“If you’re a growth operator at an AI company and feeling like you’re making sh!t up as you go, you’re not alone. We all are.”
PMF 不再一劳永逸，得每月重挣
“At Lovable, we’re well over $100M ARR and still re-earning PMF every month.”
“In AI, nothing stands still and categories evolve at lightning speed: tech shifts overnight while customer expectations reset on monthly basis. Competitors are on the same PMF treadmill and running just as fast.”
传统公司 PMF 在 $1–2M ARR 就锁定、之后转向扩张；AI 公司品类每月重置，产品得不停地重新证明自己。
激活不再归增长，归核心产品
“But in AI-native companies, you have literally one interaction point: the prompt box.”
“That interaction is the activation, and it’s entirely driven by the core product. That’s a good thing.”
以前有问卷、引导页一堆可介入的表面；AI 产品只有一个提示框，用户要么当场得到价值要么没有——激活权交回了核心产品。
90% 时间打地基，不做优化
“At Lovable, I’ve completely flipped the ratio, and most of my time is spent on building the foundations.”
“In every job that I’ve had, I dreamt of setting up new growth loops or unlocking new channels. Yet, what was I doing 90% of the time? Optimizations.”
过去 90% 时间在优化激活、转化、续费；AI 公司太年轻，得先把大模块搭起来，优化留到以后。
产品发得太快，营销追不上
“AI products ship at a pace most marketing teams were never designed for.”
“At Lovable, we often ship multiple times a week. In most companies I’ve worked in, we launched quarterly, maybe monthly.”
放慢发布等营销就丢速度，不等营销就丢认知度；解法还没定，但确定的是营销必须贴紧产品、跟上节奏。
创始人发声，是最热的新渠道
“A founder or executive with an authentic voice can now drive reach at a scale PR never could.”
“Ten years ago, the organic strategy that scaled was SEO. Today, it’s founder-led communications. At Lovable, Anton’s account generates millions of impressions for us.”
十年前靠 SEO，如今靠创始人主导的沟通；Anton 的账号给 Lovable 带来数百万曝光，真诚的个人声音比光鲜的官方口径更能打。
增长团队现在也造功能
“My growth team isn’t just optimizing funnels - we’re shipping features.”
“I’ve always said core builds features and growth distributes them. That division doesn’t hold in AI-native companies.”
老规矩是核心造功能、增长做分发；现在地面变得太快，增长团队直接下场造功能，有时那功能本身就是增长循环。
A year ago, I would’ve laughed at the idea of running growth at a $130M ARR company without touching activation.
一年前,要是有人说能在一家 $130M ARR 的公司做增长、却完全不碰激活,我准会笑出声。
Or that 90% of my time would be spent on big bets instead of optimizations.
或者说我 90% 的时间会花在大押注上,而不是花在优化上。
Or that our biggest marketing wins would come from our founder's LinkedIn posts, not our paid marketing strategy.
又或者说,我们最大的营销胜仗会来自创始人的 LinkedIn 帖子,而不是我们的付费营销策略。
But here I am at Lovable, watching the rules of growth turn upside down in real time.
但如今我人就在 Lovable,眼看着增长的那套规则实时被翻了个底朝天。
If you're a growth operator at an AI company and feeling like you're making sh!t up as you go, you're not alone.
如果你是一家 AI 公司的增长操盘手,感觉自己完全在走一步看一步、边做边现编,那你不是一个人。
We all are.
我们都一样。
It’s the most comprehensive UI/UX design reference library for mobile and web apps.
它是移动端和 Web 应用最全面的 UI/UX 设计参考素材库。
No more spinning up fake accounts just to spy on product flows.
再也不用为了偷看产品流程而临时注册一堆假账号了。
I’m obsessed.
我彻底入迷了。
Here are nine differences I see every day doing growth at an AI company compared to traditional tech software.
以下是我每天在一家 AI 公司做增长、相比传统科技软件看到的九个不同之处。
In most companies, PMF locks in around $1–2M ARR - that’s when the switch flips to scaling, and growth, marketing, and sales take the wheel.
在大多数公司里,PMF 会在 $1–2M ARR 左右锁定——那时开关就拨到扩张档,增长、营销和销售开始掌舵。
By $100M, you’re usually pushing into second-horizon bets or spinning up a multi-product strategy.
到了 $100M,你通常已经在推进第二增长曲线的押注,或者启动多产品策略了。
AI-native companies don’t follow that script.
AI 原生公司不按这个剧本走。
At Lovable, we’re well over $100M ARR and still re-earning PMF every month.
