alexe-ev Identify Growth Loop
Purpose
Help teams identify the growth loops that are already present in the product and assess which are strongest, which are under-leveraged, and which don't exist but should.
Skill type
Conceptual skill
Use this skill when
- The team relies entirely on paid acquisition with no compounding growth
- Organic growth exists but the mechanism isn't understood or optimized
- A product redesign needs to incorporate growth loop thinking
- The growth model needs to shift from linear (paid) to compounding (loops)
Do not use this skill when
- The goal is optimizing a specific conversion step (use optimize-conversion-growth-loops)
- The goal is channel strategy (use strategize-channel-campaigns)
Required inputs
- Product description and core user actions
- Existing growth patterns (rough: "we grow mostly through referrals" or "mostly paid")
Optional inputs
- Referral or virality data
- Content or SEO performance
- Network effect signals
- User engagement data
Upstream context
Works best when:
- Growth model is defined
- Acquisition funnel is mapped
Downstream handoff
Output can feed:
- optimize-conversion-growth-loops (loop identification → loop strengthening)
- design-growth-model (loops are inputs to the growth model)
Instructions
- Identify the core user action that creates value in the product.
- For each action, ask: does this action create something that brings in or retains more users?
- Map candidate loops: acquisition loops, engagement loops, content loops, network effect loops.
- For each loop: describe the cycle, estimate its current strength, and identify the weakest link.
- Identify loops that should exist given the product type but currently don't.
- Prioritize loops by potential impact and feasibility to strengthen.
Output
Provide:
- Identified growth loops with cycle descriptions
- Loop type: acquisition / engagement / content / network effect
- Current strength assessment per loop (strong / weak / broken / missing)
- Weakest link in each active loop
- Missing loops that should exist
- Priority order for strengthening
- Investment required per loop improvement
Risks / caveats
- Not every product has strong inherent loops — identify them honestly before designing around them
- A loop with a broken step compounds nothing — fix the weakest link before optimizing other steps
- Network effect loops require critical mass to work — design for the pre-network-effect phase