About Sean Ellis
I help startups understand what customers value and build a growth process around it.
My Journey in Growth
I'm Sean Ellis. I coined the term "growth hacking" in 2010, based on the approach I'd used to drive growth at LogMeIn and Dropbox. I co-authored the bestselling book Hacking Growth, with over 800,000 copies sold worldwide. My early growth roles also included Eventbrite and Uproar, and I helped take two of these companies through successful IPOs.
After those roles, I founded GrowthHackers and Qualaroo. Both companies were later acquired.
Today I work with founders as a fractional growth leader. I also lead workshops and speak about the growth lessons I've learned along the way.
Coined the term
"Growth Hacking"
Expertise & Experience
For me, growth starts with who would really miss the product if it disappeared. Then I look at how people discover it, reach the aha moment, keep using it, and tell others.
Growth Strategy
I start with a rough picture of how the growth engine works, then change that picture as the data and customer conversations tell me more.
- High-tempo experimentation frameworks
- North Star Metric development and alignment
- Scalable growth engine design
Product-Market Fit
I look at what must-have users say and what their retention tells us. Then I try to find the segment, use case, and activation experience that explain why they keep coming back.
- PMF surveys and follow-up questions
- Retention cohorts and activation behavior
- Customer segments and must-have use cases
Team Enablement
I help teams move from long to-do lists to shared questions, experiments, and weekly decisions about what to try next.
- Growth team design and capability building
- Cross-functional alignment and ownership
- Culture of experimentation and continuous learning
Let's Work Together
If you'd like to discuss a fractional growth role, workshop, or speaking engagement, get in touch.
Contact me