在 Lovable,我们的 ARR 早就远超 $100M,却仍然每个月都在重新赢得 PMF。
In AI, nothing stands still and categories evolve at lightning speed: tech shifts overnight while customer expectations reset on monthly basis.
在 AI 领域,没有什么是静止的,品类以闪电般的速度演进:技术一夜之间就变,而客户的期待每个月都在重置。
Don’t even get me started on LLM capabilities that evolve at breakneck speed.
至于那些以疯狂速度演进的 LLM 能力,就更别提了。
Competitors are on the same PMF treadmill and running just as fast.
竞争对手也在同一台 PMF 跑步机上,跑得一样快。
And yes, we are all racing each other.
而且没错,我们都在彼此赛跑。
That means the product is in a constant fight to re-prove PMF.
这意味着产品一直在为重新证明 PMF 而战。
In non-AI companies, you work on a more stable foundation, but in AI, that foundation resets itself every few weeks.
在非 AI 公司,你站在一个更稳固的地基上,但在 AI 里,这地基每隔几周就自我重置一次。
That makes growth constantly secondary to what is being worked on by core.
这就让增长永远排在核心团队手头工作的后面。
For years, I preached about activation.
多年来,我一直在到处布道激活。
I’ve claimed that it belongs to growth.
我一直宣称激活属于增长。
That poor activation kills retention.
宣称激活做得差会扼杀留存。
That without it, monetization stalls and virality never lights up.
宣称没有激活,商业化就会停滞,病毒式传播也永远点不着。
But in my new role, I don’t even work on activation… Gasp.
但在我的新角色里,我甚至压根不碰激活……(倒吸一口凉气)。
Before, there were surveys, setup flows, feature toggles, onboarding screens… lots of surface area where users could get lost, and growth could step in to guide them toward value.
以前有问卷、设置流程、功能开关、引导页……有大量地方能让用户迷路,而增长可以介入,把他们引向价值。
But in AI-native companies, you have literally one interaction point: the prompt box.
但在 AI 原生公司里,你真的就只有一个交互点:提示框。
For Lovable it’s this.
对 Lovable 而言,就是这个。
This is it!
就是它!
I mean… not much to work on (besides core agent experience, obviously)… right!??
我是说……没啥可做的了(当然,除了核心 agent 体验)……对吧!??
The user either gets value or they don’t.
用户要么获得价值,要么没有。
That interaction is the activation, and it’s entirely driven by the core product.
那一次交互就是激活,而它完全由核心产品驱动。
Growth can support with education and inspiration (helping users imagine what to ask and what’s possible), but the crux of activation belongs to core product.
增长能帮着做教育和启发(帮用户想象该问什么、什么才是可能的),但激活的核心归核心产品。
That’s a good thing.
这是好事。
It forces product teams to own activation and value delivery directly, instead of shipping features and expecting growth to work on activation later.
它逼着产品团队直接扛起激活和价值交付,而不是发完功能就指望增长事后再来补激活。
In every job that I’ve had, I dreamt of setting up new growth loops or unlocking new channels.
在我做过的每一份工作里,我都梦想着搭起新的增长循环,或者解锁新渠道。
Yet, what was I doing 90% of the time?
然而,我 90% 的时间在做什么?
Optimizations.
优化。
Optimizing activation, free-to-paid conversion, renewals… you name it.
优化激活、免费转付费的转化、续费……你能想到的都算。
At Lovable, I’ve completely flipped the ratio, and most of my time is spent on building the foundations.
在 Lovable,我把这个比例彻底倒过来了,大部分时间都花在打地基上。
AI-native companies are inherently young, so there are many building blocks to put in place before there’s anything meaningful to optimize.
AI 原生公司天生年轻,所以在有任何值得优化的东西之前,得先把许多基础模块搭起来。
For example, we launched free collaboration, a huge driver of virality.
举个例子,我们推出了免费协作,这是病毒式传播的一个巨大驱动力。
But have we optimized the flows?
但我们优化过那些流程吗?
Not really.
并没有。
Instead, we focused on getting the next big block in place.
相反,我们把精力放在了把下一个大模块搭好上。
Again, same story: we created it, but left optimizations for later.
又是老一套:我们把它做出来了,却把优化留到了以后。
There’s so much natural curiosity and demand around AI right now that optimization simply isn’t where the biggest impact lies.
眼下大家对 AI 有太多天然的好奇和需求,以至于优化根本不是影响力最大的地方。
I’ve never spent so much time in the big bets territory in all my career, even at companies with lower revenue than Lovable.
