[elohesra]

The article states that some startups succeed because "they’ve found some viral loop, the crack cocaine of startup-land". My question is whether these things actually exist? The only kind of business I can think of where something like this really applies is media-styled companies aimed at young people. But this type of company doesn't really seem to be the kind of company the article is talking about. I can't think of any business-to-business companies (as 'upselling' implies) that have any kind of viral loop, so it seems to me that the article conflates high-growth media-companies with high-revenue business-companies, and then argues against a hypothetical business company working on user acquisition as if it were a media company.

Am I wrong here? Is there some sort of viral concept for business-to-business companies?

EDIT: Just to clarify what I mean by the fuzzily defined term 'media companies', I mean companies whose product is in one of the low/no fee media spaces, like social media or digital media.

[tomblomfield]

Whatever kind of company you run, dig below the top-line growth numbers. Look into churn and revenue by cohort.

There are b2b companies with very high churn (Groupon's merchant acquisition is arguably an example) and those with very low churn (Stripe, GoCardless).

As an aside, there are some b2b companies with a pretty high viral coefficient. B2B invoicing platforms are a good example - a business might bring all of its suppliers/customers onto a platform. This is basically Tradeshift's strategy.

[elohesra]

Thanks for that information, that's interesting. Either way, I thought it was an interesting article, and it was well written too. I also agree with the core point that growth without retention is meaningless. I suppose I just take issue with the term 'viral' here, although your point stands even with business-to-business: if you've had a sudden influx of customers, then you'll need to fight to keep them rather than just considering them an unchanging constant of your business forevermore.

[hayksaakian]

Airbnb "growth hacked" by taking advantage of craigslist in a gray way.

I think viral is a loaded word.