The Growth Plan

North Star Metric:

We’re likely in a (pre-) PMF stage, so the focus should be on activation and retention. I personally believe that North Star Metric should be a leading indicator, not a lagging outcome.

In our case, “retention” is lagging so the better NSM is posts published/exported by paying users, because publishing is the behavior that drives retention.

Growth Model:

Access a simplified growth model here, please: Growth Model- Stanley

 

Growth Levers:

Given that we are at the PMF stage and have a single core feature, we are intentionally focusing on acquisition as our primary growth lever.

The product’s value is immediately clear and time-to-value is short, meaning users either experience the core benefit quickly or churn. At this stage, growth is constrained by distribution rather than activation, engagement, or monetization.

Acquisition Channels:

With acquisition as our primary focus, we will prioritize the highest-leverage acquisition channels using a channel selection matrix.

After scoring all channels using the selection matrix, these three stand out as the best starting point: Social, Partnerships, and Referrals.

  • Social = biggest reachable audience + fastest feedback loop

  • Partnerships = concentrated ICP distribution (communities)

  • Referrals = lowest CAC + compounding

That said, we’ll execute one channel at a time to stay focused and learn faster.

Channel selection matrix: Link

Channels Strategy:

1. Social Channel Strategy:
a) Founder-Employee Led
Platform:  LinkedIn

We are already doing this. We just need to scale it.

What’s working?

  • The founder, cofounder, and a few team members already post on LinkedIn.

  • This is already the strongest organic distribution engine for Stanley.

What to implement?

1.

 Turn a few posters into an employee-led distribution system

The goal is to get more team members posting consistently by implementing some sort of incentive mechanism.

I reviewed the 52 Stan members LI and found that only 8 are actively posting on LinkedIn (defined as 3+ posts/week).

Source: Link

“Show me the incentive, and I’ll show you the outcome.” 

A good example:

2.

Standardize an end-of-post CTA on every team post

Right now, team posts don’t mention Stanley, so we’re leaving impressions on the table.

From now on, every post ends with a short CTA like:

b) Short-form Content

Platform: Instagram

I’d like to experiment with AI to build an AI-automated Instagram account, specifically a GenAI avatar of Vitalii. If it works, this becomes a distribution channel for Stanley and future products (e.g., Stan’s Cowork, upcoming launches), while also positioning Vitalii as a trusted voice in tech.

e.g.

2. Partnerships

The next acquisition channel we’ll focus on is Partnerships with creatorpreneurs who run paid communities. Once we validate the playbook, we’ll expand into paid newsletters where creators offer “tech stacks” as member perks.

These partners already have (1) real influence, (2) high-intent audiences, and (3) members who can afford a premium tool like Stanley.

I’ve already identified some active communities that match our ICP and target geographies.

3. Referrals

I don’t have enough data yet to design a referral strategy. For referrals, we’ll first validate when users hit the “aha moment” and identify the best incentive structure whether that’s a free month, credits, or a tiered rewards system.

Expected channel mix:

“The best is yet to come.”