Acquisition
The process of bringing new users into a product's ecosystem through various marketing and organic channels.
Keywords:
acquisition, channels, cac, paid marketing
Contents
Deep Dive
Metaphysical Synthesis & Analysis
The Synthesis
Acquisition is the practice of bringing new users into the product. Brian Balfour distinguishes between channels (paid, organic, viral) and the importance of channel-product fit. For PMs, the critical insight is that acquisition without Retention creates a leaky bucket. The best acquisition strategies are those where the product itself drives growth through network effects or viral mechanics.
Metaphysical Foundation
Acquisition is the top of the funnel—the mechanism by which potential users become actual users. It is necessary but not sufficient for growth.
Evolutionary Path
From spray-and-pray advertising to targeted performance marketing to product-led growth, acquisition has become more measurable and product-integrated.
Strategic Interplays
Acquisition feeds Activation and ultimately Retention. It is optimized through Ab Testing and measured via CAC and LTV.
Key Episodes
Brian Chesky
Brian Chesky’s new playbook
Shreyas Doshi
The art of product management | Shreyas Doshi (Stripe, Twitter, Google, Yahoo)
Ray Cao
Product management theater | Marty Cagan (Silicon Valley Product Group)
Dylan Field
Figma’s CEO: Why AI makes design, craft, and quality the new moat for startups |...
Roger Martin
5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, adviso...
Ethan Smith
The ultimate guide to AEO: How to get ChatGPT to recommend your product | Ethan ...
Elena Verna
10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, Surve...
Mihika Kapoor
Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapo...
Bret Taylor
He saved OpenAI, invented the “Like” button, and built Google Maps: Bret Taylor ...
Eli Schwartz
Rethinking SEO in the age of AI | Eli Schwartz (SEO advisor, author)
Hamel Husain & Shreya Shankar
Why AI evals are the hottest new skill for product builders | Hamel Husain & Shr...
Hamel+Shreya
Why AI evals are the hottest new skill for product builders | Hamel Husain & Shr...
Brandon Chu
AI prompt engineering in 2025: What works and what doesn’t | Sander Schulhoff
Manik Gupta
Becoming more strategic, navigating difficult colleagues, founder mode, more | A...
Todd Jackson
A framework for finding product-market fit | Todd Jackson (First Round Capital)
Jen Abel
The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel (co-founder of JJELLYFISH)
Nikhyl Singhal
Building a long and meaningful career | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google)
Dharmesh Shah
Zigging vs. zagging: How HubSpot built a $30B company | Dharmesh Shah (co-founde...
Ronny Kohavi
The ultimate guide to A/B testing | Ronny Kohavi (Airbnb, Microsoft, Amazon)
Merci Grace