Growth Strategy & Loops
How self-reinforcing growth cycles produce compounding results that linear funnels can't match. A field guide to building, measuring, and amplifying g
FrameworkThe Alignment FrameworkProduct-market fit is necessary but not sufficient for scale. The four alignments — market, product, channel, and model — that have to fit together fo
FrameworkThe Stage-Specific Path to $100MThe journey from $0 to $100M revenue is a sequence of phases, each with a different dominant constraint. Which framework matters at which stage — grou
FrameworkWhen Product-Market Fit CollapsesProduct-market fit can be lost — sometimes suddenly and completely. AI is accelerating this dynamic across categories. How to diagnose collapse risk a
FrameworkThe Expectation Reset · Why AI Demands New Performance BaselinesWhat used to be a quarter of work is now an afternoon. What used to require a team of five may need two. The expectation reset framework explains how
FrameworkBlue Ocean Strategy · Building Markets Instead of Fighting in ThemW. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne's framework for creating uncontested market space rather than competing in saturated categories. The four-action frame
FrameworkCrossing the Chasm · Selling Tech to the MainstreamGeoffrey Moore's framework for how new technology products move from early adopters to mainstream pragmatic buyers — and the chasm in between that kil
FrameworkDiffusion of Innovation · How New Products Spread Through PopulationsEverett Rogers' 1962 model for how new ideas, technologies, and products spread through a population — Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Lat
Funnel & Customer Journey
How Dave McClure's five-stage funnel (Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue) gives early-stage startups a shared vocabulary for growth
FrameworkAIDA · The Classic Awareness-to-Action FunnelAttention, Interest, Desire, Action — the 120-year-old funnel that still organizes most marketing thinking. Where it came from, why it endured, where
FrameworkSee, Think, Do, Care · Avinash Kaushik's Audience-Intent FrameworkWhy the traditional purchase funnel under-represents the largest audience stage — the See stage — and how Avinash Kaushik's four-stage model gives mar
FrameworkCustomer Journey Mapping · Visualizing the End-to-End ExperienceHow to build, validate, and operationalize customer journey maps that actually change product, marketing, and CS decisions. The components, the resear
FrameworkThe Bowtie Funnel · Pre-Sale and Post-Sale as One SystemWhy the post-sale funnel deserves equal weight with the pre-sale funnel — and how the bowtie model integrates customer success, expansion, and advocac
Product & PMF
How Eric Ries' Lean Startup methodology and the Build-Measure-Learn loop replaced traditional product planning with experiment-driven validated learni
FrameworkThe Hooked Model · How Products Become Habits (Nir Eyal)Nir Eyal's four-stage Hooked Model — Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, Investment — explains how products build habits in users. The mechanics, the et
FrameworkValue Proposition Canvas · Mapping Customer Fit VisuallyAlex Osterwalder's two-sided canvas (customer profile + value map) for systematically matching what customers actually want to what your product actua
FrameworkThe North Star Metric · One Number That Aligns the CompanyThe single quantitative measure that captures the core value your product delivers to customers. How to choose it, how to use it, and the trap of choo
FrameworkBetter Product Reviews · A Structured ApproachProduct reviews are where strategic alignment happens — or fails to happen. A structured approach (focus, rules, attendees, memo, engagement) that con
FrameworkActivation Moments · Finding the 'Aha' That Predicts RetentionHow to identify the specific user behavior that separates long-term retained users from churned ones — the activation moment or 'aha' moment. The meth
FrameworkOnboarding Flow Design · The Highest-Leverage Lifecycle SurfaceHow to design product onboarding that moves more new users to activation, measured against retention not completion. The patterns that work, the patte
Customer Research
How to build a Voice of Customer (VoC) research practice that systematically captures customer feedback, surfaces patterns, and feeds insight into pro
FrameworkEmpathy Maps · A Faster Way to Synthesize Customer ResearchThe four-quadrant tool from XPLANE that helps teams synthesize customer research into a shareable artifact. The quadrants, the workflow, and where it
Prioritization & Operating Cadence