我整个职业生涯从没在大押注这块花过这么多时间,哪怕在营收比 Lovable 低的公司也没有过。
When I joined SurveyMonkey at exactly the same revenue level, all I did was optimize existing systems to reach the next $200M.
当年我加入 SurveyMonkey 时,营收水平跟现在一模一样,而我做的全部就是优化现有系统,去够下一个 $200M。
But the ceiling for some of these AI companies is so much higher that the foundational work still makes more sense than incremental improvements.
但这些 AI 公司里有些的天花板高太多了,以至于打地基仍然比渐进式改进更划算。
For years, the marketing playbook was predictable: start with SEO for scalable organic traffic, layer in user-generated content, add paid marketing, then experiment with social channels.
多年来,营销的打法是可预测的:先用 SEO 获取可规模化的自然流量,叠加用户生成内容,加上付费营销,然后再试验社交渠道。
Ten years ago, that was enough to win, but not anymore.
十年前,这套就足以取胜,可现在不行了。
All the attention has shifted to the creator economy.
所有注意力都转向了创作者经济。
(They are also on AI too, like ChatGPT, but there’s minimal distribution there…).
(也有一些在 AI 上,比如 ChatGPT,但那里的分发极其有限……)。
Even in B2B, the mix now looks almost like consumer: Influencers, creators, and video.
即便在 B2B,如今的渠道组合也几乎像消费级:influencer、创作者和视频。
Take YouTube: 10 years ago, it barely mattered for B2B.
拿 YouTube 来说:十年前,它对 B2B 几乎无足轻重。
Today, if you’re not building there, I don’t know what you’re doing.
而今天,如果你不在那上面深耕,我真不知道你在干嘛。
The source of content has changed too.
内容的来源也变了。
The goal is no longer to produce everything in-house, but to empower creators to generate content about you, and then repurpose it across paid and organic.
目标不再是所有东西都自己内部生产,而是赋能创作者去生产关于你的内容,再把它在付费和自然渠道里二次利用。
AI products ship at a pace most marketing teams were never designed for.
AI 产品的发布节奏,是大多数营销团队压根没被设计来应对的。
At Lovable, we often ship multiple times a week.
在 Lovable,我们常常一周发布好几次。
In most companies I’ve worked in, we launched quarterly, maybe monthly.
在我工作过的大多数公司里,我们是按季度、也许按月发布的。
Marketing had plenty of time to prepare, build narratives, and design campaigns.
营销有大把时间去准备、搭叙事、设计营销活动。
But what happens when the product is shipping every other day?
但当产品每隔一天就发一次版,会怎样?
You can’t put all hands on deck for every update.
你不可能为每次更新都全员上阵。
Slow down shipping to give marketing time, and you lose velocity.
放慢发布给营销留时间,你就丢了速度。
Push updates without marketing support, and you lose awareness.
不带营销支持就把更新推出去,你就丢了认知度。
The solution isn’t obvious yet.
目前还看不出明显的解法。
What I do know is that marketing has to move closer to product and get comfortable working at this speed because product velocity can’t slow down.
我确实知道的是,营销必须往产品靠拢,并习惯以这种速度工作,因为产品的发布速度没法慢下来。
It’s on Marketing to adapt.
适应,是营销自己的责任。
Software supply has exploded recently.
软件的供给最近爆炸了。
Everyone can launch something (that’s exactly what we’re enabling at Lovable).
谁都能推出点什么(这正是我们在 Lovable 所赋能的)。
But in a crowded market, how do you stand out?
但在一个拥挤的市场里,你怎么脱颖而出?
Through brand.
靠品牌。
It’s not like brand didn’t matter before - it did.
倒不是说品牌以前不重要——它一直重要。
But it used to be a marketing exercise, and you wouldn’t connect it to much beyond campaigns and positioning.
但它过去是营销的活儿,你不会把它跟营销活动、定位之外的太多东西挂钩。
Now, with the abundance of software, brand needs to be channeled through every single product interaction.
如今软件泛滥,品牌得通过每一次产品交互来传递。
It became the job of designers, engineers, R&D teams, and everyone else to embed brand values into the user experience.
把品牌价值嵌进用户体验,成了设计师、工程师、研发团队以及其他每个人的活儿。
It’s similar to a traditional PLG motion, where every user becomes a marketing ‘agent’.
这有点像传统的 PLG 打法,每个用户都变成一个营销‘agent’。
And that experience is stronger the more you infuse it with "love marks": moments that communicate your intent, message, and how you want people to feel.
