[omarhegazy]

Agreed. I don't think the author ever said hacking was an inferior or unreasonable tactic -- she never said clever kitchen extensions were bad. She just wanted people to be able to separate and properly judge what is a clever kitchen extension and what is proper house foundation, and know when to use each.

However, I don't agree that hacks are inherently short-term only. It's possible, although very difficult, to come across a quick, easy decision that will improve your long-term as well as your short-term.

Like what Twitter did at SXSW 2007. They set up 2 huge 60 inch plasma TVs in conference hallways -- that one small, quick, dirty easy decision caused them to explode in popularity.

[afarrell]

It seems like she said that growth hacking wasn't a thing that exists. I suspect that if asked, she would with you that it does exist as an action but that as a title it is nonsensical. A startup's marketing can't be made of hacks for the same reason that if a programmer spends all of her time hacking, she'll end up with an incoherent mess of spaghetti instead of a solid foundation to build more of a business on.

[the_watcher]

Yea, I agree with all of that. The main point, I think, is that you should think of marketing in broader terms than "find the best growth hack." That doesn't mean that "find the best growth hack" shouldn't happen.