FROM THE WEB: Fantastic piece by HowAboutWe’s Aaron Schildkrout on avoiding delusional startup growth strategies

HowAboutWe’s Aaron Schildkrout has written a fantastic guest post on Andrew Chen’s blog, on how to avoid delusional thinking in startup growth strategy.

The co-founder of HowAboutWe posits that some kind of “magic” growth is nearly always at the heart of a startup’s strategy for success.

Using the online dating industry as an example, Schildkrout goes in depth about the various channels for achieving growth in the industry – BizDev, Virality, Press, Paid Acquisition etc – and where startups like HowAboutWe either fail, or succeed.

“Delusion about customer acquisition is incredibly understandable, particularly for first time entrepreneurs. It’s painful to truly understand how hard attracting users is, and pain is hard to face.”

To help fledgling companies understand this, he comes up with his PainMath formula – a mathematical exercise to help startups think realistically about where their growth will come from, without relying on magic.

The piece is a must read for all budding dating entrepreneurs, and those interested in the dating industry.

Read it here.