Pick Your Promoter
A million ways to grow. One guy who knows how to do them.
The Organic Grower
Tenzo Tea
Head of Organic Growth
The beverage industry is home to some of the most beloved brands in the world, but it often relies on sugary, anxiety-inducing ingredients that leave you feeling drained halfway through the day. When you meet the founders of Tenzo, you quickly learn that they want to change the world by turning the industry on its head. And since their ceremonial matcha powder gives you the same energy as coffee minus the midday crash, it’s easy to fall in love with their mission.
As one of their first hires, the task was simple:
Connect the internet with the world’s best tea.
The Approach
The DTC playbook typically goes something like this:
Raise a ton of money, spend big bucks on paid ads and hope that customers stick around.
Like many of our competitors, we were going through the motions. The challenge was that, whenever a paid campaign ended, so did the traffic. Building for the long-term, we knew there had to be a better way to connect with tea lovers far and wide. At the time, the world found itself in a healthy living revolution, and matcha was gaining popularity as the poster child for clean energy. While it seemed like Tenzo’s matcha powder was perfectly positioned for an audience comprised of the world’s healthiest people, there was no obvious way to touch base with potential customers.
But when we dove into the metrics, the numbers gave us hints.
As it turned out, tens of thousands of people in the US were searching for content related to matcha and tea culture — and more was on the way. In fact, some people hadn’t even heard of matcha, especially if it wasn’t yet offered by their local café. The best part? Many high-traffic, tea-centric keywords were underutilized. This meant that, when you googled something like “what is matcha,” only a few websites had an answer ready — and the explanations that existed often left something to be desired. This was the case for many keywords in the matcha space, and it quickly became our unfair advantage.
In order to capture as much traffic as possible, our solution was to make written content a core component of Tenzo’s growth engine. In doing so, Tenzo’s website would be omnipresent for all google searches related to matcha. As traffic comes in, we’d be able to convert visitors into email subscribers, or even retarget interested parties with FB ads. This concept sparked the formation of Tenzo’s first content system, SEO strategy and writing team. Put in motion, Tenzo’s website grew beyond its roots as an online tea store to become an editorial destination for all things matcha.
The Results
From day one, the organic growth strategy was guided by data. We started with keywords that met the following criteria:
More than 10,000 searches per month (US).
KD scores less than 50 (according to Ahrefs).
After parsing the keywords we wanted to target, we rolled up our sleeves and began publishing written articles that were longer and more comprehensive than the content our competitors were producing. Our goals were ambitious and there were many unknowns. In just a few months, results started pouring in. Within one year, we were off to the races.
Monthly organic traffic increased by 4,688%.
Total organic audience increased to 19,768 MAUs.
Backlink count increased from 12,714 to 37,213.
Grew community via Reddit by posting 384 comments in matcha/tea communities.
Converted inbound traffic to email subscriptions totaling over 20,000 matcha fans.
The Friend o’ Influencers
Kicktrades
Founder
If you want to see a cult following, look no further than the world of sneakerheads. In this community, it’s all about having the hottest new thing, whether it be a pair of Nikes from or a one-off hoodie. But getting your hands on the newest kicks isn’t as easy as it sounds. With limited production numbers, timed releases and a resale market as active as the US housing market, famed sneakers from the likes of Nike, Jordan, Yeezy and Supreme are hard to come by. In the old days, finding the perfect pair meant you’d be paying a pretty penny to carve a name for yourself as a true collector of hypebeast culture.
Then came Kicktrades.
A company started with a $200 loan, we positioned ourselves as the world’s ultimate place to buy and sell limited-edition sneakers. We began as a community marketplace that ultimately grew into a software company powering thousands of sneaker purchases around the globe.
Operating on a shoestring budget, paid ads were not an option. If we wanted to take this to the big leagues, we needed to be delicate in the way we thought about growth.
Our original website! As mentioned, total shoestring budget. Built in 3 days in a high school computer lab.
The Approach
When we launched, the sneaker market was like the wild west.
Tight supply, astronomical demand. Sneakers were selling for more than cars. As an outsider, this was both unusual and intriguing.
One thing we knew: sneaker prices were predictable. How so?
Every Saturday, thousands of brand new, limited-edition sneakers hit the resale market. We scraped all the data we could find. By querying more than 56,000 sneaker listings (from the internet as well as our own marketplace), we discovered that shoe prices followed strong patterns. For example, Jordan 1s were typically being flipped for 127% over retail, while Jordan 5s would command a lower (yet still jaw-dropping) 86% premium on the secondhand market. Add in variables such as color, production numbers and historical significance, and there were lots of moving parts.
Based on our spreadsheets, prices for future sneaker releases could be predicted within $20-30. This was extremely valuable information for anybody actively participating in the sneaker world, and we used it to build software products. Our claim to fame was a custom sneaker bot that enabled our customers to automatically purchase sneakers from Nike’s website. Having the ability to predict resale values meant we could price our software competitively against the secondhand sneaker market which, in turn, saved our customers a lot of time — and a lot of money.
Believing in the potency of what we had built, we raced to find a way to share our findings. To do so, we traveled to the mecca of sneakerhead fandom: Instagram. The theory was that, if we build trust within the sneakerhead community, then we can make a real difference in the way sneaker sales happen.
