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Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers
Most startups end in failure.
Almost every failed startup has a product. What failed startups don't have are enough customers.
Founders and employees fail to spend time thinking about (and working on) traction in the same way they work on building a product. This shortsighted approach has startups trying random tactics - some ads, a blog post or two - in an unstructured way that's guaranteed to fail.
This book changes that. Traction Book provides startup founders and employees with the framework successful companies have used to get traction. It allows you to think about which marketing channels make sense for you, given your industry and company stage.
This framework has been used by founders like Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Alexis Ohanian (Reddit), Paul English (Kayak.com), and Alex Pachikov (Evernote) to build some of the biggest companies and organizations in the world. We interviewed each of the above founders - along with 35+ others - and pulled out the repeatable tactics and strategies they used to get traction.
We then cover every possible marketing channel you can use to get traction, and show you which channels will be your key to growth. This book shows you how to grow at a time when getting traction is more important than ever.
Below are the channels we cover in the book:
Viral Marketing
Public Relations (PR)
Unconventional PR
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Social and Display Ads
Offline Ads
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Content Marketing
Email Marketing
Engineering as Marketing
Target Market Blogs
Business Development (BD)
Sales
Affiliate Programs
Existing Platforms
Trade Shows
Offline Events
Speaking Engagements
Community Building
This book draws on interviews with the following individuals:
Jimmy Wales, Co-founder of Wikipedia
Alexis Ohanian, Co-founder of reddit
Eric Ries, Author of The Lean Startup
Rand Fishkin, Founder of SEOmoz
Noah Kagan, Founder of AppSumo
Patrick McKenzie, CEO of Bingo Card Creator
Sam Yagan, Co-founder of OkCupid
Andrew Chen, Investor at 500 Startups
Justin Kan, Founder of Justin.tv
Mark Cramer, CEO of SurfCanyon
Colin Nederkoorn, CEO of Customer.io
Jason Cohen, Founder of WP Engine
Chris Fralic, Partner at First Round
Paul English, CEO of Kayak.com
Rob Walling, Founder of MicroConf
Brian Riley, Co-founder of SlidePad
Steve Welch, Co-founder of DreamIt
Jason Kincaid, Blogger at TechCrunch
Nikhil Sethi, Founder of Adaptly
Rick Perreault, CEO of Unbounce
Alex Pachikov, Co-founder of Evernote
David Skok, Partner at Matrix
Ashish Kundra, CEO of myZamana
David Hauser, Founder of Grasshopper
Matt Monahan, CEO of Inflection
Jeff Atwood, Co-founder of Discourse
Dan Martell, CEO of Clarity.fm
Chris McCann, Founder of StartupDigest
Ryan Holiday, Exec at American Apparel
Todd Vollmer, Enterprise Sales Veteran
Sandi MacPherson, Founder of Quibb
Andrew Warner, Founder of Mixergy
Sean Murphy, Founder of SKMurphy
Satish Dharmaraj, Partner at Redpoint
Garry Tan, Partner at Y Combinator
Steve Barsh, CEO of Packlate
Michael Bodekaer, Co-founder of Smart Launch
Zack Linford, Founder of Optimozo
Almost every failed startup has a product. What failed startups don't have are enough customers.
Founders and employees fail to spend time thinking about (and working on) traction in the same way they work on building a product. This shortsighted approach has startups trying random tactics - some ads, a blog post or two - in an unstructured way that's guaranteed to fail.
This book changes that. Traction Book provides startup founders and employees with the framework successful companies have used to get traction. It allows you to think about which marketing channels make sense for you, given your industry and company stage.
This framework has been used by founders like Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Alexis Ohanian (Reddit), Paul English (Kayak.com), and Alex Pachikov (Evernote) to build some of the biggest companies and organizations in the world. We interviewed each of the above founders - along with 35+ others - and pulled out the repeatable tactics and strategies they used to get traction.
We then cover every possible marketing channel you can use to get traction, and show you which channels will be your key to growth. This book shows you how to grow at a time when getting traction is more important than ever.
