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Julian Shapiro is widely known as the founder of Demand Curve, where he\u2019s helped thousands of companies figure out their growth strategy. He also wrote the growth marketing column at TechCrunch, was CMO at Webflow, and even created an animation engine called Velocity that\u2019s now used in apps like Uber and WhatsApp. In today\u2019s episode, Julian dives deep on product-led acquisition (PLA) and why he believes it\u2019s the best way to grow your company. He shares specific marketing strategies for growth and retention and speaks about his framework for creating novel, engaging content, and how to choose topics for that content. He also discusses a framework called the Curiosity Faucet, inspired by prolific creators such as Ed Sheeran, John Mayer, Taylor Swift, and Neil Gaiman, to help you unlock your own creativity.

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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/growth-tactics-retention-strategies-and-becoming-a-better-writer-julian-shapiro-demand-curve-hyper-webflow-techcrunch/#transcript

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Where to find Julian Shapiro:

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/Julian

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julian-shapiro/

\u2022 Website: https://www.julian.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:

\u2022 Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/

\u2022 Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny

\u2022 Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/

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Referenced:

\u2022 Paul Graham\u2019s Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulg

\u2022 Julian\u2019s guide on startup growth channels: https://www.julian.com/guide/startup/growth-channels

\u2022 Topic selection: https://www.julian.com/guide/write/ideas

\u2022 Product-led acquisition: https://www.julian.com/guide/startup/product-led-acquisition

\u2022 Novelty: https://www.julian.capital/growth-strategy/content-marketing

\u2022 Julian\u2019s example of counter-narrative novelty: https://twitter.com/julian/status/1348001396277186560

\u2022 Julian\u2019s example of counterintuitive novelty: https://twitter.com/julian/status/1348001397753532416 \xa0

\u2022 On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction: \xa0 https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-Classic-Guide-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548/

\u2022 Neil Gaiman Teaches the Art of Storytelling: https://www.masterclass.com/classes/neil-gaiman-teaches-the-art-of-storytelling

\u2022 Ed Sheeran, Songwriter: https://music.apple.com/us/music-movie/songwriter/1411353855

\u2022 John Mayer describes his songwriting process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cNRDWEXnrQ

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In this episode, we cover:

(03:42) Julian\u2019s background

(04:46) Why Julian hasn\u2019t been tweeting frequently

(07:43) Advice for building a Twitter following

(09:53) The main reason Julian creates handbooks

(11:33) The difference between e-handbooks and newsletters

(13:25) What is product-led acquisition?

(16:20) The categories of product-led acquisition

(22:31) What is billboarding, and how can you take advantage of it?

(25:56) UGC\u2014leveraging user-generated content for free advertising

(29:33) Strategies for retaining users

(38:36) How to keep novelty high in writing

(45:50) Julian\u2019s framework for choosing writing topics

(54:35) The creativity faucet\u2014how to unclog your pipes and get it going

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.