The Results
Collaborated with 475+ influencers in the sneakerhead space (shared posts, tags, ran special promos for followers of major accounts).
Kicktrades’ Instagram account grew from 0 followers to 12,500+ in 3 weeks.
Converted Instagram followers into marketplace users, bringing in 37,800 MAUs.
By giving away spreadsheets for free to Instagram followers, daily new listings increased by 1,100%.
Grew email list to more than 6,500 followers, most of whom arrived via Instagram.
Retargeted Growth: 87% of software subscribers came from email list.
Word spread quickly: Social media traffic increased revenue by 2,915% per year.
The Community Builder
When it comes to growth, community makes all the difference. When Pokémon Go first debuted, it took the world by storm. Everywhere you looked, Pokémon hunters were out in full force, leaving no stone unturned in the search for virtual characters. The problem? You could spend days walking aimlessly in the pursuit of uncaught Pokémon.
Given the interactive nature of the game, it seemed like there should be a resource that connects the Pokémon Go community while providing immense value to everybody involved.
Alas, Pokéflex was born. At first, it was simply a passion project. Building for the fun of it, nobody could have predicted what would happen next…
Pokéflex
Founder
One of 75+ interactive maps provided by Pokéflex.
The Approach
The coolest thing about Pokémon Go is that it’s based on maps of the real world — and the maps in the game are pretty thorough. One element the developers left out had to do with the location of specific Pokémon. This stirred up questions. For example, if you live in Queens, NY and have 30 minutes to play the game, where should you walk? And how should you make that decision? Are some locations more Pokémon-heavy than others? Is there a rare specimen around the corner from your house?
As we saw it, these were questions best answered by the greater Pokémon Go community. Our feeling was, if the game is framed geographically, why don’t we crowdsource the locations of all the Pokémon? As soon as the game launched, I bought the domain name and built out a custom website during a single, uninterrupted 18-hour work bender. At the same time, we joined several hundred Facebook groups involving Pokémon Go, even going so far as to become an admin or moderator in some of them.
Once the website was complete, we developed a handful of maps in large cities such as Miami, FL, Berkeley, CA and Philidelphia, PA. Each map came with custom pins that visitors could use to mark where they had found specific Pokémon. As the maps went live, we posted about them in all the Facebook groups we had joined the day before. To ensure that our maps had value from the getgo, we made sure to prefill them ourselves, prior to spreading the word. Even though this was just a hobby project, we wanted to make every website visit worthwhile.
The Results
Pokéflex launched on a Thursday. By Friday, the website saw more than 20,000 unique visitors.
Between the Facebook groups, Pokémon Go community engagement and our own outreach, Pokéflex became so popular that the website crashed the day after it launched. Here’s what happened:
25,000+ DAU.
75+ maps across 5 countries.
Pokémon location coverage spanning 92% of the US.
12,500,000 total views between all maps (maps were shared more often than the website itself).
Featured in PCWorld, Macworld, Tech Advisor & Tech Hive & others: “The best way to find rare Pokémon in Pokémon Go.”
Website was acquired within 7 days of launch.
To put it mildly, the website exploded. As it took off, we spent every waking hour adding new maps for our audience to explore. Once we had covered all the major cities in the US, we worked on getting smaller cities up and running. After the major US territories were up and running, we then explored additional countries. Every day, traffic went up. No matter when you checked our analytics, Pokéflex was hosting visitors from all around the globe.
Though it was never our intention to give up the reigns, several unsolicited offers had been made to purchase the website. By the end of the first week, Pokéflex was acquired by an outside party.
As the sole employee, I built, managed and grew the website from inception to sale.
PCWorld article featuring Pokéflex: click here.
The IRL Grower
Syracuse University Entrepreneurship Club
President
When I joined the Syracuse University Entrepreneurship Club, there were only about 7 active members (on a good week). Convinced that there was a larger audience to be reached, we sought to build a community around the idea of entrepreneurship and the positive impact it creates around the world. Lots of similar organizations position themselves as self-help groups, and sometimes they attempt to offer mentorship or some special program that “guarantees” success. This time around, we wanted to make a real impact. The goal was to foster a culture that encourages entrepreneurship across Syracuse University, and to provide connections to students who are at the beginning of their careers. A community within a community.
The final result was bigger than we expected.
Group photo from an entrepreneurship conference we attended at Harvard Business School.
The Results
As President, it was critical that we built the right infrastructure in anticipation of future growth. Over time, many hats were worn. Here's the breakdown:
Built and launched the organization's first website.
Created a scannable, data-based sign-in system used by 1,100 students.
Consistently grew membership year-over-year.
Organized and operated inter-club workshops with 78 students across campus.
Collaborated with other organizations across campus to increase membership.
Planned, organized and produced the organization's first-ever live pitch event, giving away $1,500.
Convinced the nation's top entrepreneurs to fly to Syracuse (a place with few direct flights) to speak with our members for an hour every week. Most fun: NFL players and the C-suite of Panera Bread.
Provided the club's members with direct knowledge and insights that are rarely found in the traditional classroom environment.
Club was invited to (and attended) 6+ conferences at Babson, Cornell, Harvard and others.
Grew membership from 7 active participants per semester to 500+ weekly meeting attendees.