Below are the channels we cover in the book:
Viral Marketing
Public Relations (PR)
Unconventional PR
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Social and Display Ads
Offline Ads
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Content Marketing
Email Marketing
Engineering as Marketing
Target Market Blogs
Business Development (BD)
Sales
Affiliate Programs
Existing Platforms
Trade Shows
Offline Events
Speaking Engagements
Community Building
This book draws on interviews with the following individuals:
Jimmy Wales, Co-founder of Wikipedia
Alexis Ohanian, Co-founder of reddit
Eric Ries, Author of The Lean Startup
Rand Fishkin, Founder of SEOmoz
Noah Kagan, Founder of AppSumo
Patrick McKenzie, CEO of Bingo Card Creator
Sam Yagan, Co-founder of OkCupid
Andrew Chen, Investor at 500 Startups
Justin Kan, Founder of Justin.tv
Mark Cramer, CEO of SurfCanyon
Colin Nederkoorn, CEO of Customer.io
Jason Cohen, Founder of WP Engine
Chris Fralic, Partner at First Round
Paul English, CEO of Kayak.com
Rob Walling, Founder of MicroConf
Brian Riley, Co-founder of SlidePad
Steve Welch, Co-founder of DreamIt
Jason Kincaid, Blogger at TechCrunch
Nikhil Sethi, Founder of Adaptly
Rick Perreault, CEO of Unbounce
Alex Pachikov, Co-founder of Evernote
David Skok, Partner at Matrix
Ashish Kundra, CEO of myZamana
David Hauser, Founder of Grasshopper
Matt Monahan, CEO of Inflection
Jeff Atwood, Co-founder of Discourse
Dan Martell, CEO of Clarity.fm
Chris McCann, Founder of StartupDigest
Ryan Holiday, Exec at American Apparel
Todd Vollmer, Enterprise Sales Veteran
Sandi MacPherson, Founder of Quibb
Andrew Warner, Founder of Mixergy
Sean Murphy, Founder of SKMurphy
Satish Dharmaraj, Partner at Redpoint
Garry Tan, Partner at Y Combinator
Steve Barsh, CEO of Packlate
Michael Bodekaer, Co-founder of Smart Launch
Zack Linford, Founder of Optimozo
288 pages, Hardcover
First published August 23, 2014
About the author
Gabriel Weinberg
9 books358 followersSince 2008, I've been the CEO & Founder of DuckDuckGo, the Internet privacy company that empowers you to seamlessly take control of your personal information online, without any tradeoffs. Our private search engine is #4 in the U.S., Germany, Australia and dozens of other countries, answering over 9 billion queries in 2018.
I also co-authored Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models (Penguin Portfolio, 2019). Previously I co-authored Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth (Penguin Portfolio, 2015).
Before DuckDuckGo, I founded other Internet-related companies. My formal education is from MIT (B.S. Physics, '97-01; M.S. from the Technology and Policy Program '03-05). I live in Valley Forge, PA with my wife and two kids.
I also co-authored Super Thinking: The Big Book of Mental Models (Penguin Portfolio, 2019). Previously I co-authored Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth (Penguin Portfolio, 2015).
Before DuckDuckGo, I founded other Internet-related companies. My formal education is from MIT (B.S. Physics, '97-01; M.S. from the Technology and Policy Program '03-05). I live in Valley Forge, PA with my wife and two kids.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 492 reviews
January 14, 2022
Traction
As a startup founder coming mainly from the technology side, I needed a good practical hands-on guide to go beyond the overwhelming number of generic sales and marketing books. The value in this book is that while we know the general principles of sales & marketing, it’s great to have a resource that provides scope, structure and a methodology for identifying and testing the most impactful traction channels for a company – particularly a new start. I used the methodology internally within my company, and even with seasoned Sales and Marketing professionals, it brought out really valuable and insightful targets and approaches. It also states that when you saturate a traction channel, move to another and get the edge on competitors – great advice that’s often really difficult to act on. Similar to the Innovators Dilemma.
While I think it has been padded to substantiate it as a book, and several of the traction channels naturally go hand-in-hand with others, for the impact it has had on our company and my strategic planning, I can only but say it deserves a 5 star. It’s hard to stand out in this space, but Traction really does that, and I suggest getting a copy and keeping it on your desk.
