What Is Growth Hacking in the Context of a Startup?

Growth hacking is a lean marketing approach that focuses on rapid testing and scalable tactics to accelerate startup growth.

Growth hacking refers to a mindset and strategy used by startups to grow quickly with minimal spend. It involves experimenting across channels, testing product ideas, and identifying scalable acquisition tactics through data and creativity.

Growth hackers focus less on brand building and more on measurable outcomes like user signups, referral loops, and retention. These methods often bypass traditional marketing in favor of engineering-led growth and performance optimization.

Tools like Gleam can be used in this process to run viral giveaways, collect leads, and test landing page traction — making it easier to find what sticks before scaling.

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How Can Startups Test Product Market Fit Before Launching?

Use pre-launch landing pages, Gleam Capture forms, and early feedback loops to validate demand and test product positioning.