The four-factor scoring model (Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort) developed by Intercom to compare product and growth bets on a single numeric scal
FrameworkICE Scoring · The Three-Factor Growth Prioritization FrameworkImpact, Confidence, Ease — the lightweight scoring framework Sean Ellis built to prioritize a high-volume growth experiment backlog. The math, the use
FrameworkThe Operating Cadence Behind Real OKRsOKRs are misunderstood as a planning system. They're actually a focus mechanism — and the difference is in the operating cadence around them. The six-
Measurement & Analytics
Crystal Widjaja's three-stage model of organizational data maturity, and the four capabilities (infrastructure, analytics, operations, team) that must
FrameworkHEART Framework · Google's UX Measurement ModelHappiness, Engagement, Adoption, Retention, Task success — Google's five-dimensional model for measuring user experience quality at scale. The categor
FrameworkPrivacy Sandbox & Cookie Deprecation · The Post-Cookie Web in 2026Where third-party cookies actually stand in 2026, what Google's Privacy Sandbox APIs do (and don't do), and how digital marketers should think about i
FrameworkCohort Analysis & Retention Curves · Reading the Truth in Your DataWhy averages lie and cohorts tell the truth. How to build cohort retention curves, what shapes mean what, and how to use the analysis to make real pro
FrameworkSKAdNetwork & iOS ATT · Mobile Attribution After App Tracking TransparencyHow Apple's App Tracking Transparency and SKAdNetwork reshaped mobile measurement starting in 2021 — and how mobile marketers actually attribute insta
FrameworkAMP for Email & BIMI · Modern Email InfrastructureTwo underused email standards that improve engagement and deliverability — AMP for Email (interactive in-inbox experiences) and BIMI (verified sender
FrameworkGoogle Smart Bidding · How tCPA, tROAS, and Friends Actually WorkGoogle's automated bidding strategies — Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value — explained without the marketing flu
FrameworkMulti-Touch Attribution · The Promise and the ProblemMTA models distribute credit across the touchpoints leading up to a conversion. The math, the modeling choices (linear, time decay, U-shaped, data-dri
FrameworkMedia Mix Modeling · Causal Channel Allocation Without CookiesMMM uses econometric models to estimate the incremental contribution of each marketing channel using aggregate, time-series data. The methodology, the
FrameworkIncrementality Testing · Proving Causal Marketing ImpactHow geo holdouts, PSA tests, matched markets, and ghost ads let you measure the actual incremental lift of a marketing channel — separating causation
Unit Economics
How to calculate Customer Lifetime Value — the simple formula, the cohort-based approach, the predictive ML models, and which method is right for whic
FrameworkCAC Payback Period · The Speed of Capital RecoveryHow long it takes for a customer's gross profit to repay the cost to acquire them. The math, the healthy thresholds by business type, and why payback
Marketing as a Discipline
Growth marketing has dominated startup marketing conversations for a decade. Brand and product marketing have suffered as a result — with measurable i
FrameworkThe Marketing Competency GridMarketing titles tell you almost nothing about what someone can do. A competency-grid approach replaces title-based hiring with specific skill specifi
FrameworkThe Growth Competency StackGrowth marketing requires its own competency model. The discrete skills a growth practitioner needs at each proficiency level — and how those skills e
FrameworkBrand vs Performance Marketing · The 60/40 QuestionThe IPA's Les Binet and Peter Field research on brand-vs-performance budget allocation — why the long and the short need each other, and the 60/40 sta
FrameworkCategory Design · Building the Market, Not Just the ProductWhy the most valuable companies don't compete in existing categories — they create new ones, condition the market to value them, and own the language
FrameworkBrand Archetypes · The 12 Universal Patterns of Brand IdentityWhy some brands feel like a person and others feel like a logo. The 12 archetypes adapted from Carl Jung's work by Margaret Mark and Carol Pearson — w
Lifecycle & Retention
Why most referral programs fail and what separates the ones that compound. The mechanics, the reward structures, the friction points, and operator exa
FrameworkLoyalty Programs · Beyond Punch CardsWhy most loyalty programs are discount programs in disguise, and what makes real loyalty programs work — Sephora Beauty Insider, Starbucks Rewards, RE