As a startup founder coming mainly from the technology side, I needed a good practical hands-on guide to go beyond the overwhelming number of generic sales and marketing books. The value in this book is that while we know the general principles of sales & marketing, it’s great to have a resource that provides scope, structure and a methodology for identifying and testing the most impactful traction channels for a company – particularly a new start. I used the methodology internally within my company, and even with seasoned Sales and Marketing professionals, it brought out really valuable and insightful targets and approaches. It also states that when you saturate a traction channel, move to another and get the edge on competitors – great advice that’s often really difficult to act on. Similar to the Innovators Dilemma.
While I think it has been padded to substantiate it as a book, and several of the traction channels naturally go hand-in-hand with others, for the impact it has had on our company and my strategic planning, I can only but say it deserves a 5 star. It’s hard to stand out in this space, but Traction really does that, and I suggest getting a copy and keeping it on your desk.
October 13, 2014
Traction. Ah, just the sound of the word alone makes my spine tingle. Traction, it seems, can forgive all sins. With enough of it, investors will commit even if you haven’t figured out your team or how you will make money. So why is it that so many founders sit on their hands and just hope that their product takes off?
Ignorance. Most founders don’t know how to get traction for their startups and so they blindly double down on building a great product. They don’t know what investors mean when asked for a “Go-to-Market” plan so they skip that slide.
“Almost every failed startup has a product. What failed startups don’t have are enough customers.”
Ignorance for how to build traction is not an excuse, and Justin and Gabriel have created a definitive guide to stepping you through the 19 channels that every entrepreneur has access to today.
I don’t care if you are a food cart or the next Instagram, you will learn valuable techniques for building your business if you buy this book.
After reading this book and implementing their “Bullseye Framework”, you will absolutely be able to create a killer Go-to-Market slide for any investor. The Bullseye Framework solves the fundamental problem that:
“Some traction channels will move the needle early on, but will fail to work later […] What moves the needle changes dramatically.”
This framework will guide you to quickly figure out which 1 of the 19 channels you should focus on first. It will also help you shift gears when that one no longer serves you any more. The worst thing you can do with traction is forget to shift into 5th gear while merging onto the freeway.
It is about time that someone create this definitive guide. One of my favorite parts of it is that whether they are talking about radio ads and billboards or search engine marketing and Facebook ads, they give you ballpark estimates for what everything costs. If you have never put up a billboard before (P.S. I have) you might not know that you can space on one for about $8,000. Gabriel Weinberg doubled DuckDuckGo’s (the search engine) traffic with a well placed billboard.
My second favorite thing about this book is that there is a fantastic example of a real pitch email for press used to get coverage from TechCrunch. When I was starting AppFog, the whole idea of pitching press seemed completely foreign to me and seeing an example like this would have helped me immensely with my public relations strategy.
My only criticism of the book is that they defer heavily to lean methodologies for you to determine the content of the message you are trying to convey within these distribution channels (whether it be blogs or social media, etc). I understand that they won’t be able to put as much detail into content direction as the Lean Startup does, but I would have liked them to spend a little more time explaining how to put out the best quality content on these channels in order to get the best ROI for your traction efforts. They cover A/B testing, but spending more time on how to use empathy to write highly effective copy would have been ideal.
Overall, do yourself a favor and just buy this book. It’s great. It’s is a must-read for startup and small business owners alike. Even if you have a knack for marketing, reading this book will help you think in a more well rounded way and create more structure to your go-to-market plan.
Ignorance. Most founders don’t know how to get traction for their startups and so they blindly double down on building a great product. They don’t know what investors mean when asked for a “Go-to-Market” plan so they skip that slide.
“Almost every failed startup has a product. What failed startups don’t have are enough customers.”
Ignorance for how to build traction is not an excuse, and Justin and Gabriel have created a definitive guide to stepping you through the 19 channels that every entrepreneur has access to today.
I don’t care if you are a food cart or the next Instagram, you will learn valuable techniques for building your business if you buy this book.
After reading this book and implementing their “Bullseye Framework”, you will absolutely be able to create a killer Go-to-Market slide for any investor. The Bullseye Framework solves the fundamental problem that:
“Some traction channels will move the needle early on, but will fail to work later […] What moves the needle changes dramatically.”
This framework will guide you to quickly figure out which 1 of the 19 channels you should focus on first. It will also help you shift gears when that one no longer serves you any more. The worst thing you can do with traction is forget to shift into 5th gear while merging onto the freeway.
