Meta Ads – Follows the same concept as LinkedIn Ads.

With Canva’s “team” strategy it is highlighting use cases that are essential for smaller teams without specialized graphic design roles.

Once you reach the landing page, the goal remains the same: convert users to the freemium version.

How Canva Targets Enterprise & Campus Users

This happens through a mix of Google and LinkedIn ads.

For enterprises, Canva uses LinkedIn ads to promote a webinar series featuring well-known companies and their executives. The goal is to educate other organizations on how to use Canva more efficiently.

This leads to a landing page with a content library where you can explore these webinar series.

Once you land on the page, it appears that Canva has retargeting in place via LinkedIn Ads and the Google Display Network.

These ads lead directly to another landing page.

Unlike ads not targeted toward enterprises, the call to action here directs users to contact sales. This makes sense because enterprise packages are much more expensive, and the decision-making process involves convincing an entire buying center, making it more complex.

And with sales calls & personal contact Canva has a better chance to convert those customers.

For campuses and universities, Canva relies solely on LinkedIn Ads.

These ads also lead to a landing page with the same goal: contact sales.

💡 Speaking from my own experience, we have tested Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads extensively in the past. The best results we achieved were with an ad spend of around $3,500–$4,000, generating 200+ qualified leads per month at a cost per lead (CPL) of $18.

I would use these two channels in combination:

• Google Ads, targeting high-intent keywords (i.e., keywords that indicate the user is ready to make a purchase) → Leading to a landing page that educates visitors about the offer and provides a conversion opportunity.

• LinkedIn Ads → Retargeting landing page visitors by offering additional education and a conversion opportunity, or directly aiming for a conversion (to be tested).

Example: Canva

• Google Ads targets the keyword “business card creator” (since users searching for this term likely want to create a business card). When they click the ad, they land on a page that explains what Canva does - but they don’t sign up yet.

• LinkedIn Ads then retarget these landing page visitors with an ad related to the business card creator. The ad might say, “Sign up to create your business card.” Since the visitor has already engaged with the content and knows about the business card creator, they see the ad again and are more likely to sign up.

Google Ads generate awareness, while conversions happen on LinkedIn.

Where the Money Is Made - The Pricing Page

Handing over to to have a look at how Canva makes money:

Canva’s revenue comes from two main strategies - upselling and selling to businesses.

• Upselling – This happens when free users, like solopreneurs and non-business users, realize the value of Canva and upgrade to a paid plan. They start for free, see how useful it is, and decide it’s worth paying for.

• Selling to businesses – Canva has tailored its landing page and pricing structure to appeal to companies. Everything is optimized to show businesses why Canva is a must-have tool for teams, making it easy for them to sign up and scale their usage.

We’ve already talked about how well-optimized Canva’s landing page is - now, let’s take a closer look at the pricing page. Let’s dive in.

Breakdown of the Pricing Page

Canva’s pricing page is designed to guide users toward deciding with minimal friction.

Here are the neuromarketing principles Canva uses:

• Visual Hierarchy & Color Psychology

• Smart Defaults & Status Quo Bias

• Anchoring & Price Framing

• Loss Aversion

• Social Proof

• Progressive Disclosure

• Halo Effect

• Building Brand Loyalty at an Early Age
  

1. Visual Hierarchy and Color psychology

The page is structured to be easy to scan and process, making decision-making feel effortless.

• Strong Visual Hierarchy – Key details (plan names, prices, and benefits) stand out, making comparisons simple.

• Color Psychology – The free plan is gray, while paid plans use Canva’s signature purple, subtly reinforcing value and importance.

2. Smart Defaults & Status Quo Bias

Canva doesn’t wait for users to explore pricing—they guide them toward the most valuable option from the start.

• The Business Pricing tab is the default, directing users toward high-value plans.

• Yearly plans are preselected with a prompt to "Save 16%," leveraging default bias to encourage long-term commitment.

Most people stick with what’s already chosen for them. Canva leverages this instinct effortlessly, nudging users toward higher spending without resistance.

3. Price Framing

Canva doesn’t just show you prices—they frame them strategically to make the higher-tier plans look like the smarter choice.

At first glance, Canva Teams seems like the better deal:

• Pro: €110/year per person

• Teams: €90/year per person

But is it actually cheaper? Not really. Canva Teams requires at least 3 people, which means the minimum cost is €270 per year.

By framing Teams as a "cheaper per person" option, Canva makes it feel like a better value—even though the total cost is higher.

It’s a textbook example of price framing—shifting focus from total cost to perceived savings.

4. Loss aversion

Canva taps into loss aversion—the idea that people are more motivated to avoid losing something than to gain something new.

Free Trial Strategy – By offering a risk-free trial, Canva removes hesitation. Users get access to premium features, making it harder to go back to the free version.

"Everything in Free, plus…" Strategy – This upgrade path makes it easy to see what users would lose if they don’t upgrade. Higher tiers clearly offer more value, reinforcing that sticking with a lower plan means missing out.

5. Social Proof: Building Trust and Reducing Uncertainty

Canva uses social proof to reassure users and make decision-making easier.

• FAQs anticipate concerns – By answering common questions upfront, Canva removes hesitation and builds confidence.

• Trust through numbers – Highlighting that 6 million teams use Canva reinforces its credibility.

• Logos from well-known companies – Seeing trusted brands using Canva makes new users feel more comfortable signing up.

6. Progressive Disclosure through Separation of Business and education page

Instead of overwhelming users with all information at once, separate tabs for Education and Business Pricing help users find what’s relevant without clutter.

Each pricing page is tailored to its audience:

Canva keeps things clear and clutter-free, making sure every user gets the info they need without distractions.

7. Halo Effect

Because Canva is free for Teachers, Schools and Districts, it feels like more than just a business—it comes across as a brand that truly supports learning and creativity.

This builds trust and goodwill, making people see Canva in a positive light. And because of this, Users are more likely to trust and prefer Canva over competitors, even in non-educational contexts.

8. Building Brand Loyalty at an early age

When students learn and create with Canva from a young age, they become comfortable with the tool. they’re more likely to prefer and advocate for Canva when choosing a tool for work/business.

What they can improve?

The Overwhelming Feature Comparison While most of the page is optimized for ease, the feature comparison chart is visually overwhelming and adds unnecessary complexity.

There are just too many features crammed into the comparison table—90+ across 10 tabs. Instead of making things clearer, it creates cognitive overload, making it harder for users to spot what really matters.

The endless checkmarks don’t help either. The repetition makes it feel overwhelming, and the real differences between plans get lost in the noise. Also the thing is that most of the features in the last 3 plans are similar. The biggest difference comes down to company size and number of teams, but the way it’s presented makes it seem way more complicated than it actually is.

