“I Bengali wrote a really wonderful article. It was many years ago at this point on adjacent user theory”
Adjacent User Theory
By Bangaly Kaba
1 recommend/use · 2 sourced episodes
Every sourced reference
Short attributed excerpts only. Timestamps are approximate.
“The next favorite growth framework for me theory. I think that one's very powerful in terms of thinking about growth evolution.”
Related frameworks
Capability-Value-Scale Software Maturity
New software passes through three stages — what's possible, then what's valuable, then what scales
Give-It-Away Growth Engine
Reclassify free product and AI costs as marketing spend, then give the product away to your best distributors
Growth Can't Reverse a Decline
A growth team can't fix a slowing business; stop the decline first, then add growth to amplify.
Hire for Clarity-from-Chaos
Screen for fire-in-the-belly, high agency, and the ability to create clarity out of chaos — proven by work trials
Inspiration, Not Imitation
Use competitor teardowns as an input to ideation, never as the finished destination.
Maintain Noise in the Market
Ship every day and talk about it constantly so the product feels alive — with tiered big launches on top
Minimum Lovable Product
Viability is no longer enough — the bar is a product people love and want to talk about
Rebrand Eyes-Wide-Open
A homepage redesign or rebrand won't drive growth; budget 3-6 months to claw performance back after launch.
The 18-Month Growth Model Overlay
Spend ~20-25% of growth time annually seeding new loops so your S-curve never flattens with no successor.
The 95/5 Growth Inversion
In fast-moving AI markets, spend 95% inventing new growth loops and 5% optimizing existing ones
The Earned Channel Priority
Make building an owned/earned acquisition channel your growth team's number one priority over rented ones.
The Founder-Led Growth Prerequisite
Don't hire a growth team until you have proven PMF and enough data to run experiments.
The One-Month Experimentation Rule
If you can't collect the sample size in a month, don't A/B test it; ship it and measure pre vs. post.
The Product-Market Fit Treadmill
In AI, you must recapture product-market fit every three months as both product and market shift under you
Workshop-First Advisor Hiring
Vet an advisor with a paid working session on a real problem, then re-evaluate their value every month.
Your Problem Isn't Unique
Never start from scratch; find who already solved your problem and patternize the solution.
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