It is about time that someone create this definitive guide. One of my favorite parts of it is that whether they are talking about radio ads and billboards or search engine marketing and Facebook ads, they give you ballpark estimates for what everything costs. If you have never put up a billboard before (P.S. I have) you might not know that you can space on one for about $8,000. Gabriel Weinberg doubled DuckDuckGo’s (the search engine) traffic with a well placed billboard.
My second favorite thing about this book is that there is a fantastic example of a real pitch email for press used to get coverage from TechCrunch. When I was starting AppFog, the whole idea of pitching press seemed completely foreign to me and seeing an example like this would have helped me immensely with my public relations strategy.
My only criticism of the book is that they defer heavily to lean methodologies for you to determine the content of the message you are trying to convey within these distribution channels (whether it be blogs or social media, etc). I understand that they won’t be able to put as much detail into content direction as the Lean Startup does, but I would have liked them to spend a little more time explaining how to put out the best quality content on these channels in order to get the best ROI for your traction efforts. They cover A/B testing, but spending more time on how to use empathy to write highly effective copy would have been ideal.
Overall, do yourself a favor and just buy this book. It’s great. It’s is a must-read for startup and small business owners alike. Even if you have a knack for marketing, reading this book will help you think in a more well rounded way and create more structure to your go-to-market plan.
April 23, 2018
اگه علاقه مند به راه انداختن کسب و کار هستید به نظرم این کتاب خوندش واجبه. انی که تاحالا ترجمه نشده یکم عجیبه برام.
تک تک برگه هاش میتونن دلار بشن برن تو حسابتون.
تک تک برگه هاش میتونن دلار بشن برن تو حسابتون.
July 16, 2019
Full of buzz words, annoyingly monotonous and only mildly useful. In my opinion, the only two valuable things I in this book are the list of 'traction' channels, and a few good suggestions for some of them, which I'll attached below.
Nevertheless, it is not a long or difficult read and I believe it is worthwhile investing the time to read it.
The author suggests aiming to dedicate 50% of resources to product and 50% to distribution (or what he calls traction).
_______________________
Traction Channels
01. Targeting Blogs
Large blogs scan smaller ones for content ideas. It is then easier to target the small blogs that get read by larger outlets.
02. Approaching Media Outlets & Offline Ads (TV, Newspapers)
03. Publicity Stunts
04. SEM (AdWords)
05. Social Ads
MixRank and AdBeat could provide insight about the advertising strategies of competitors. One suggested strategy is to post and promote content during events the targeted audience is likely to care about. Reddit is also suggested as a way to target specific communities.
06. SEO
07. Content Marketing (blog)
The author recommends writing about problems your customers have and points out that doing well in this channel should influence 8 other channels: SEO, publicity, email marketing, targeting blogs, community building, offline events, biz dev. This channel can however take time (6 months before results become apparent)
08. Email Marketing
09. Engineering as marketing (create useful tools)
10. Encourage customers to refer others
11. Business Development (Partnerships)
12. Sales
The author suggests the best way to approach sales is talking to prospective customers about their setup and problems - this doesn’t only yield valuable information about the industry which could help shape a better product, but it also puts you in a good position to talk about the benefits of your solution / product.
Questions that he recommends answering about leads:
- What is the process for buying from providers for this company?
- How badly do they need our solution?
- Who has the authority to make the purchase happen?
- Can they afford the solution and how much are they loosing by not using the solution?
- Timing questions, such as what are the budgeting timelines that will influence the purchase.
13. Affiliate Programmes
14. Existing Marketplaces (App Store)
15. Trade Shows (works for companies in specific industries)
16. Sponsoring Offline Events
17. Speaking Engagements
18. Community Building
Nevertheless, it is not a long or difficult read and I believe it is worthwhile investing the time to read it.
The author suggests aiming to dedicate 50% of resources to product and 50% to distribution (or what he calls traction).
_______________________
Traction Channels
01. Targeting Blogs
Large blogs scan smaller ones for content ideas. It is then easier to target the small blogs that get read by larger outlets.