So how can they improve it?

Instead of listing every single feature, Canva could focus on what businesses actually care about:

• Pro: For solopreneurs and small teams who need advanced design tools.

• Teams: For growing businesses that need collaboration tools.

• Enterprise: For large organizations that need security, brand control, and large-scale collaboration.

Overall, Canva’s pricing page is designed to convert users efficiently, but simplifying the feature comparison could make it even more user-friendly.

Upselling From Within the Tool

When you start using Canva's free trial, the upselling begins—smooth and its almost unnoticeable. This is how:

1. Freemium Model

Canva’s freemium model is designed to get you hooked on the free version, letting you explore and create without restrictions at first. The catch? As you invest time and effort into your designs, you start encountering premium features that make everything easier.

By the time you realize you need those Pro tools, you’re already committed. And that’s exactly the point—once you're in, upgrading feels like the natural next step.

2. You get to see exactly what you miss if you don’t go for Canva Premium.

Canva doesn’t block premium features completely—they just tease you with them. You’ll see Pro templates, fonts, and AI tools sitting right there, but they’re grayed out or watermarked. Just enough to make you want them. You get to see exactly what you miss if you don’t go for Canva Premium.

You can even try using them, but when you go to download, that paywall pops up. By then, you’re already invested in your design, and upgrading feels like the only way to get what you truly want.

3. Right nudge at the right time

Canva knows the perfect time to ask you to upgrade - right when you need it most.

You’re in the middle of designing, you click on a Pro feature, and boom—a pop-up appears, reminding you what you're missing.

Overall, think that Canva doesn’t push you to upgrade - it makes you want to upgrade. By letting you explore for free, teasing premium features, and showing you exactly what you’re missing, they create a natural pull toward Pro.

After Sales: How to Keep Users Around

taking over, coming to the end of the funnel:

Canva uses a variety of strategies to keep users engaged and encourage frequent use of the tool— and, of course, increasing the chances of converting them into paying customers.

One of these strategies is Canva’s Design School, where users can complete courses and even earn certificates.

All, of course, within Canva.

Or tutorials on how to get started with Canva—guiding users step by step so they don’t feel lost. And, as mentioned earlier, a whole collection of additional tutorials is available on YouTube.

What’s cool and super helpful in keeping users engaged with Canva is its templates. By offering fully customizable templates that can be edited with just a few clicks, Canva eliminates the struggle of staring at a blank page.

This is especially helpful for less creative users, enabling them to create designs quickly and stay motivated to keep using the tool - which btw. is Canvas's whole mission:

“Launched in 2013, Canva is an online design and visual communication platform with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere.”

One other thing to highlight here that happens inside the tool is the loss aversion tactic it uses as soon as someone tries to unsubscribe - mentioned here in my Growth Bites series:

Growth

"THIS is what you lose..."

Hi, it’s Andreas, and I’m back with Growth—my newsletter exploring the funnels and growth tactics of today’s top startups…

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a year ago · 7 likes · 4 comments · Andreas Just

Final Words

Like every other funnel, Canva’s funnel isn’t linear either. You might see an ad, click on it, forget about it, then read about it again. Eventually, you sign up. Where and how you enter the funnel - and when you convert - is unpredictable.

But by breaking it down, we see that Canva uses different tactics for different stages of the customer journey. More importantly, it promotes different things to different target groups.

: Canva’s UX feels effortless—everything is smooth, clear, and naturally guides you. They make it clear that they are targeting businesses. You’re never overwhelmed with too many choices (except for that one pricing table). And you are never stuck searching for what you need.

Overall, Canva’s user experience is built for simplicity, speed, and seamless conversion.

Key Takeaways

Tailor your messaging

Address your customers with success stories, use cases, and features that are relevant to them. If you have multiple target groups, promote them separately. Don’t try to fit everyone into one bucket—create content, strategies, and activities specifically for each group. Just like Canva does with its webinar series for marketers.

Focus on retention.

Think about what your users need once they’ve signed up—and how you can keep them engaged. Canva does this with a design school and tutorials, guiding users step by step as they explore the tool.

What can you do to achieve the same?

See you next week! 👋🏼

→ Click here to access the full, free funnel breakdown

So, let’s jump in.

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A few weeks ago, my friend texted me and said, “Man, this startup would be a great case study for your newsletter.” And damn, he was right. The startup he was referring to?

Linear.

If you’re unfamiliar with Linear, let’s start here.

Linear is an issue tracker for developers. You’ve probably heard of Jira - it’s been the go-to for years, with a market share of 84.57% in the issue-tracking SaaS market.

But Linear went head-to-head with it by simplifying the experience, making it much more user-friendly and intuitive - meaning this startup meets an industry giant at eye level.

Since then, they have become the fastest-growing and most beloved issue-tracking tool in the world, reaching a $400M valuation in just five years.

So, how did they do it?

Linear’s Growth Strategy

Personal Branding & Networks

These three gentlemen are the founders of Linear.

And what all three have in common is a large following on Twitter and an impressive Silicon Valley background.

Karri Saarinen and Jori Lallo previously founded a Y Combinator startup that was later acquired by Coinbase.

That startup was called Kippt - a social bookmarking platform.

Tuomas Artman, meanwhile, was an engineer at Groupon and Uber in the Bay Area.

After the acquisition, Saarinen and Lallo both worked at Coinbase, and then Saarinen joined Airbnb, where the story of Linear began.

So, you might ask: What does the founders' background & Twitter following have to do with Linear’s growth strategy?

Their seed round was secured when a Sequoia partner approached Linear’s team, saying that “people she trusts in her Twitter network were hyped about Linear.” This led to a $4.2M seed round.

And not only that, their Twitter following helped them get 10,000 waitlist sign-ups for their beta tests. But more on that later.

Idea Validation Par Excellence

In his role as a designer at Airbnb, Saarinen had to work with Jira, and he was kind of surprised by how bad the tool was.

But he wasn’t alone. His colleagues were equally frustrated.

“For my own sanity, I actually wrote a Chrome extension at Airbnb to reduce some of Jira’s information overload and improve its visuals for better hierarchy. While I initially built it just for myself, 100 people at the company ended up using it.” - like he wrote in this article.

By scratching his own itch, Saarinen had unknowingly discovered the first step for his new startup.

And as he further writes:

“My friends Jori Lallo and Tuomas Artman had similar experiences at Coinbase and Uber. We also saw that most companies are no longer run by pure Agile or SCRUM practices, they have evolved their processes, but the tools haven't. If these tools don't work well for designers, engineering or even the management, then who do they work for?”

