Verna Growth Loops

---
name: verna-growth-loops
description: "Diagnose and design measurable growth loops using Elena Verna's public approach when evaluating product growth, investigating stalled distribution, or prioritizing acquisition, activation, retention, and monetization investments."
---

# Elena Verna's Growth Loops

Based on Elena Verna's public method. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Elena Verna.

## When to use

Use this skill to explain how a product grows, diagnose a weakening growth mechanism, design a repeatable distribution system, or decide which growth investment deserves resources. Begin with three questions: which loops exist, how well they perform, and which new loops could work. Connect customer value, channels, and monetization throughout the answer. [S1] [S2]

The deliverable is a growth-model brief: a small set of explicit loop maps, supporting evidence, a quantified constraint, and an owned next decision. For an early product with uncertain customer value, produce a founder-owned hypothesis and learning plan. Treat observed behavior as evidence and proposed behavior as an assumption. Avoid importing another company's growth playbook without checking the product and market context. [S4]

Verna credits Reforge for growth loops and Lenny Rachitsky and Dan Hockenmaier for the racecar extension. This package combines her public application with those cited foundations. Calculations, evidence labels, review gates, and output formats are practical adaptations for agent work. They are not formulas or guaranteed outcomes claimed by Verna. [S1]

## Procedure

1. **Set the decision and context.** Identify the audience, problem, value behavior, growth stage, available evidence, and decision horizon. Confirm whether the brief concerns diagnosis, a new mechanism, or investment prioritization. Read [method sections 1 and 2](references/method.md#1-establish-context-and-evidence) and complete the context fields in [the template](templates/output-template.md).

2. **Map levers and motions.** Record how acquisition, retention, and monetization currently work and which product, marketing, sales, or success motion supports each. Identify shared dependencies instead of assuming one function owns every outcome. Use [method section 2](references/method.md#2-connect-levers-and-motions). [S4]

3. **Inventory actual loops.** Trace starting input, participant action, output, reinvestment, and next input. Name the closing transition and the participant's reason to act. Separate new participant acquisition from existing participant engagement. Use [method section 3](references/method.md#3-map-and-test-loop-closure). [S1] [S2]

4. **Classify proposed work.** Assign each initiative to engine, fuel, lubricant, or temporary boost, explaining its role in this particular system. Check whether an empty engine needs seeding or a functioning engine needs improvement. Use [method section 4](references/method.md#4-match-the-investment-to-the-engine). [S3]

5. **Define activation and retained value.** Specify setup, initial value, first habit cycle, natural usage frequency, and the correct account or user unit. Include engaged free participants. Diagnose unfinished activation before proposing retention campaigns. Use [method section 5](references/method.md#5-define-activation-and-retention). [S5]

6. **Quantify transitions and timing.** Record events, denominators, rates, unique outputs, reinvestable share, cycle time, and uncertainty. Show conditional estimates with units. Trace available cash and payback for paid engines. Use [method section 6](references/method.md#6-build-a-quantitative-model) and the transition table in [the template](templates/output-template.md). [S2] [S3]

7. **Diagnose the binding constraint.** Compare the strongest candidates over the same horizon. Check value delivery, insufficient inputs, transition friction, weak economics, saturation, and organizational barriers. Avoid treating the smallest percentage as automatically the best opportunity. Use [method sections 6 and 7](references/method.md#7-select-an-investment-and-learning-plan).

8. **Choose the next investment.** Recommend one primary intervention and explain which constraint it addresses. State why alternatives wait. Protect retained value when changing pricing, sharing prompts, or defaults. Use [method sections 4 and 7](references/method.md#4-match-the-investment-to-the-engine). [S3]

9. **Design the learning plan.** Name the uncertain mechanism, evidence required, observation window, success condition, and stop or revise condition. Match the research or experiment to the question; a strategic uncertainty may need more than a small conversion test. Use [method section 7](references/method.md#7-select-an-investment-and-learning-plan). [S1]

10. **Assign feasible ownership.** Give one owner responsibility for the loop outcome, identify cooperating functions, and list capacity or product dependencies. For an unproven first model, retain founder accountability. Use [method section 8](references/method.md#8-own-the-system-and-plan-for-decline). [S4] [S6]

11. **Draft the brief.** Fill [the output template](templates/output-template.md), separating observed facts, assumptions, and conditional projections. Consult [the worked illustrations](examples/worked-examples.md) for examples of correcting incomplete loops and misleading metrics. Keep the recommendation understandable without the diagram.

12. **Review and iterate.** Apply [the pass/fail checklist](checklists/review-checklist.md). Correct unsupported claims and missing closure, measurement, or ownership. If evidence is insufficient, return a clearly labeled hypothesis with a bounded validation step. Set a review trigger for rising costs, saturation, or falling repeated output. [S6]

## Files in this skill

- [SKILL.md](SKILL.md): Entry point, use cases, and the agent's main procedure.
- [references/method.md](references/method.md): Detailed principles, decision rules, calculations, edge cases, and source-backed warnings.
- [references/sources.md](references/sources.md): Numbered registry of the six public sources fetched for this package.
- [examples/worked-examples.md](examples/worked-examples.md): Invented before-and-after illustrations of a collaborative loop and a paid loop.
- [templates/output-template.md](templates/output-template.md): Fill-in growth-model brief with guidance for every field.
- [checklists/review-checklist.md](checklists/review-checklist.md): Pass/fail review gates and common failures with practical fixes.