02. Approaching Media Outlets & Offline Ads (TV, Newspapers)
03. Publicity Stunts
04. SEM (AdWords)
05. Social Ads
MixRank and AdBeat could provide insight about the advertising strategies of competitors. One suggested strategy is to post and promote content during events the targeted audience is likely to care about. Reddit is also suggested as a way to target specific communities.
06. SEO
07. Content Marketing (blog)
The author recommends writing about problems your customers have and points out that doing well in this channel should influence 8 other channels: SEO, publicity, email marketing, targeting blogs, community building, offline events, biz dev. This channel can however take time (6 months before results become apparent)
08. Email Marketing
09. Engineering as marketing (create useful tools)
10. Encourage customers to refer others
11. Business Development (Partnerships)
12. Sales
The author suggests the best way to approach sales is talking to prospective customers about their setup and problems - this doesn’t only yield valuable information about the industry which could help shape a better product, but it also puts you in a good position to talk about the benefits of your solution / product.
Questions that he recommends answering about leads:
- What is the process for buying from providers for this company?
- How badly do they need our solution?
- Who has the authority to make the purchase happen?
- Can they afford the solution and how much are they loosing by not using the solution?
- Timing questions, such as what are the budgeting timelines that will influence the purchase.
13. Affiliate Programmes
14. Existing Marketplaces (App Store)
15. Trade Shows (works for companies in specific industries)
16. Sponsoring Offline Events
17. Speaking Engagements
18. Community Building
September 15, 2014
If you're looking a book with concrete traction tactics, this is the bible. Most books will give you some loose "advice" but this goes into granular detail in a way that's easy to understand for beginners but still super valuable to people who've been in the game for awhile. Awesome job Gabriel and Justin!
July 2, 2018
The best marketing book I've ever read. Concise, easy to follow and to the point. I highly recommend Traction to any entrepreneur or marketer.
This book will help you define your marketing strategy and improve it over time until you get to a stage where you start to notice your traction. The main point it revolves around is taking actions that make your needle move. Meaning, as long as your marketing strategy moves your business forward, you're on the right track. Through constant testing and improving, you'll get to a point where what used to work no longer does, so you'll need to adapt your activities to your growth. And the authors nicely outline 18 traction strategies in this book, with a bullseye framework for leading you through the process.
What I loved most is how easy it is to read. No added glitter and straight to the point. It's not a book you read once, it's more like a guide to return to once in a while. Absolute 5.
This book will help you define your marketing strategy and improve it over time until you get to a stage where you start to notice your traction. The main point it revolves around is taking actions that make your needle move. Meaning, as long as your marketing strategy moves your business forward, you're on the right track. Through constant testing and improving, you'll get to a point where what used to work no longer does, so you'll need to adapt your activities to your growth. And the authors nicely outline 18 traction strategies in this book, with a bullseye framework for leading you through the process.
What I loved most is how easy it is to read. No added glitter and straight to the point. It's not a book you read once, it's more like a guide to return to once in a while. Absolute 5.
January 6, 2015
If you've got one book to read about building startup growth, let it be this one. I started reading it together with Peter Thiel's "Zero to One", but found myself spending almost my entire time time going back in forth around "Traction". What I love about the book are the applicable tips and advice, which spring right from every chapter. The book does not tell a magical recipe for bringing in a million customers overnight. In all honesty, there is no such recipe. What the book does though is summarize thematically a series of tried and proven growth tactics, and relates them to real people in the industry. If you're running a project, you can start applying those tactics right away, as you read the book. That's what I did.
April 24, 2017
تمام تکنیک ها و کارهایی که میشه برای جذب کاربر انجام داد، تو این کتاب یک جا جمع و ارائه شده لطفا قبل از خواندن این کتاب استارتاپ تون رو لانچ نکنید. همین.
October 17, 2014
Traction opens with a framework called Bullseye. The idea behind Bullseye is to test a number of growth channels, and quickly figure out which can help your business move the needle. To that end, the authors provide an in-depth look at 19 different growth channels, aided by interviews with people who have successfully used those channels to get traction.
It's a simple book and quick read, but I've already found it very helpful in thinking about strategic growth and critical paths.
It's a simple book and quick read, but I've already found it very helpful in thinking about strategic growth and critical paths.
