From 2003 to 2016, LinkedIn grew from 500,000 users to over 500 million members. VP of growth Aatif Awan shared the three-stage strategy the company followed to explode from also-ran to must-have today at Traction Conference in Vancouver, Canada.
Stage one: Stimulating virality
In the early years from 2003 to 2007, LinkedIn grew from 500,000 to 13 million users. Like all startups, growth is essential and the challenge is obvious: grow or die.
That means something very, very significant.
“In the early days, you don’t need a growth team,” Awan said. “Everyone is the growth team.”