Frustrated with the situation, the three decided to fix it.

From MVP to Polished Product

Fast forward to April 18, 2019 - a Medium article explaining what Linear is marked the launch of its MVP.

Promising that Linear will be different:

But the goal wasn’t just to launch the MVP - the founders built a waitlist and directed readers from the article to Linear’s website, which was a simple landing page at the time.

Linear’s Landing Page & How It Drove 10,000 Waitlist Sign-Ups

The landing page serves as a great case study on how to build a waitlist for a product launch:

The header had a clear value proposition, specifically targeting those frustrated with tracking tools like Jira. The subheadline clearly explained what Linear was, followed by a call to action prompting users to join the waitlist by entering their email.

After the header section, Linear highlighted its features - clearly emphasizing its main selling point: speed.

Many users had frequently complained about Jira’s sluggishness. They also showcased other features missing in common issue trackers (including, of course, dark mode, lol).

What Linear made pretty well here is it creates transparency. They explicitly stated that they were still building the product. When testing an idea, many create landing pages with copy that makes it seem as if the product already exists, which can lead to disappointed users.

From the start, Linear promoted integrations with the most common tools used by its target audience - laying the groundwork for its product-led growth strategy.

Creating trust on its website by showcasing the team and highlighting their positions and previous accomplishments at fast-growing companies.

Ending the site with one final call to action for the waitlist, highlighting early access.

With this landingpage, the waitlist grew to over 10,000 users, largely driven by Saarinen’s Twitter strategy of “building in public.” Where he documented the journey of Linear.

💡 Building in public refers to a strategy where you document your journey of building a startup rather than just creating content. It helps you build an engaged audience right from the beginning - which in turn then helps you sell your product once it is launched.

Pretty smart, but commonly used nowadays. Still works well when executed the right way.

Once the waitlist was properly filled, they gradually onboarded participants, funneled them into a Slack community, granted access to the tool, and continuously gathered feedback to iterate on it.

Like the founder said here:

“When we started to build our MVP for Linear, we spent a lot of time talking to users, narrowed our audience, and tested what we were building. And it taught us some important lessons about our product (and building great products in general).”

In the end, the closed test phase lasted a full year until they refined the product into a fully polished version, ready for launch.

Linear’s Launch Day

A year later, on June 30, 2020, Linear launched publicly:

This was accompanied by a launch strategy that included among others:

• Twitter posts

• A Product Hunt launch

• Blog articles

• Community announcements

But Linear followed an interesting launch approach to create some buzz early on - just as they wrote on their website here:

”For example, when we launched Linear we announced the company before we had the product built. We launched when we raised seed funding and evolved the product. We launched when we opened the product for everyone and added pricing. We launched when we did a Series A and evolved the product. Each of the launches reached more people and generated more customers than the previous ones. Had we only launched once, it would have taken us 1.5 years to get to this state and we wouldn’t have learned as much or have as many customers as we have today.”

Product-Led Growth Strategies

The main lever of Linear’s product-led growth mechanics is its network effects.

💡 Network effects happen when your product gets more valuable as more people use it. In a product-led growth (PLG) strategy, this means that every new user naturally makes the product better for others - without your company having to do extra work.

One of the most powerful ways to create network effects is by making it easy (or even necessary) for users to invite, share, or collaborate with others inside the product. The more people they bring in, the more useful the product becomes, and the more likely new users are to stick around.

You’ve probably seen this with Slack and Notion - one person starts using it, invites others, they start using it too, and it spreads organically.

To encourage this, new users are greeted with a to-do list upon creating an account and logging into Linear:

This guides you to invite teammates, start using the tool, and connect it with other services like Slack.

What I’m missing a bit are more growth mechanics and PLG motions. Aside from the to-do list, there’s nothing that actively encourages or nudges users to invite more and more people - unlike how Slack does it here.

I mean, of course, you have the option to invite people:

But other than that, nothing.

So I assume Linear is benefiting a LOT from network effects, and there’s simply no need to push people?

How They Grow Today

In 2023 Linear achieved $8.4M in revenue and raised a $35M Series B round.

One integral part of its growth today is its community, which has nearly 15,000 users. With regular discussions, product updates, bug reports, and active exchanges, Linear has built a truly thriving community around its tool.

One other of course is the strong network effect we discussed above. As I talked to different developers using Linear they confirmed that they invited people as soon as they started working with it, so it definitely accelerates its growth.

Also Linear uses various marketing activities, which fuel its product growth engine, including partnerships and the ongoing personal branding and public-building tactics of the founders.

Meanwhile, Linear also has some big names it can rely on:

Final Words

Linear is a story straight out of the textbook. From building a product to solve its own problem, validating it with a peer group, creating a waitlist through building in public, and launching an MVP, to iterating with the community until the final product.

Linear did many things right, including, of course, its product.

But what I really love is the approach to bug fixing - as Linear’s Head of Product tweeted:

This custom centricity is what sets them apart.

Takeaways

• Don’t build in stealth mode: Linear published a blog article discussing the idea, which led to a landing page and a waitlist. → Give your idea public exposure as soon as possible to gather feedback.

• Build a community from the start: One of Linear's biggest growth levers is its community built around the product. In the early days, it was their most valuable asset for receiving feedback on product iterations and bugs.

• Care about your customers: Like Linear, prioritize bug fixing and customer care above all else—this is your biggest growth lever.

See you next week!

PS: If you enjoyed this case study, please tap the like button below. Thank you! 💛

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Believe it or not, Slack started out as part of an online gaming project.

Back in the days Stewart Butterfield, Slack’s CEO, was working on an browser-based MMO game called Glitch - the gamplay was centered around collaborative crafting and gathering activities.

Like shown in this (super weird looking) screenshot.

While developing Glitch, Stewart built a tool to communicate and share messages internally. With the goal to improve the development process and help his team work better together.

When Glitch shut down in 2012 due to low player interest and financial issues, the team were left with $5 million from investors but no product.

Instead of starting over, they decided to turn their internal communication tool into a product.

That’s how Slack was born.

By 2024, Slack had grown into a major company, earning $3.32 billion in yearly revenue and gaining 42 million active users.

Its success came not just from having a great product, but also from using some smart strategies. One of them is a pretty well-functional growth loop.

How Slacks Growth Loop Looks Like

When looking at Slack's strategy, one thing stands out:

Slack grows from the ground up. Rather than targeting management or C-level executives, it focuses on everyday workers, encouraging them to invite their colleagues for better collaboration.

