The best companies grow through word-of-mouth rather than paid acquisition, and in the early days of a startup, if you lack funds, focus on growing your business without spending money by doing things that don't scale. This organic growth is a sign of a strong product that resonates with users.

If your startup has strong network effects, focusing on active users may be more important initially, with revenue becoming a focus later on. It's crucial to define what 'users' means for your startup, as it can vary significantly. For example, having 100 users could mean they just signed up or that they actively engage with your product daily for about 10 minutes. The latter is a much more valuable metric.

Managing growth effectively is crucial for a startup's success, as it can determine whether the company thrives or fails.

Paid growth involves spending money to acquire users. It's important to ensure that the lifetime value of a customer exceeds the cost of acquiring them, or else the growth strategy may not be sustainable.

While revenue is often the best primary metric, some startups may focus on active users, especially if building a large audience is a prerequisite for monetization.

To grow your startup, focus on three types of growth: sticky growth, viral growth, and paid growth.

Startups need to build a product that users love, focusing on a few passionate users rather than a large number of indifferent ones.

Startups should prioritize product growth and conversion optimization, focusing on the steps in the user funnel, such as sign-up and payment conversion, to enhance user experience and drive growth.

Founders frequently struggle with whether to prioritize growth or retention, and they often feel overwhelmed by the need to balance product development and sales efforts.