What Makes a First-Class Growth Hacker?

Growth hacking is the lifeblood of many innovative organizations. The perfect growth hacker is a ninja cat with a golden gun riding a unicorn. But if you don’t find a specimen of this creature, I will describe a type of growth hacker that is almost as good.

One of the main success factors of every organization is the people that work there. As a business, if you want to excel, you will need excellent people. The requirements for people who work in an innovative company are even higher. Take for example the job of a growth hacker.

The perfect growth hacker is a ninja cat with a golden gun riding a unicorn. I haven’t met her yet. And I probably never will…

Until that moment arrives, the following requirements are a decent proxy of a growth hacker job description:

1. A good growth hacker possesses a growth mindset. By way of explanation, he is not afraid of a tough challenge and believes correctly that his success is based on hard work, learning, training, and perseverance.
2. He should be curious. He is always eager to make the next exciting discovery.
3. Furthermore, he should be creative and like to explore new paths. In other words, a good growth hacker knows how to solve problems by experimenting and innovating.
4. A good growth hacker is a team player, is able to work independently, and has an entrepreneurial mindset.
5. A growth hacker should be data-savvy. He not only understands the importance of metrics but also knows how to draw conclusions from them.
6. Taking into account all the above mentioned aspects, a growth hacker should be “T-shaped,” i.e., he has both a deep, substantive, professional knowledge and the skills to be able to collaborate with other disciplines.

Do your people have all the skills that I described above? If so, you have employees at your disposal that are fit for the role of a growth hacker. You should combine their strengths by forming a multidisciplinary team of specialists who tackle a certain growth problem.

If your employees miss one or two of the 6 key features described above, you may consider some retraining or reskilling for them. Possible options are a Growth Hacking Course or a Growth Mindset Workshop.