Slack’s team trusted the strength of their product, believing that as more colleagues joined, others would naturally be encouraged to do the same.

They were right.

This approach is how they built a powerful growth loop:

But I started wondering: what does this actually look like? And how does Slack pull people into its loop?

So, let’s answer this.

The Onboarding Process

Everything starts with a user who decides to try Slack.

And this is where Slack’s growth loop begins - on its sign-up screen.

When signing up, Slack suggests using your work email (highlighted in red in the screenshot).

This is because it makes it easier to invite your co-workers later.

And having more co-workers of yours means more money for Slack.

But since we’re rebels, I used my personal email - and guess what? Slack pushed the suggestion again.

This time, instead of just making a suggestion, Slack provides a reason. And if I were using it in a work context, this reasoning would make a lot of sense.

So, once we sign up, Slack offers two options:

Option 1: Create a workspace → This is highlighted as the preferred option. Because once you create a workspace, you’re prompted to invite others. This brings more people into the platform = more revenue for Slack.

Option 2: Check if your team is already on Slack → A user-friendly way to hint that you might have used the wrong email address.

💡 This is a good example of how to use multiple call to actions at once. If you want to give your users more than one option, highlight the one that drives your core action. By "core action," I mean the one that ultimately makes you money.

But be careful: please don’t use more than 2 calls to action - otherwise, you'll confuse your users.

Once we decide to create a workspace, we’re immediately taken into the onboarding funnel, which is designed to encourage inviting more and more users (which is no surprise) - through both the copy and the mechanics.

This looks like this:

In the first step, you’re asked, “What’s the name of your company or team?”

Next, you’re asked for your name, accompanied by the subheadline: “Help your teammates recognize and connect with you more easily.”

The third step asks you to invite coworkers, with the headline: “Who else is on the [Workspace name] team?”

And while this step isn’t mandatory, you receive a “warning” if you try to skip it.

The fourth step asks, “What’s your team working on right now?”

Slack then creates a channel based on what you type in.

And the final step is - of course - upselling.

What caught my eye here is the offer Slack presents right away. This is a smart move because, if you’re already familiar with Slack and want to set it up for your organization, this is the perfect moment to offer a discount.

One thing I want to highlight here is this: go back to the beginning and take a closer look at the copy Slack uses.

Slack doesn’t ask questions about you - even for the question “What’s your name,” there is a subheadline referring to your team. Every piece of text is crafted around the team, the company, and collaboration.

This subtly makes you feel like you’re using a tool that provides value only when you collaborate and work together with others.

Using Slack

Once we’re ready to go, we land on our fully set-up Slack overview.

Now comes the point where Slack employs mechanics designed to encourage you to actively use the tool. Because Slack’s key activation metric is the number of messages sent per user after sign-up.

💡 The key activation metric is the metric you use to measure when someone reaches the point at which your product creates the most value—also known as the "AHA moment." Which is crucial in determining whether a user uses your tool or not.

And they figured out that users who sent at least 2,000 messages were far more likely to become long-term users.

As Slack’s CEO explains here:

“Based on experience of which companies stuck with us and which didn’t, we decided that any team that has exchanged 2,000 messages in its history has tried Slack—really tried it. For a team of around 50 people, that means about 10 hours’ worth of messages. For a typical team of 10 people, that’s maybe a week’s worth of messages. But it hit us that, regardless of any other factor, after 2,000 messages, 93% of those customers are still using Slack today.”

Slack achieves this key activation metric by guiding users step by step with simple but effective tutorials to ensure they quickly get value out of the tool and use it.

Once we jump into the channel, the tutorials continue by pointing out the next steps, as shown below with “👇 Start here”.

If you follow the step, Slack continues to encourage you to use the tool.

After sending your first text, you’re rewarded with a success message like this.

All of this ensures that we not only know how to use the tool but also pave the way playfully for actually working with it.

Once we jump back into our overview after these tutorials, the “+ Invite people” button is highlighted.

This is because Slack wants to further drive engagement.

Invite More and More Coworkers

Hovering over the “+ Invite people” section, Slack offers a helping hand and encourages us to invite more people.

Once we click on the button, we’re taken to a form where we can invite other people with just a few clicks.

And Slack encourages you again to invite as many people as possible, highlighted in the red box: “Get all your coworkers on Slack.”

In addition, you have the option to invite people from your Google Workspace or external organizations. This makes it easy and seamless.

Once we invite someone (for this purpose, I invited myself again 😎), we’re sent to the next screen.

And here comes a smart move by Slack.

With one click on the box in the red-marked area, anyone with the same email domain as the email address used can gain access to this Slack workspace, making it 100 times easier to bring people from the same company on board.

And with that, the growth loop is set in motion, ensuring that more and more people from an increasing number of organizations choose Slack.

How Slack Upsells from Within Its Growth Loop

One last piece of the puzzle is Slack’s upselling strategy.

When we signed up, Slack granted us a 30-day free trial of its “Pro Package.”

This is a good move because, during these 30 days, if we hit the activation milestone of 2,000 messages per user - and assuming we’re part of the 93% that stick with Slack afterward - the upgrade feels like a natural next step.

And I’m pretty sure the 30 days were chosen to correspond to the time an average company needs to reach 2,000 messages + implement it in their organization.

The upgrade packages are designed in such a way that continuing with Slack becomes an easy decision.

Using Slack in a work context, having “Unlimited message history” is crucial - it means you have access to all messages, all the time. However, in the free version, your message history is limited to just 90 days.

This becomes one of the strongest arguments for upgrading.

The rest of the features are focused on collaboration, which becomes increasingly relevant as your team relies more and more on Slack.

Final Thoughts

What Slack does exceptionally well is subtly influence you in every aspect.

The copy and the way the tool is built and structured emphasize three key points:

a) You’re using a collaborative tool → Invite coworkers
b) You have to send messages → Pushing you toward the activation metric
c) You implement it in your organization and take the effort to invite everyone → Pay for the tool

Bottom line: Slack has optimized its growth loop to the maximum. And if you want to set growth on autopilot, take a closer look at Slack.

So, to replicate this success, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does your copy align with your goal?
   Slack’s goal is to grow within organizations, and its copy reflects this perfectly. It highlights collaboration, teamwork, and value for companies in every text. → How can you tailor your messaging to align with your growth goals?

2. Do you know your activation metric?
   Slack’s activation metric is 2,000 messages sent per user. This clear metric enables Slack to build growth mechanics that push users toward this goal. → What is your activation metric, and how can you create features that drive users toward it?

3. Is it worth upgrading to your paid plan?
   Slack’s paid plan focuses on features essential for collaboration in a work context, such as unlimited message history. These features are gated without disrupting the core mechanics of the free version. → How can you gate relevant features in a way that makes upgrading a natural decision?

