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Atmrix

About

BD

Brian Donohue

11/14/18

@ Y Combinator

Our biggest growth hack was removing the paid download barrier in 2014, which significantly boosted our user growth.

Video

YC

Brian Donohue on Operating Instapaper Through an Acquisition

@ Y Combinator

Brian Donohue on Operating Instapaper Through an Acquisition

11/14/18

Related Takeaways

KH

Kevin Hale

07/26/19

@ Y Combinator

We achieved rapid growth by embedding our forms on users' websites, allowing our product to spread organically without hiring salespeople.

MC

Mathilde Collin

10/25/18

@ Y Combinator

We started with a freemium model, but realized it distracted us; we shifted to a paid model and consistently increased prices over time, which helped us focus on serious customers.

MZ

Mark Zuckerberg

08/17/16

@ Y Combinator

The growth group we established at Facebook was crucial for our rapid growth, as it focused on leveraging our product to encourage community members to evangelize it to their friends.

RH

Reid Hoffman

10/15/14

@ Y Combinator

In the early days, we innovated by allowing users to upload their address books to see who else was on LinkedIn, which significantly changed our growth curve.

AC

Adora Cheung

08/01/19

@ Y Combinator

In the early stages, focus on organic growth rather than paid users, as relying on paid growth can be misleading and should be avoided as much as possible.

BD

Brian Donohue

11/14/18

@ Y Combinator

By September 2014, we officially made Instapaper free and launched a new subscription pricing model, which led to a recovery in revenue and a growth trajectory for the app.

BC

Brian Chesky

12/01/15

@ Greylock

Our growth primarily came from word of mouth and PR, as we focused on making sure customers loved our service.

SH

Severin Hacker

05/19/25

@ 20VC with Harry Stebbings

We always knew we could grow users first, which was our primary focus in the early days of Duolingo.

Lv

Luis von Ahn

12/01/23

@ The Logan Bartlett Show

For the first five years, we focused solely on improving user retention without making any money, which made our product stickier.