growth-loops

# Growth loops (the next 5,000 without you) > You got your first 50 users by hand: DMs, favors, one good launch. That was the right way to get them, and it was never supposed to scale. A growth loop is what comes next: one user's ordinary use of the product exposes it to the next user, and that user repeats it. Not a one-time referral; a continuous cycle. **Use this when:** growth flatlines every time you stop posting, you can trace every user to a founder DM or a launch day, or you're about to add a third channel when the users you already have produce zero new ones. ## The core idea A channel is linear: effort in, users out, stop pushing and it stops. A **loop** feeds output back into input: usage creates an artifact, a public trace, or an invitation that a new developer finds, and that developer's usage restarts the cycle. Channels deplete; loops compound. **The rule that keeps it non-slimy:** every loop must do the *user* a service, not just you. A branded report the user is proud to send is a loop; a watermark they resent is spam with extra steps. If the loop degrades the experience, it is not a loop, it is a leak in your trust. **The gate:** a loop amplifies whatever you feed it. If week-2 retention is broken, a loop compounds churn, not growth. Before this skill: first value in under an hour (`time-to-first-value`), first 50 real users in hand (`first-50-users`), and cohorts that come back (`know-if-its-working`, Frankl's net developer retention). If any of those...