See you next week. 👋🏼

Over the past 7+ years, I have worked with startups at every stage—from building MVPs and securing funding rounds to creating 8-figure sales pipelines. My greatest passion has always been crafting growth strategies and driving success. Now, I am on a mission to help you do the same by breaking down the growth motions and sales funnels of the most successful startups and turning them into actionable tips.

If you enjoyed this breakdown, please tap the like button below. Thank you! 💛

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In a crowded market, ClickUp has captured a notable 17.8% share of the sales-productivity market since its launch (6sense.com).

From the start, the founders of ClickUp knew they were entering a highly competitive industry. They understood the need to take a different approach.

And they did.

ClickUp launched in mid-2017 and, within two years, achieved $20 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) without any external funding or marketing budget. From 2020 to 2022, it consistently doubled its revenue, reaching $278.5 million by 2024.

ClickUp's success is rooted in its focus on brand, user experience, and design. The company prioritized releasing new features faster than its competitors, driven by input from its community.

They stand out through bold actions, such as calling out competitors and dedicating a large part of their user acquisition strategy to content, focusing on:

• Humor

• Education

Let’s explore how this approach shapes ClickUp’s overall strategy.

How ClickUp's (Sales) Funnel Works

ClickUp’s growth is powered by a Product-Led Growth (PLG) model, where the product itself is the main focus.

The goal is to let users try the product and experience its value—typically through a free trial or freemium account—before encouraging them to upgrade to paid plans.

This approach contrasts with the traditional Sales-Led model, which prioritizes monetization before customers interact with the product.

Here, ClickUp uses a freemium account approach as part of its strategy.

But instead of focusing on individual users, ClickUp targets entire organizations by trying to onboard as many coworkers from a company as possible—a process we’ll explore in more detail later.

Unlike its early days, ClickUp now invests heavily in marketing. This includes hosting virtual events, running ads, and securing sponsorships.

Despite these efforts, content remains the cornerstone of its strategy to drive users into freemium accounts. From there, ClickUp’s PLG system works to convert them into paying customers.

And this is where ClickUp stands out.

To figure this out, I did a full breakdown of the funnel, which you can find at the end of the article:

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What I want to focus on in this article is where ClickUp does things differently. We will have look at:

1. ClickUp’s Content Strategy – How it creates awareness and attracts new users.

2. ClickUp’s PLG Strategy – How it converts free users into paying customers.

How ClickUp Leverages Content to Acquire Users

As mentioned, content plays a key role in ClickUp’s user acquisition strategy. The focus on humor and education is especially evident in its social media presence and SEO strategy.

ClickUp’s Socials

It’s no surprise that ClickUp is active on every major social media platform.

What’s noteworthy, however, is how they tailor their strategy for each channel.

For example, on LinkedIn:

ClickUp adapts to LinkedIn’s professional tone.

On ClickUp’s LinkedIn channel, they share a variety of content formats, such as LinkedIn articles, specifically designed to educate their audience.

And a format called ClickUpdates keeps users informed about product news, feature releases, and more.

They also share meme-like content to boost reach, aligning with their approach to stand out through humorous content.

This approach allows ClickUp to target audiences at different stages:

• Cold Audience (= have no idea about ClickUp) – Reached through memes to grab attention.

• Warm Audience (= are aware of ClickUp) – Reached through educational content, often linked to ClickUp.

• Hot Audience (= use ClickUp already or are in the decision process) – Reached through ClickUpdates, providing product news and feature updates.

But if we stick to humorous content, things get even more interesting on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. This is where ClickUp takes its humor-focused strategy to the next level.

On Instagram and Facebook, for example, ClickUp runs two separate accounts, named:

• “ClickUp” – This account shares product updates, news, and other company-related information, similar to their LinkedIn strategy.

• “ClickUp Comedy” – This account is dedicated exclusively to humor and memes.

On ClickUp Comedy, you’ll find parody videos showcasing classic office clichés, jokes, and funny content—all designed to address teams and organizations.

Unfortunately, I cannot find any information on how much traffic this approach generates. However, we can look at the account statistics.

But it seems that the comedy pages are newer. The comedy page on Instagram was created in June 2024, and to date, it already has 134k followers.

Sure, the ClickUp Comedy account likely benefited from cross-promotion by the original ClickUp account, which currently has 242k followers. Nevertheless, 134k followers in such a short time is a significant achievement.

Judging by the views—some exceeding 3 million—the strategy seems to be working well.

But ClickUp's actual goal is to drive people to a dedicated landing page, which is linked in the bio of each social account and beneath the content.

The landing page focuses entirely on office humor clips. It serves as a library where all the clips posted on social media are organized, resembling platforms like YouTube or Netflix.

And the page's primary goal is to promote ClickUp’s tool and encourage users to sign up.

This approach likely drives a significant amount of traffic to ClickUp’s site, as it’s not something commonly seen in the B2B world.

And I’m sure this is reflected very well in user sign-ups.

But stepping aside from the funny things, another area where ClickUp excels is education. This is where its SEO strategy comes into play.

ClickUp’s SEO Strategy

In its early days, when ClickUp was bootstrapping the tool, the team placed a strong emphasis on SEO.

According to this Reddit thread, they consistently published at least one article per day for years.

This effort laid a solid foundation, helping ClickUp generate significant monthly traffic over time.

And is now a big part of its traffic source, driving thousands of monthly visitors to the site, as they rank for many keywords in the number 1 position on Google.

The blog is still very active, though not with the same daily frequency as in the early days.

Another SEO tactic ClickUp uses, which aligns with their strategy of calling out competitors, is publishing comparison articles about their competition.

These articles openly position ClickUp as the number one choice. Unsurprisingly, this approach works well and ranks highly for ClickUp in search results.

This is because, with each click on one of the search result, you’re directed to a landing page that offers a detailed overview, clearly highlighting the differences between ClickUp and its competitors.

💡 Google prioritizes content that helps answer people’s questions easily. Comparison tables are a great example of this, as they provide clear, concise information that improves rankings.

→ If you want to adopt this strategy, make use of comparison tables - like ClickUp does.

This, in total, drives more than 3.9 million in monthly traffic to the site, with 99.4% being organic.

Before anyone complains:

Of course, with a company of this size, a significant portion of its traffic comes from other sources, such as news coverage or word-of-mouth referrals. Additionally, ClickUp invests a substantial budget in marketing. So, while the traffic numbers aren’t purely a result of their organic strategies, it’s undeniable that they are making a strong push in this area.

