The Growth Newsletter #150

Ladder of Proof. The Opposites Game. TOFU + BOFU at same time.  ‌ ‌ ‌ [Demand Curve]( [Read on demandcurve.com]( The Growth Newsletter #150 Ladder of Proof. The Opposites Game. TOFU + BOFU at same time. 450 growth tactics shared in 150 editions with zero repeats 🤪 What do you think, should we go until 3,000 tactics and 1,000 editions? Maybe I can send it on my 50th birthday in celebration.  I appreciate all of you for your attention and support. (And if any of you are looking to join our team, check the News & Links section!)  Topics for the day: Ladder of Proof. The Opposites Game. TOFU + BOFU at the same time.  Let's dive in 🏔️ – Neal Thanks to our sponsors for keeping this newsletter free for all of you! Check them out :) Brought to you by [AIPRM](.  Want access to: - The most useful GPT directory, ready to use with crowdsourced prompts? - With entire GPTs customized for specific use cases?  Then you need AIPRM—a Chrome extension that integrates directly with ChatGPT.  Used by over 2 million people, AIPRM has 4,594 community-made prompts and GPTs to make your generative AI journey significantly easier.  [Install for free →](  Brought to you by [HubSpot](—ChatGPT hacks for marketing and sales pros.  Tools are evolving insanely fast this year. We're all desperately trying to find ways to keep up and be more productive.  HubSpot pulled ChatGPT hacks that can be used across sales, marketing, and many more functions. Your personal problem solver: - Top ChatGPT use cases - Best practices for asking questions - 100 vetted prompts to feed ChatGPT [Check out How to Use ChatGPT at Work →]( Want to be featured in front of 85,720 founders and marketers? [Learn more here](–rates increasing in 2024, book before EOY to lock in rates.   1. Scale the Ladder of Proof Insight from [NfX](.  2023 has been a hard year for fundraising.  Investors (and employees) look for proof that your company is likely to succeed and, thus, is worth investing time or money into.  NfX calls this the Ladder of Proof. The higher up the ladder, the more attractive you are to an investor. And the red rungs are more critical than the others. Go through this from bottom to the top. Be brutally honest with yourself: - What can you check off? - What are you missing? Work your way up the ladder, and fix the lower rungs. 2. Play "The Opposite's Game" with your strategy Insight from [No Bullsh*t Strategy]( by Alex M. H. Smith.  I'll repeat: Don't be the best, be the only.  Otherwise, it'll be a bloody battle.  If you do exactly what others are doing, it'll be a hard fight and margins will evaporate, particularly if they're wealthier and more connected than you are.  You need to focus on having a unique offering. (2 weeks ago, I talked about one of the ways to do that with [Contrarian Value](.) But once you have a strategy in mind, how can you tell if it's any good? In No Bullsh*t Strategy, Alex details a few ways. Let's focus on two:  #1. Remove all subjective language.  A strategy should be completely objective: - Not a strategy: "The world's best tasting yogurt" - Strategy: "Replicate ice cream flavors in yogurt"  The first is all subjective and provides no clarity. What flavors do we make? How do we know it's the best? Who judges that? Why would someone choose us?  The second is a legitimate strategy that provides clarity of action and differentiates you from all your competitors who focus on fruit flavors like strawberry and blueberry.  #2. The Opposite's Game  Would the opposite of this strategy also make logical sense? - If yes. Then it's probably a decent strategy. - If no. Probably not. You're probably focused on being "better."  The purpose of a strategy is to have a strong alternative to other offers on the market. - “Low-cost option” vs “premium” ✅ - "Portable" vs "stationary" ✅ - “Win the most cases” vs “lose the most” ❌ - “Punctual” vs “most late” ❌  As Alex says: "Anything that everyone would want to do is not a good strategy."  And once again: "Don't be the best, be the only." 3. How to BOFU and TOFU at the same time Insight from [Paddy Galloway]( on the Creator Science podcast.  Content creators (of all sizes) get stuck into two ruts: - Top of Funnel only. They're continuously pumping out broadly appealing content with little substance. TOFU prioritizes new audience and shallowness of content. (Think AI creators sharing their 100th "Top 10 free AI tools that murder ChatGPT." - Bottom of Funnel only. They're always in the weeds of their core topic and offering, like SEO or fundraising. BOFU prioritizes current audience and depth of content.  