Lessons learned from growing LinkedIn to 400M

membersAatif AwanHead of Growth & International Products at LinkedIn

 www.linkedin.com/in/aatifawan aatif_awan

A Brief History of Growth @ LinkedIn

Growth @ LinkedIn: 2003-2007LinkedIn Members

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

0.1M 2M 4M 8M 17M

LinkedIn Member Growth Product market fit. Growth built into product from the start.

Reid and early employees invited well-connected people in the industry.

Public profiles launch in 2006, became a second major growth channel due to SEO.

Growth @ LinkedIn: 2008-2011LinkedIn Members

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

0.1M 2M 4M 8M 17M33M

55M89M

145M

LinkedIn Member Growth Dedicated cross-functional growth team (~15 people) focused on acquisition.

Identified drivers for key channels and optimized.

International expansion. Saw 100%+ lifts in growth for most markets where we translated into local language.

I joined at the 100M milestone

Growth @ LinkedIn: 2012- todayLinkedIn Members

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

0.1M 2M 4M 8M 17M33M

55M89M

145M

202M

277M

347M

414M

LinkedIn Member Growth Expanded to cover acquisition, activation, connections, retention and resurrection, notifications.

Growth team’s growth: cross-functional team of 120+ people.

Invested heavily in mobile and partnerships.

Continue international expansion with focus on China and India.

Growth Team Organization

SEO & Public Pages

Network Growth

Onboarding L2M Comms

SEO, SEM, Conversion optimization, Public pages

Viral growth, PYMK,Connections

Onboarding,Activation,Intent discovery

Engagement through Email/Push notifications, Resurrection

International

Localization,Standardization,Focus on key markets

Principles vs. Tactics

Too much hype about Growth Hacks and Tactics

Focus on principles, not tactics

• Principles >> Strategy >> Tactics• Tactics have a short shelf life. • If all you know are tactics, you will likely apply

them incorrectly.• Once you understand the principles, you can

find the right tactics and even come up with your own.

What we’ve learned

Growth is about accelerating the realization of your vision, not moving metrics up-and-to-the-right.

• At LinkedIn, our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.

• Growth team accelerates this through creation of the economic graph that connects people, companies, jobs and schools.

• Taking this view led us to focus on quality signups

Pick one North Star metric, measure everything

• Define one north star metric that:• Is aligned with the success of your business• Measures value for users• Is summable

• Sometimes, one is not possible. Go for as few as you can.

• Measure everything and tie it back to the north star metric.

Good product comes first, growth second• Investing in growth before

you have a good product is a waste of resources.

• Measure product goodness

with long-term retention (curve should flatten over time) and through customer feedback

• If your retention isn’t good, nothing else matters. Improve it by delivering core product value early and often.

Good retention

Bad retention

%age of users engaging by weeks since signup

But that wouldn’t have worked for LinkedIn.

• For products with network effects or marketplace dynamics (LinkedIn has both), you need to achieve a good product and growth simultaneously.

• Products get better with more users and can be useless without a critical mass.

• We solved for this by building two powerful growth engines from the start.

Investing in multiple scalable growth channels multiplies your odds of success

• Being dependent on a single growth channel is a strategic liability.

• Have one core channel, invest in strategic channels like new platforms and have some venture bets.

• We developed two core channels: Viral growth through members building their networks by importing contacts and SEO of people profiles.

• Over time we have created more channels with mobile and partnerships.

User BehaviorIdentifying Growth Channels

• Do existing users share your product via word of mouth?

• Are people using search to find a solution?

• Do users have a high LTV?

 Channels to explore

Virality, referrals

SEO, SEM

Paid acquisition

• Does having more users improve the experience? Virality

• Are your target users already on another platform? Partnership, Integration

Prioritize channels

and levers

Brainstorm hypotheses and ideas

Assess impact on north star

metric

Prioritize based on impact,

probability of success and effort

Build, A/B test and measure

Growth Requires Continuous Prioritization and Feedback

A/B Testing => Always Be Testing

• The more you experiment, the faster you learn and innovate.

• It can resolve long-disputed strategy questions and break down long-held myths.

• You can A/B test most things• We’ve done statistically significant tests to measure impact on customer

complaints on an issue with a volume of a few hundred/week• SEO A/B testing can be very effective

• As your user demographics change over time, repeating old tests can lead to new insights.

Not all beautiful Growth charts go up-and-to-the-right

WeeklyEmails

sentJan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug

projected

-40%

• We heard loud and clear that our members were getting too much email.

• We built a central system for all emails called Air Traffic Controller (ATC).

• This cut emails we send by 40% and complaints by 53% with no negative impact on growth or engagement

Hiring the right people is more important than strategy

• Analytical

• Gets shit done

• Curious – asks why?

• Finds new ways to do things – asks why not?

• Prior growth experience is optional

Culture

• Data trumps opinions

• Set ambitious goals

• Move fast

• Learn continuously

• Celebrate wins

Thank you!Aatif AwanHead of Growth & International Products at LinkedIn

 www.linkedin.com/in/aatifawan aatif_awan