Oh… and if you’re wondering whether they use humorous content in their ads as well:

For instance, here’s an example of a Google Display Network ad:

From Freemium to Paying Users: ClickUp’s Product-Led Growth (PLG) Strategy

After exploring how ClickUp generates traffic, let’s have a look at how it converts it.

Here, it’s important to differentiate between solo users/SMBs and how ClickUp manages enterprise customers.

How ClickUp Turns Solo Users/SMBs into Paying Customers

The PLG model aims to let solo users and smaller companies onboard and upgrade themselves without the help of the sales or support team—allowing those teams to focus on larger customers.

In this regard, ClickUp’s main strategy is entirely focused on driving people into its freemium model or free trial.

This is why ClickUp’s primary call-to-action, visible everywhere on the site, is “Get Started. It’s FREE” (or a minor variation of it).

(btw - I love the “Free Forever. No Credit Card.” message—it builds additional trust.)

Whether it’s:

• On the homepage

• On the blog pages

• On the comedy landing page

• On the comparison page

• On other landing pages

Every page is optimized to drive free users.

💡 I see this far too often—companies overwhelm users with too many different calls to action. If your website is meant to drive sales, it should focus on getting the user to take one, or at most two, clear actions.

Take ClickUp as an example. Their entire strategy is built around driving free users into the tool. This means they have one clear call to action, which avoids confusing the user.

For you: Use. Fewer. Call. To. Actions.

Once you click the button, you’re taken to the login screen, where you can sign up for free.

Here, ClickUp reinforces the tool's value for organizations by focusing on upselling within a company.

For example, when I entered my personal email address, I received this prompt:

This approach aligns perfectly with ClickUp’s upselling strategy within organizations.

Because:

More coworkers = more seats = more revenue.

And this strategy is a perfect fit for its pricing model.

We start with the freemium model on the left-hand side, where you get most of the features needed to use ClickUp effectively on your own. However, as soon as you want to use it collaboratively, ClickUp requires you to upgrade to access most of the collaboration features.

The pricing is tiered for small, mid-sized, and large teams, and it’s charged on a per-user, per-month basis.

The Onboarding

Once a user is inside the tool, ClickUp focuses on two main objectives:

A) Making the onboarding process as simple as possible, allowing users to start using the tool and learning on their own without requiring training or sales assistance from ClickUp.

B) Encouraging users to onboard additional team members as quickly as possible.

The process starts with a seven-step onboarding funnel designed to help users set up the basics.

Fun fact: In the 4th step, you’re prompted once again to invite more people.

Whether you invite people or not, once you complete the funnel, you’re shown a detailed video that explains the most important features and how to use them.

Once the video is finished, you’re greeted with a checklist of tasks to complete to get started.

This checklist helps you set up your Workspace and get familiar with the tool.

Looking at the last item, “Collaborate with your team via Inbox,” you’re subtly encouraged once again to use the tool collaboratively with your team.

When you want to add new features to your Workspace, there are dedicated videos that explain how these features work and how to use them.

What I want to highlight here is this: At every step a new user takes, ClickUp provides guidance through video tutorials and tasks to complete.

This makes setting up the tool by yourself super easy and intuitive.

The Upselling

Once you invite people and start using ClickUp collaboratively, the platform focuses on upselling you.

Almost all the essential features needed for improved team collaboration or efficient teamwork are behind a paywall.

For instance, features like dashboard templates, team reporting, project management tools, and time tracking—all critical for working in larger teams—require a paid plan.

Other features designed to enhance collaboration are also locked behind the paywall, requiring at least the “Business” package.

And this makes perfect sense from a PLG perspective.

Think about it:

As soon as you upgrade to access these features, your goal is to work collaboratively. This means you’ll need to invite your coworkers, who will then also need to pay for their seats.

Where the Conversion Takes Place

When you decide to upgrade, you land on ClickUp’s well-optimized pricing page.

• Price anchoring

• Indication of popularity

• Money-back guarantee

• Detailed explanations

• FAQs

• Testimonials

So, if you’re looking to improve your pricing page → Copy ClickUp.

To sum it up, ClickUp’s process for solo users and SMBs looks like this:

1. User registers for the freemium plan

2. Runs through self-onboarding and watches video tutorials to learn what they can build

3. Experiences the value

4. Invites their team to collaborate

5. Upgrades to a paid plan.

The process is different for enterprise clients, as the PLG (Product-Led Growth) model, as mentioned, allows ClickUp’s sales team to focus on this type of customer.

How ClickUp Closes Enterprise Customers

At this point, I’m making assumptions based on my own experience when the company I work for decided on ClickUp, along with the research I’ve done on it.

ClickUp likely uses Product-Qualified Leads (PQLs) as a key metric (PQL = A product-qualified lead is an individual or business that has experienced value from using a product, such as through a free trial, limited feature model, or other hands-on experience. Source)

And how they work with PQLs has been outlined by Kyle Poyar in his newsletter Growth Unhinged, where he describes what ClickUp’s sales process might look like in practice:

1. An employee at Company A signs up for the freemium version of ClickUp.

2. If this employee fits ClickUp’s Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), they become a Product-Qualified Lead (PQL). As a result, a ClickUp sales rep is assigned to this PQL.

3. The sales rep builds rapport with the employee and encourages them to invite their entire team. The rep might send emails such as, “I’ll train your team on how to use ClickUp for free,” to onboard the whole organization.

4. Next, the sales rep identifies other executives within the company who align with ClickUp’s ICP and reaches out to them as well. These emails might say, “Your team is already using ClickUp. Would you be curious to see how it could benefit your broader organization?”

5. The outbound sales rep works the entire account—not just the single employee who signed up—to secure a larger deal.

This approach enables ClickUp to close larger accounts at once by having their sales teams focus completely on enterprise customers.

Meanwhile, as mentioned, smaller users onboard themselves and upsell organically—PQL at its best!

Final Thoughts

Looking at this, ClickUp serves as a perfect example of how to stand out with strong branding, creating content that resonates with your audience, and turning your product into your best sales rep.

However, none of this would have been possible without an excellent product. Which is the foundation of every successful strategy.

That said, there are several takeaways you can apply to your own business:

1. ClickUp’s SEO Strategy:
   ClickUp consistently published at least one article per day, focusing on solving team-related problems in organizations.
   How can you apply this approach to your business? What problems does your audience need to be solved?

2. Infusing Humor:
   To engage your audience, your content needs to either educate, inspire, or entertain. ClickUp does both educate and entertain effectively.
   Can you incorporate humor or relatable content into your strategy to better connect with your audience?

