🚀 3.2.1. Activation

We are in a race.

For the first time in a long series of startups, I am looking at a company that gets its CAC back within days, and can acquire plenty of users in a blue ocean. AI-first, with customers who already live online.

Yet, Houston, we have a problem.

AI is still new. Our clients spent years building their business by hand. They are afraid the machine takes the wheel and burns their whales on day one. That is not a traffic problem, not a feature problem, not a pricing problem. That is an activation problem.

So we are doing the counter-intuitive thing. Instead of handing over the full product on signup and letting clients make as much money as fast as possible, we gate the experience. Features unlock as trust is earned, enough room to prove quality, and to show them the money at every step.

 

THREE IDEAS FROM ME:

I. Wear the pessimistic hat

Anything that can fuck up the relationship in the first days, and burn the bridge for good, we kill it before it kills us. Big or small, every path that ends in a kill_event is on the list.

Record it. Observe it. Fix or eliminate it. When a user disconnects and never talks to you again, that is not churn, that is a post-mortem you owe your team. Bugs, silence, a bad reply sent to a whale at 2am, an unexplained charge, a fan who felt a robot on the other side: all of it counts.

Question: what are the key events leading to a kill event?

 

II. Wear the optimistic hat

Now the other side. Every wow moment that builds dopamine and tells the client they are in good company.

Celebrate early and celebrate small: the wins compound at the start of a relationship. Show them we know who they are, what they care about, how their business works. Then show them the money. Every single sale we make for a client is an occasion to celebrate together.

Question: what are the required steps to become active?

 

III. Twelve steps to epiphany

We are on a journey together. For every step: tell a story and show a number.

The story is for the right brain: it makes them like us. The number is for the left brain: it lets them justify staying. Connection first, proof second. People decide with I and II, then rationalize with III.

Question: what are the indicators a client is on the fast track to becoming one of our best: paying and recruiting?

 

TWO QUOTES:

I.

“What you can visualize, you can measure.
What you can measure, you can improve.
What you can automate, you can scale.” — Ludovic Bodin, Founder of Atomic Scaling

II.

“Don’t let your customers quit.” — Nicolo Laurent, former CEO at Riot Games

 

ONE ACTION FOR YOU:

What are your twelve key events leading to the “aha” moment?

Map them out, put them into action, measure the results, and keep improving!

 

You, gorgeous!

Ludovic Bodin

3x Entrepreneur, 2x Unicorn Investor, 1x IPO
Founder of BOBIC Generational Wealth
Author of Atomic Scaling