November 21, 2014
من الكتب الرائعة التي تعطيك جميع الطرق التسويقة المتاحة لتسوق مشروعك الناشئ
لن تجد طريقة تخطر على بالك إلا وموجودة ضمن الـ ١٩ طريقة التي ذكرها الكتاب
ابتداء من تحسين مستوى البحث عن منتجك في محركات البحث، مرورو بالدعايات في الانترنت والشوارع والتلفزيونات
وانتهاء بالمؤتمرات والمعارض والخطب
والكتاب يذكر ميزات ومساوئ كل من هذه الطرق وتكاليفها، ويذكر امثلة لمشاريع ناشئة استخدمت هذه الطرق ونجحت بسببها
مثل
Evernote, Yelp, Zynga, Twitter, Youtube, etc.
الكتاب مرجعي ورائع ولابد من قراءته لمن يريد أن يتعلم تسويق المشاريع
لن تجد طريقة تخطر على بالك إلا وموجودة ضمن الـ ١٩ طريقة التي ذكرها الكتاب
ابتداء من تحسين مستوى البحث عن منتجك في محركات البحث، مرورو بالدعايات في الانترنت والشوارع والتلفزيونات
وانتهاء بالمؤتمرات والمعارض والخطب
والكتاب يذكر ميزات ومساوئ كل من هذه الطرق وتكاليفها، ويذكر امثلة لمشاريع ناشئة استخدمت هذه الطرق ونجحت بسببها
مثل
Evernote, Yelp, Zynga, Twitter, Youtube, etc.
الكتاب مرجعي ورائع ولابد من قراءته لمن يريد أن يتعلم تسويق المشاريع
May 31, 2016
Useless.
This was a ridiculous waste of my reading time. It's a collection of tips which are largely irrelevant to the target audience. I don't understand its other good reviews. To me, if you're at the point where the information here is applicable to you, you don't need this book; if you're starting out, it's not applicable. Hmm...so maybe its target audience is people working in start-ups which are beginning to see moderate success. That makes sense. Still, a lot of the advice is "just do A/B/C," as if anyone in the operation is a marketing/coding/managerial expert.
One last thing is that only after finishing this book and looking at its GoodReads page did I realize that the principal author is a founder of DuckDuckGo. DDG is repeatedly referred to in the book as a miraculous success story which profits from the practices discussed in the book. I'd barely heard of DDG before reading this book, and had never used it. So I'm stuck doubly annoyed--a book which didn't offer me much useful information, and which I now feel is largely self-promotional.
This was a ridiculous waste of my reading time. It's a collection of tips which are largely irrelevant to the target audience. I don't understand its other good reviews. To me, if you're at the point where the information here is applicable to you, you don't need this book; if you're starting out, it's not applicable. Hmm...so maybe its target audience is people working in start-ups which are beginning to see moderate success. That makes sense. Still, a lot of the advice is "just do A/B/C," as if anyone in the operation is a marketing/coding/managerial expert.
One last thing is that only after finishing this book and looking at its GoodReads page did I realize that the principal author is a founder of DuckDuckGo. DDG is repeatedly referred to in the book as a miraculous success story which profits from the practices discussed in the book. I'd barely heard of DDG before reading this book, and had never used it. So I'm stuck doubly annoyed--a book which didn't offer me much useful information, and which I now feel is largely self-promotional.
September 3, 2017
This book is a must read for everyone working in a Start Up.
'Most Start Ups don't fail because of their product, they fail because they don't gain traction.'
Weinberg dissects 19 different traction channels, summing up key terminology, tools and tactics, case studies from the real world. He also outlines a simple methodology to test and implement them. Every page is packed with actionable advice. A compresensive marketing crash course that will help everyone identify which strategy is best for the current stage of their project.
This book will take you beyond the common misconception that marketing is mostly social media and help you think in a strategic way that encompasses every aspect of your journey - product development, validation, user acquisition, monetisation, etc.
'Most Start Ups don't fail because of their product, they fail because they don't gain traction.'
Weinberg dissects 19 different traction channels, summing up key terminology, tools and tactics, case studies from the real world. He also outlines a simple methodology to test and implement them. Every page is packed with actionable advice. A compresensive marketing crash course that will help everyone identify which strategy is best for the current stage of their project.