3. Product-Led Growth:
   If you’re a SaaS startup, consider how you can build processes that encourage users to invite others and create virality. ClickUp offers excellent examples to replicate, from its login screen to its onboarding process.
   How can you design your product to naturally promote team collaboration and user expansion?

4. Product-Led Sales:
   Focus on your onboarding process. When building a SaaS product, aim to help users onboard themselves. This frees up your team’s time to concentrate on bigger fish.
   How can you refine your onboarding process to make it as simple and intuitive as possible?

P.S.: Let me know in the comments what you think and which of these strategies you’d like to apply to your own business!

Leave a comment

→ Click here to access the full, free funnel breakdown.

Over the past 7+ years, I have worked with startups at every stage—from building MVPs and securing funding rounds to creating 8-figure sales pipelines. My greatest passion has always been crafting growth strategies and driving success. Now, I am on a mission to help you do the same by breaking down the growth motions and sales funnels of the most successful startups and turning them into actionable tips.

If you enjoyed this breakdown, please tap the like button below. Thank you! 💛

With $700M in ARR and a valuation of $12.5B, I was intrigued to see how it builds its growth motions, especially as the company aims to grow to $1 billion in ARR in the coming years.

However, when I analyzed the funnel, I noticed they were missing opportunities and leaving revenue on the table.

Let’s take a closer look.

—

Quick Note

A classical sales funnel does not reflect how marketing and sales work. You cannot strictly separate content and channels that solely drive awareness from those responsible for conversions. However, for the purpose of this analysis, it is easier to break it down this way.

—

What a $700M ARR Sales Funnel Looks Like

Figma has been ranked the #1 tool of choice among designers for four consecutive years.

And this is no coincidence. The tool has set a new standard in terms of intuitiveness and ease of use. There are probably very few tools that achieve what Figma does.

But having a great product alone isn’t enough to get the word out. Marketing and sales need to work hand in hand. That’s where Figma’s sales funnel comes in.

Here’s what it looks like (you will find the full breakdown, including an analysis of their landing pages, at the end):

How Figma Generates 6.7M Organic Traffic Monthly

Starting at the top, we can see that Figma is driving awareness in three different ways: socials, SEO, and ads.

Figma’s SEO Strategy Part 1

Diving into each way, I first discovered Figma’s incredibly effective SEO strategy.

Let’s start with a question:

What is super important for every designer—whether in product or graphics?

Exactly.

Colors and hex codes.

To cover this need, Figma has built an entire color directory on the website, where you can find hundreds of colors.

And with a click on each color, you land on a page where you get a full explanation, including color codes and how-to guides.

This helps Figma rank on Google’s first page for almost every relevant color, driving a huge amount of traffic to the site every month.

In addition to the content about the color, every page includes a call-to-action that allows users to log directly into the tool, create a free account, and access the color palette.

The cool thing is that they are probably using AI to generate it.

These days, there are plenty of AI tools that allow you to create thousands of pages based on just a few keywords in minutes. Figma’s color pages are perfectly suited for this approach. They all follow the same structure, and the content is nearly identical on each page, even though the pages are helpful.

Note: Since I was corrected multiple times, these are probably dynamic landing pages, which, in Figma’s case, have nothing to do with AI. Nevertheless, I want to highlight this because, for most people, it is not easy to build these. Nowadays, however, there are AI tools that can do this for you.

This means free traffic with very little effort.

Figma’s SEO Strategy Part 2

But that’s not the only thing Figma is doing in terms of SEO.

Figma publishes comparison articles between the tool and competitor tools.

And that makes total sense.

Think about it: You need to decide between Tool A and Tool B, and you’re not sure about the differences or which one better serves your purpose.

What do you do? You ask Google.

This is exactly what Figma is capitalizing on. They create dedicated articles comparing their tool to the most popular competitors.

💡 This is also a strategy you can follow. In B2B, many people need to have multiple touchpoints before deciding on a tool. One of those touchpoints is usually researching competitors.

By publishing these kind of articles, there’s a high chance people will find them when they’re deciding on a tool—and the best part is, you control what’s written in those comparisons.

You shouldn’t criticize your competitors but remain neutral while subtly highlighting your advantages over them.

Each Google result then leads to a landing page with a detailed breakdown.

Which leads to a call-to-action prompting you to create a free account.

Figma’s Social Media Strategy

In addition to Figma’s SEO strategy, it is no surprise that socials play a huge role in Figma’s organic traffic.

And the company is quite active on every major social channel.

Figma is promoting product features, events, user stories, and general updates from the Figma ecosystem—essentially anything that drives awareness.

From time to time, Figma posts memes about product designer clichés or their own features, and unsurprisingly, this works very well.

Other than the SEO efforts, this traffic lands directly on the website itself, and Figma does a great job there.

How Figma’s Website Converts Organic Traffic

Following the path a user takes, all the traffic lands on Figma’s website or dedicated landing pages.

Figma’s Homepage

Starting with the homepage, even though I don’t like the design, it follows a clear structure and includes every necessary element needed to increase conversion rates.

You are greeted with a large header that shows the tool in action and features clear and concise copy.

The headline, “Think bigger. Build faster.” addresses the needs of the target audience, while the subheadline, “Figma helps design and development teams build great products, together.” provides a clear picture of what to expect when using Figma.

What Figma does very well here is building trust.

It showcases testimonials and quotes from large, well-known companies, along with displaying many logos.

Almost every logo belongs to a major, well-recognized brand.

💡 If you don’t have a well-known brand or name to display, don’t worry—the important thing is to showcase some testimonials from anyone. This helps people get the impression that you are legitimate and not a scam.

The benefits and features section is also done very well here.

You can tell that Figma knows its target audience. With phrases like “Keep Design and Code Connected,” it frames its benefits perfectly around the needs of its users.

💡 Benefits vs. features

In copywriting, it’s very common to distinguish between benefits and features.

• Benefits: These are the reasons why customers feel compelled to buy a product.

• Features: These refer to what the product or service specifically does and how it differs from the competition.

When writing text four your website, you should ideally include both. Like Figma is doing it:

Feature: “Generate simple UI with AI”
Benefit: “Instantly create mockups to explore a bigger option space”

After another trust-building section, there is a clear and precise call-to-action aimed at generating free users, with the phrase “Get started for free.”

Other Pages

Digging deeper into Figma’s website, you’ll find hundreds of pages—from tutorials to dozens of resources designed to help you get started with the tool.

These resources likely answer almost every question a (potential) user might have.

But despite all of the content, one thing stood out to me: Figma’s Design Academy.

The academy includes dozens of content pieces about design and how to learn it, all with a Figma-specific twist.

