5 Growth hacks that turned Airtable into a Unicorn 🦄
Howdy 👋,
Welcome back to another edition of the Workaholic Club Newsletter!
You know what keeps me up at night? Thinking about what growth hacks successful companies use to fuel their growth. No jokes…really 😳
Take Airtable, for example. They started with a great product and a very bold message: Organize anything. Adopting a broad messaging strategy without focusing on a specific niche doesn't usually end well.
Yet, Airtable defied the odds, hitting a $11.7B valuation in 2023! [1]
Airtable was all about growth hack experiments with their product in a center. And there is a lot we can learn from it.
Here are 5 growth hacks Airtable adopted in the early days 👇
Invite-only Program
You know that excitement when you're invited to a private club? You're eager to dive in and see what the buzz is all about. That's exactly the vibe Airtable aimed for with its invite-only beta launch. Airtable started as an invite-only beta which not only helps control the growth, gather feedback, and iterate before opening to the wider market. Plus, it created a sense of exclusivity and anticipation. Clubhouse or Gmail used the same launch strategy.
2. UGC Template Library
Airtable took templates to the next level by jumping on the user-generated content trend. In 2016, they launched Airtable Universe. It was a perfect resource tool that scales because users could submit their templates and share how they use Airtable with the community. This allowed Airtable to generate onboarding inspiration content much faster. It also fuelled the community further, turning many into product advocates. But it didn't stop there. It also gave a nice bump to Airtable's SEO!
3. Referral Program
Think referrals are just a B2C thing? Airtable begs your pardon and proves that they work in B2B too. With their "Land & Expand" strategy, a single user's adoption can spread across teams and departments. Run out of credits? Invite a coworker and watch your credit balance grow by $10. Airtable is then quickly adopted within organizations, even before it's officially approved.
And it scales so well! Referral programs leverage existing users to acquire new ones. More users = more referrals ✨
4. Reverse Trial
When you sign up for Airtable, you're immediately on a 14-day Team trial. This lets you see what Airtable can really do. After the trial, you decide. You can either pay for the premium features or stick with the free version. The free tier has fewer features, but it's still pretty useful.
This method introduces customers to everything Airtable offers. Those not ready to buy yet can use the free version and decide to upgrade later.
5. Powered by Branding
In 2015, Airtable launched its Forms feature. Forms allowed users to collect data and share forms outside their organization. Adding "Powered by" watermark is a great way to increase brand awareness. It’s a really simple yet effective form of free advertising that also encourages users to upgrade plan so they can remove the watermark. It's a win-win situation.
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Airtable's product is just so easy to use yet powerful, it's insane! They totally crushed the competition in the UX game, unleashing the true potential of product-led growth! 🚀
What's the next company I should have a look at? Let me know! 👀