B2B Operations
How ABM organizes marketing and sales around named target accounts instead of broad audiences — the playbook, the tech stack (6sense, Demandbase, Term
FrameworkMarketing-Sales SLA · The Service-Level Agreement That Fixes PipelineThe cross-functional service-level agreement (SLA) that gets marketing and sales aligned on lead definitions, handoff timing, follow-up commitments, a
Team & Operating Model
AI & the New Stack
AI-powered prototyping tools have collapsed the gap between idea and functional prototype to hours instead of weeks. The fifteen specific skills produ
FrameworkThe AI Adoption Reality CheckAI hype vs AI reality. What's actually happening with AI adoption, deployment, team composition, and ROI — separating the narrative from the numbers,
FrameworkPricing AI Products · The Variable-Cost RealityPer-seat SaaS pricing breaks when a power user's inference cost exceeds their seat fee. The full pricing framework for AI products — feature gating, p
FrameworkBecoming AI-Native · A Framework for Organizational AdoptionMost companies adopt AI by giving employees ChatGPT licenses and hoping. The result is uneven adoption. The CODER framework provides a structured alte
FrameworkAI Disruption Risk · A Four-Factor DiagnosticAI disruption risk evaluated across four independent dimensions. High risk on any one factor is manageable. High risk on three or four is collapse exp
More frameworks
The four-factor AI disruption risk framework — Use Case, Growth Model, Defensibility, Business Model. How to assess your exposure and build the strate
FrameworkAI Prototyping · 15 Essential Product SkillsAI prototyping has compressed the cost of building functional product experiences to near-zero. The 15 essential skills product teams need to leverage
FrameworkHow to Build a Growth TeamThree growth practitioner profiles (Builder, Optimizer, Visionary), three structural models (centralized, decentralized, hybrid), and the 4-step proce
FrameworkThe Expectation Reset · How AI Is Redefining Customer ExpectationsAI isn't just changing what's possible — it's changing what customers expect. The 7 ways customer expectations are being reset and what it means for p
FrameworkThe Four Fits FrameworkProduct-Market Fit alone is not enough to build a $100M+ business. The Four Fits — Market-Product, Product-Channel, Channel-Model, Model-Market — and
FrameworkFRAME · A Better Product ReviewProduct review meetings are where strategic alignment happens — or fails to happen. The FRAME framework (Focus, Rules of engagement, Attendees, Memo,
FrameworkGrowth Loops vs. FunnelsWhy the fastest-growing products are systems of self-reinforcing loops, not linear funnels — and how to build, measure, and compound them. RGM's opera
FrameworkHow to Price Your AI ProductAI introduces variable costs that wreck traditional SaaS pricing. The full pricing framework for AI products — feature gating, pricing levels, payment
FrameworkMarketing Competency MatrixHow to hire, scope, and grow marketing roles using a competency-based framework instead of vague title ladders. Reforge's marketing competency matrix
FrameworkMarketing Is More Than GrowthGrowth marketing tells you how to acquire customers. Brand marketing tells you who you are. Product marketing tells you why anyone should care. The ca
FrameworkHigh-Leverage OKRs · The 6-Step FrameworkOKRs done well drive focus and outcomes. OKRs done badly create theater. The 6-step framework for outcome-oriented OKRs from Reforge — and the operati
FrameworkProduct-Market Fit CollapsePMF is not permanent. AI is causing sudden, complete PMF collapse in categories that previously had stable demand. Brian Balfour's framework for diagn
FrameworkThe Road to $100M · Four Growth FrameworksHow to grow from $0 to $100M revenue — and why each phase requires different growth frameworks. Reforge's compendium of the four core frameworks (Four
FrameworkThe Data Scaling FrameworkCrystal Widjaja's 3-stage data maturity model: Data Informed → Data Driven → Data Led. How to build the analytics, instrumentation, infrastructure, an
FrameworkThe CODER Framework · Becoming AI-NativeHow to systematically adopt AI across an organization — culture, ownership, directives, experimentation, and reinforcement. Reforge's CODER framework
FrameworkThe Growth Competency ModelThe growth-specific extension of the marketing competency matrix. How to evaluate, hire, and grow growth talent against the actual skills the work dem
From frameworks to operating skill
Reading frameworks is step one. Building the operating muscle is the rest. RGM Training is free.