It’s a great way to engage the target group early on, educating those who are interested in design and converting them into Figma users.

Figma’s Ad Strategy – and Missing Opportunities

Stepping away from its organic traffic, Figma is also using ads to drive targeted users into its funnel.

What’s noticeable here is that Figma is trying to address at least two target groups:

1. “Everyone” (These are not clearly categorizable. They could be targeting solo users or small companies here.)

2. Enterprise customers (This is where the money is made—Figma is targeting larger companies and teams here.)

Target group: “Everyone”

Google Ads

Figma is using Google Ads to target almost everyone researching the tool on Google.

Most of the Google Ads are aimed at keywords like “Figma + use case.”

This approach generates a huge amount of traffic with high search intent (= someone who is genuinely interested in using the tool)—so far, so smart.

But with Google Ads, we also see where Figma’s ad strategy starts lacking.

In addition to text ads displayed on Google, you can use the Google Display Network to promote your service.

This allows your ads to appear as banners or videos in front of YouTube videos—or essentially on any platform that partners with Google.

In this format, you typically avoid text and instead use videos or images to capture attention.

As we saw in the Notion case study, Notion uses video testimonials for Google Display Network ads.

However, Figma sticks to text ads only, which is a missed opportunity to maximize their potential here.

LinkedIn Ads

But even more potential is wasted with Figma’s LinkedIn strategy.

Figma is relying on the typical old-school marketing playbook here.

They offer lead magnets like reports, pre-recorded webinars, and eBooks in exchange for email addresses.

So far, this might work, as people are probably willing to provide their data because it’s Figma.

However, what’s bad is that I signed up 10 days ago for one of these lead magnets (as of the day I’m writing this) and haven’t received a single email.

I tried two email addresses—my personal one and my business one (just in case Figma is automatically filtering)—and ticked the box each time allowing them to send newsletters and emails, but so far, nothing.

And this is a huge missed opportunity for potential revenue.

💡 When you use this kind of lead generation strategy, you typically set up email sequences triggered after an asset is downloaded, designed to educate and convert your users (called lead nurturing).

According to statistics, companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.

To give you an example of how this could look, the image below sums it up:

After registering for an ebook and landing on the thank-you page, Figma could send email sequences with various types of content. These could include educational materials, case studies, testimonials, or calls-to-action for demo calls.

This process can also be extended with phone calls, which can then trigger additional sequences based on user engagement.

While this can get pretty complex, it is a huge opportunity to generate revenue

Target group: Enterprise Customers

This, however, is where Figma is doing a great job.

Here, Figma only uses LinkedIn ads (as far as I can tell) and those are created based on case studies from customers who are already using their tool.

These ads then lead to a landing page where the case study is explained (though it might have a bit too much text for my taste).

And then retarget visitors with LinkedIn ads again and a call-to-action.

That leads directly to a landing page specifically tailored for enterprises and companies.

It ends with a call-to-action and a form to book a demo call.

And I’m confident that this works well, as it guides the user along their journey and subtly encourages them until they are ready to hop on a call.

How Figma Converts Free Users into Paid Users

Inside the Tool

Almost all traffic (aside from the targeted traffic for enterprises) is funneled directly into the free version of the tool.

But once you reach your limits, Figma has upselling mechanics in place.

Continuous progress bars are showing when you’re nearing the limit.

Call-to-actions stand out and are visible throughout the page.

Once you reach the limit, you are directly prompted to take action.

Then you can access the pricing section directly inside the tool and upgrade your plan.

The Pricing Page

The other way is to not to upgrade from inside the tool and instead visit the pricing page on the website.

And honestly, I feel like Figma could improve here as well.

The pricing page is well structured and offers a good overview, but it is missing a few key (conversion) elements:

• Figma isn’t using framing to highlight the best plan.

• It doesn’t offer the option to toggle between monthly and annual billing.

• It doesn’t build additional trust by mentioning something like “No credit card needed” for the free plan or similar reassuring details.

💡 Example of a good pricing page:

When we look at Notions pricing page we see the difference:

• The tag “Popular” highlights and frames the most popular package.

• There’s a clear distinction between monthly and annual billing, with a discount offered for choosing the annual plan.

• Trust is built right at the top of the page with reassuring elements such as guarantees or statements like “No credit card needed.”

But despite these minor missing elements, due to Figma’s standing in the market, it’s likely that the conversion rate is high on its pricing page.

Nevertheless, Figma is leaving some low-hanging fruits on the table.

After Sales: How Figma Generates Users Through Existing Ones

Coming to the end of the funnel. Once a paying user is generated, Figma makes sure to leverage this to generate new users.

But with everything Figma is doing, it’s difficult to draw a clear line between initiatives that attract new customers and those aimed at existing customers but end up generating new ones.

One thing I want to highlight, though, is the community, and more specifically, the ability for users to create their own plugins and templates inside Figma.

This is a smart way to encourage users to contribute to the tool’s development—and Figma even creates a monetary incentive for doing so.

In one of my previous issues, we looked at a startup that created a Figma plugin for their own solution. To use the plugin, users needed to create an account with the startup’s tool, and then could use the Figma plugin. Read the full story.

This way the startup generated over 7,000 users through it. 7,000 users that already lived on Figma and were routed to the startup’s tool.

That shows how these plugins and templates are a powerful growth multiplier for Figma & other companies.

Last Words

So, Figma is already generating $700M ARR, as a reader, you might wonder: why should optimizing their ad strategy or pricing page matter so much?

Well, Figma aims to reach $1B ARR in the coming years. With this ambitious goal, these areas represent low-hanging fruits they could easily capitalize on by further optimizing their funnel.

Even though the majority of Figma’s sales funnel certainly delivers very solid results.

But even those small improvements could result in generating a few more million dollars in revenue.

What can you learn for your business?

1. Ad Strategy: When creating an ad strategy, think about the entire process—how people discover your ad, what they should do next, where they land, and how the process flows after a conversion happens (aka have a lead nurturing in place).

2. SEO with AI: Be creative. Could you use AI to build something similar to Figma’s color directory? Think outside the box!

3. Pricing Page Optimization: Even if it seems like a small cog in the grand scheme of things, a well-optimized pricing page can make a big difference.

→ Click here to access the full, free funnel analysis.

Hi, I’m Andreas. Over the past 7+ years, I have worked with startups at every stage—from building MVPs and securing funding rounds to creating 8-figure sales pipelines. My greatest passion has always been crafting growth strategies and driving success. Now, I am on a mission to help you do the same by breaking down the growth motions and sales funnels of the most successful startups and turning them into actionable tips.