This book will take you beyond the common misconception that marketing is mostly social media and help you think in a strategic way that encompasses every aspect of your journey - product development, validation, user acquisition, monetisation, etc.
September 14, 2014
Maybe if you're really up to date with the latest marketing and user growth effort, you won't be needing this book.
Otherwise, it's a gem! It explained the possible ways for startups to gain traction, explaining that there are no "one strategy for all" and it even depends on what's your traction goal and your own stage.
I could see myself coming back to this book over in the next months and years as I'm going through my own stages. Totally recommended for my fellow founders!!
Otherwise, it's a gem! It explained the possible ways for startups to gain traction, explaining that there are no "one strategy for all" and it even depends on what's your traction goal and your own stage.
I could see myself coming back to this book over in the next months and years as I'm going through my own stages. Totally recommended for my fellow founders!!
October 29, 2016
Very practical book for a fresh look at your go-to-market strategies & tactics. Good examples, to-the-point material. Really glad I stumbled upon it, gave me a lot of ideas how to improve my own business.
November 19, 2015
One of the most useful and actionable books I have read in a long time.
August 11, 2018
This is a book you will always re-read. Super useful with practical tactics.
April 30, 2018
Great book for start-up founders and early staged employees trying to figure out how to go to market with a certain product / business. The authors provide a great method for how to figure out the best sales & marketing (or 'traction') channels for your business ('Bullseye Method'). The Bullseye Method consists of effectively running tests on the 19 different traction channels available to businesses to find the best ONE for you.
The authors then lay out the nineteen different traction channels available to products / businesses. This is a very comprehensive list, with channels ranging from targeting niche blogs to unconventional PR (e.g. stunts) to offline ads (e.g. billboards) to social media digital advertising.
I found this framework a great way to think through all of the different ways you can reach your potential customers. I also found the comprehensive list and overview of traction channels helpful in thinking through any channels we may not have tested yet.
Would highly recommend to early stage start-up founders or anyone in a business development type role at an early stage company.
The authors then lay out the nineteen different traction channels available to products / businesses. This is a very comprehensive list, with channels ranging from targeting niche blogs to unconventional PR (e.g. stunts) to offline ads (e.g. billboards) to social media digital advertising.
I found this framework a great way to think through all of the different ways you can reach your potential customers. I also found the comprehensive list and overview of traction channels helpful in thinking through any channels we may not have tested yet.
Would highly recommend to early stage start-up founders or anyone in a business development type role at an early stage company.
June 9, 2016
I usually comment personally under most books I have read. Here, though, I found a review which totally reflects my view. It is By Nico (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/1...). Here it goes:
P.S: here I follow for the first time the Goodreads rating explanation. So 2* = "it was ok".
traction is all about early growth for startups. the book is a good compilation of techniques and ideas, but nothing spectacular if you have followed the developments in digital marketing in recent years.
I'd recommend this to founders who have no idea about digital marketing.
P.S: here I follow for the first time the Goodreads rating explanation. So 2* = "it was ok".
June 30, 2020
This is one of the weakest marketing books and it perfectly shows why I hate tactics-oriented business writing. It goes like this: "Hey, here's a bunch of tactics you can use. They worked for some companies. Go ahead, test a bunch of stuff and see if anything sticks." While this can be nice for idea generation, it's terrible advice to people without experience in strategy building. How do you go about testing? What should you be aiming for? What goals should you set? These are far more important questions than what channels you can use.
April 17, 2016
Good overview of 19 "getting traction" strategies, which every growth hacker should know about. Written by the founder of DuckDuckGo, it explains each strategy one by one and shares stories and interviews with founders from companies who have successfully applied the strategy in their business.
The stories themselves are not that important but the book itself (or the 19 strategies) should be in every startup founder's backpack.
The stories themselves are not that important but the book itself (or the 19 strategies) should be in every startup founder's backpack.
January 5, 2017
The four stars are for the first 5 chapters. The rest of the book can easily be skimmed, but there are some really good ideas and things to try in those first few chapters. I like the Bullseye framework, and I like how well it all fits into Lean methodology without too much wiggling and squeezing. If you're able to hold your nose and read past words like "utilize" and "move the needle", I'd say the first 40 pages is well worth your time.
