Puck van der Bruggen

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What do have Dropbox, AirBnB, Instagram, Tesla, and Tinder in common? Digital start-ups are now more booming than ever, but why? The answer to both questions is growth hacking (Rockboost, 2020)! Sean Ellis, a start-up investor of Silicon Valley, used this term for the first time in 2010, he is the founder of growth hacking (Bai, 2020).

Growth hacker stories did rise due to the rise of digital start-ups. Digital start-ups changed the traditional view of marketing and showed that it is possible to create massive growth without a (huge) marketing budget. Although the term growth hacker was new at that time, the used tactics were there already for a long time (Marley, 2015).

The combination of marketing and codes creates this new concept: Growth hacking. Many think of it as a new marketing technique, but it goes beyond those bounds. With creative and innovative campaigns, elaborate analytics and a lot of A/B tests, companies want to sell their products, increase brand awareness, and drive customer acquisition (Bai, 2020; Marley, 2015; Relf, 2016). It is a new technique for start-ups with little to no budget. Growth hackers use the lean start-up method that focuses on innovation and wants to shape the organization around its product with low-cost tests (Relf, 2016).

As mentioned, there are already many organizations that are famous for using growth hacking, although some think of it as unethical. For example, AirBnB used another platform: Craigslist, for its own success, many think of it as unethical. New users of AirBnB were automatically posted on Craigslist, which was the biggest platform where people could rent their homes. The founders of AirBnB called it the ‘genius Craigslist API reverse engineering hack’ and made use of the huge customer base of Craigslist (Rockboost, 2020).

Growth hacking is a new term but the techniques that are used existed already. However, the combination of marketing, data analytics and development all into one did rise due to digital start-ups. With this new technique, digital start-ups try to acquire as many customers as possible without a budget. Dropbox, AirBnB, Instagram, Tesla, and Tinder already succeeded. However, some say it is an unethical way of business, see the example of AirBnb. What do you think about this?

References:

Bai, J. (July, 2020). ‘The history of Growth Hacking’. Retrieved on: 5/10/2021 from: https://growth97.com/the-history-of-growth-hacking/

Marley, M. (March 2015). ‘Growth hacking: History and success stories’. Retrieved on: 6/10/2021 from: https://www.business2community.com/marketing/growth-hacking-history-success-stories-01181327

Relf, E. (February, 2016). ‘The rise of the growth hacker’. Retrieved on 6/10/2021 from: https://medium.com/@edrelf/the-rise-of-the-growth-hacker-5a655d2a33b2\

Rockboost (2020). ‘Most iconic growth hacking examples’. Retrieved on 5/10/2021 from: https://rockboost.com/blog/most-iconic-growth-hacking-examples/#dropbox

No ratings yet. The digital transformation got a major boost due to the pandemic. Many organizations and industries had to come up with certain technological solutions otherwise they would collapse. This reinforced innovation in different ways, for example, innovations in the core businesses but also in process automatization or new collaborations. Unfortunately, this also widens the IT skill gap issue worldwide (Franklin, 2020).

The gap refers to a disconnection between the current skills of the workforce and the desired skillset which companies are looking for to keep up with the frontrunner within the industry (Lasser, 2020). According to a study done by CompTIA, 93% of employers report an overall skills gap in their technological departments (Watters, 2021). Knowing this and the fact that technology takes an increasing overall role in business, it is now more important than ever to invest in tech talent. But how if there are not enough well-skilled people?

The skill gap starts with the traditional education level which cannot always keep up with all and the latest technological developments. In addition, higher education asks skyrocketing prices which make learning inaccessible for many worldwide. Because of this, only a few who enter the labour market meet the required skills where companies are looking for (Franklin, 2020). Secondly, the technological developments are evolving too quick to keep track up of the current technological employee. This results in fierce competition between the industries and companies. Companies want the best-educated people since it will have a direct influence on their competitive position (SHRM, 2020).

Due to the pandemic, remote work is becoming more common which reinforces the digital transformation even more. The disparity around skills is becoming a bigger problem, how are we going to respond to this?

Some researchers think that the tech industry itself can contribute to this problem by partnering with universities. Tech companies understand better what the IT students will be hiring for, and the tech companies make sure the universities will teach them the right skills (Franklin, 2020). Close cooperation between these tech companies and education institutions can combat the gap. Another solution could be reskilling the existing employees in your company. This is of course costly, difficult, and time-consuming but the right move ethically and economically. Besides, recruit new talent is even more costly and time-consuming since every company is hunting the same best-skilled people (Lasser, 2020).

The conclusion is clear, the technology industry must step up. Companies are struggling with a big gap between the existing tech skills of their employees and the desired skills that they are looking for. The tech industry proceeds at an incredible pace, and we must come up with a solution. Otherwise, the frontrunners will stay frontrunners and many little companies will eventually collapse because they cannot keep track of the latest technology.

References

Franklin, S. (2020, December 3). ‘’The Pandemic widened the skills gap and the tech industry must step up’’. Retrieved on 15-09-2021 on https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2020/12/03/the-pandemic-widened-the-skills-gap-and-the-tech-industry-must-step-up/?sh=4871b29160e8

Lasser, E. (2020, November 12). ‘’Tech skills gap versus tech skills shortage’’. Retrieved on 15-09-2021 from: https://www.td.org/insights/tech-skills-gap-versus-tech-skills-shortage

SHRM (2020). ‘’How to address the skills gap’’. Retrieved on 15-09-2021 from: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/tools-and-samples/how-to-guides/pages/how-to-address-the-skills-gap.aspx

Watters, A. (2021, May 6). ‘’Top 10 challenges facing technology in 2021’’. Retrieved on 15-09-2021 from https://connect.comptia.org/blog/top-10-challenges-facing-technology-in-2021

Growth hacking, ethical or unethical?

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