The problem with #1 is that it erodes trust, turns people off after a while, and doesn't convince anyone to buy from you. It's hard to resist the dopamine rush of 10,000 likes.  The problem with #2 is that you're not discovered by new people. And you might be too in the weeds for potential buyers (founders), and instead you attract your peers (SEOs).  TOFU and BOFU  Content marketers created the concept of TOFU content (#1) and BOFU content (#2), and suggest mixing and matching the two in your content calendar.  But YouTube strategist Paddy Galloway (he's worked with the likes of MrBeast), says the true sweet spot is doing both at once in the same piece of content:  Find a concept your core audience loves, then wrap it into a big idea.  Couple examples from recent students: - Ed Cravo helps companies create in-house dev teams based in Brazil. BOFU is detailed hiring practices. A big idea to embed into is "equal pay for equal work." - Nikolas Konstantin is a leadership coach + meditation teacher with a focus on self-awareness. BOFU is mindfulness. A big idea to embed it into is "work-life balance."  Leverage the popularity of big ideas and trends. Use it as the lens to share your core message. This is hard to get right. But if you can, you get the best of both worlds.   Quick question: You are a...? [Founder]( [Freelancer]( [Full-time role]( Your response will help us personalize the content you receive from us :)   News and links News you can use: - Threads now has its [own version of hashtags: "topic tags"](. - X/Twitter launched [Grok](, it's ChatGPT rival, to Premium+ subscribers. - Google launched [Gemini](, it's ChatGPT rival, which will be added to Search and Ads next year. Also they got flak for the launch video being staged. - Bing added a new [Deep Search generative AI feature to discern intent behind ambiguous queries](.  📣 Hiring announcement: We're hiring two roles at Bell Curve to help scale up our startup-friendly ads division, Ad Labs. We need a [Performance Marketing Strategist]( (run ads and manage clients) and a [Growth Designer]( (design ads and landing pages.   Tool we recommend*: [Talk]( by Ortto  Talk is an AI-powered live chat that helps you convert, engage, and retain more customers. It's available for free until January 31st 2024.  With Talk you can: - Train your custom AI model using your web content, help docs, and tickets. - Integrate your CDP for holistic user view - Increase productivity with auto-generated response suggestions - Resolve queries faster with voice & screensharing - Build reports to generate insights and track your performance  Helping you delight your customers a lot faster and easier.  [Sign up for free today]( and get started using Talk.  *Sponsored by Ortto Want to be featured in front of 85,640 founders and marketers? [Learn more here](–booking 4 weeks in advance.   Something fun From [@gamespite](. Now when a bell rings I'm going to think about Pavlov thinking about his drooling dog.   What did you think of this week's newsletter?  [😍 Loved it]( | [😄 Great]( | [🙂 Good]( | [🤷‍♀️ Meh]( | [🤬 Bad](  If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing it with a friend. These newsletters take hours to make each week, so it really helps when you share us with fellow founders and marketers.  And if you have any comments/question, I'd love to hear them. Just hit reply!  In case you're new: Who's [Demand Curve](?  We’re on a mission to help make it easier to start, build, and grow companies.  We share high-quality, vetted, and actionable growth content as we learn it from the top 1% of founders and marketers.  How we can help you grow: - Read our free [playbooks](, [blog articles](, and [teardowns](—we break down the strategies and tactics that fast-growing startups use to grow. - Enroll in the [Growth Program](, our marketing course that has helped 1,000+ founders get traction and scale revenue. - Need to run ads? We’ve built [the]([ ads agency]( for startups. - Need to redefine your brand story? Check out our [Story Systems](. - Looking for a growth freelancer or agency? [We’ll match you]( with one for free. - Get your product in front of startup founders by [sponsoring]( this newsletter. See you next week.  — Neal and Justin [Neal]( [Neal O'Grady]( [Grace]( [Justin Setzer](   © 2023 Demand Curve, Inc. 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