December 22, 2017
A great compilation of various ways for startups to utilize marketing channels to churn out growth. Some were better than others, and some I knew while others I didn't. Overall it was great feeling ether being refreshed or enlightened on these different pathways, and the book is a good jumping point for marketers looking to gain traction for their businesses.
October 13, 2021
Massive. I'd say that this is a must read not only for startups but for anyone planning to provide anything (literally, services, online products, building brands) online. Chopped into dense chapters, discussing thing by thing. It's interesting because some of the channels I used a lot and even in these cases, it's interesting to see and verify one's pov against the author's.
November 15, 2014
Really great book that gives a framework for thinking about and evaluating the channels to use in reaching your customers
March 18, 2023
Full of value. Helpful book that emphasises the importance of marketing for startups, and that the product is not everything. It offers useful tools and creative ideas, all extracted from interviews with experts in a particular field. It also slightly helped me to understand the Silicon Valley dynamics. As the book is written out of this perspective.
March 13, 2021
A helpful guide for thinking about early-stage traction strategy and a great reminder of how important traction really is. There is excellence detail for each traction “channel”, and the overarching bulls-eye framework helps tie it all together. Bookmarked many pages for re-referencing
June 18, 2016
A book written by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs! One of the few books out there that actually provides concrete suggestions based on the success of many startups in relation to how to get traction. Especially valuable for early-stage startups but also valuable to more experienced founders.
The book lists 19 potential channels for acquiring new users/customers, each one is presented in detail followed by several examples of how to run small inexpensive experiments. The idea being, test as many channels as your resources allow you, in order to determine what would be most appropriate acquisition channel in different stages of your development.
Based on the book I prepared a thorough plan for one startup that I am currently co-founding, time will show if my plan will be successful, however, I have high hopes and look forward to applying the Bullseye strategy!
The book lists 19 potential channels for acquiring new users/customers, each one is presented in detail followed by several examples of how to run small inexpensive experiments. The idea being, test as many channels as your resources allow you, in order to determine what would be most appropriate acquisition channel in different stages of your development.
Based on the book I prepared a thorough plan for one startup that I am currently co-founding, time will show if my plan will be successful, however, I have high hopes and look forward to applying the Bullseye strategy!
April 1, 2019
This is hard to rate for me. The basic framework is great and would get a 5 star, sadly the book didn’t age well. Lots of the examples for how to implement the framework don’t work anymore because those sites/channels stopped existing or aren’t important anymore.
Also: every time it introduces a person they interviewed they start with the amount of money they made by selling their business. Something that is of no interest and doesn’t make their point more important. I would have understood if they would have posted revenue numbers, but sadly in a startup world this doesn’t count. Additionally some of the tactics feel dangerous to a business in the more privacy focused world of today. Don’t get me wrong. Those ideas have been bad back then, too, but less people cared.
So just google bullseye framework, get that list, work from there. Faster and cheaper.
Also: every time it introduces a person they interviewed they start with the amount of money they made by selling their business. Something that is of no interest and doesn’t make their point more important. I would have understood if they would have posted revenue numbers, but sadly in a startup world this doesn’t count. Additionally some of the tactics feel dangerous to a business in the more privacy focused world of today. Don’t get me wrong. Those ideas have been bad back then, too, but less people cared.
So just google bullseye framework, get that list, work from there. Faster and cheaper.
March 1, 2016
Absolutely fantastic effort at introducing an entrepreneur and startups to the modern reality of what it takes to keep a business relevant and to drive growth towards the creation of a successful enterprise. Even though it seemed heavily geared towards the online entrepreneurship space it has more than enough nuggets of information for the regular mom and pop business. Very well written with practical insights into the mindsets of knowledgeable and successful business resource people. This guide should see any young business off its feet successfully. I am indeed a convert!!
February 15, 2015
Great book. Highly actionable advice for getting the sales and marketing (traction) part of a startup right.
It's really an overview of the variety of techniques, and a framework for trying and selecting the techniques that will work best for your business.
I'm sure there are other books that describe particular traction techniques in more detail, but this is superb reality check for product-focused startups.
It's really an overview of the variety of techniques, and a framework for trying and selecting the techniques that will work best for your business.
I'm sure there are other books that describe particular traction techniques in more detail, but this is superb reality check for product-focused startups.
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