而你越是给那种体验注入‘love marks’,它就越有力量:那些传达你的意图、你的信息、以及你希望人们产生何种感受的时刻。
It’s not the utility-based features but the moments that create human connection within the product, like an unexpected reaction, a playful animation, or a confirmation written in a warm tone.
重点不是那些讲实用的功能,而是那些在产品里创造人性连接的时刻,比如一个意料之外的反应、一段俏皮的动画,或者一句用温暖语气写的确认文案。
In Lovable, we do this by ensuring every single experience is “lovable”.
在 Lovable,我们靠确保每一次体验都‘lovable(值得被爱)’来做到这点。
Ten years ago, the organic strategy that scaled was SEO.
十年前,能规模化的自然增长策略是 SEO。
Today, it’s founder-led communications.
如今,是创始人主导的对外沟通。
In B2B, that plays out on LinkedIn and X.
在 B2B,它在 LinkedIn 和 X 上上演。
In B2C, it’s Instagram and TikTok.
在 B2C,则是 Instagram 和 TikTok。
But the principle is the same: direct communication from leaders outperforms polished corporate messaging.
但原理相同:领导者的直接发声,胜过打磨光鲜的企业官方口径。
A founder or executive with an authentic voice can now drive reach at a scale PR never could.
如今,一个有真诚声音的创始人或高管,能以公关永远达不到的规模驱动触达。
At Lovable, Anton’s account generates millions of impressions for us.
在 Lovable,Anton 的账号为我们带来了数百万的曝光量。
That visibility drives awareness and shapes people’s perception of the company.
这种能见度带动认知度,也塑造着人们对公司的看法。
Every CEO and executive should be thinking about how they communicate to the market.
每一位 CEO 和高管都该好好想想自己是怎么跟市场沟通的。
And the more people inside the company who do it, the better.
而且公司里这么做的人越多越好。
The challenge is that large companies often restrict employees, worried about losing control of the message.
难点在于,大公司往往会限制员工,生怕失去对信息口径的掌控。
Employees themselves usually aren’t sure what they’re allowed to share.
员工自己通常也拿不准哪些能分享。
But if you can build enough trust to let both founders and employees communicate openly, their voices become your best growth strategy.
但如果你能建立起足够的信任,让创始人和员工都能公开发声,他们的声音就会成为你最好的增长策略。
At the end of the day, it’s the humans inside the company who carry the brand further than any campaign ever will.
说到底,是公司内部这些活生生的人,把品牌带得比任何营销活动都更远。
Every channel is a knife fight out there.
外头每一个渠道都是一场贴身肉搏。
Paid gets pricier, algorithms shift, influencers churn.
付费越来越贵,算法说变就变,influencer 来来去去。
The only channel you truly own is your product - and it has to carry more of the growth load than ever.
你真正拥有的唯一渠道就是你的产品——而它必须比以往任何时候都扛起更多的增长重担。
Word of mouth, UGC, referrals, collaboration loops - whatever the mechanic, bake it into the product itself.
口碑、UGC、推荐、协作循环——不管是什么机制,把它做进产品本身。
Make the product-led growth a native experience, not an afterthought, and push it until it compounds.
让产品驱动的增长成为原生体验,而不是事后补丁,并一直推动它,直到复利显现。
I’ve always said core builds features and growth distributes them.
我一直说,核心团队造功能,增长团队负责分发。
That division doesn’t hold in AI-native companies.
这套分工在 AI 原生公司里站不住脚。
The ground shifts too fast, and distribution alone isn’t enough.
地面移动得太快,单靠分发不够。
My growth team isn’t just optimizing funnels - we’re shipping features.
我的增长团队不只在优化漏斗——我们在发布功能。
Sometimes those features are the growth loop itself.
有时候那些功能本身就是增长循环。
Sometimes they’re table stakes to keep pace with user expectations (example, growth shipped voice mode for Lovable).
有时候它们是跟上用户期待的标配(比如,增长团队为 Lovable 发布了语音模式)。
Either way, growth isn’t sitting on the sidelines waiting for core anymore.
不管哪种,增长都不再是坐在场边干等核心团队了。
We’re in the product trenches, building alongside.
我们就在产品的战壕里,并肩开工。
Doing growth in AI-native companies feels like playing the same game on a new board.
在 AI 原生公司做增长,感觉就像在一块新棋盘上玩同一盘棋。
The pieces look familiar, but the rules don’t apply.
棋子看着眼熟,规则却不管用了。
With distribution changing monthly, technology evolving weekly, and customer expectations resetting daily, we’re all figuring this out together, in real time.
分发每月在变、技术每周在演进、客户期待每天在重置,我们都在一起、实时地摸索这一切。
There’s no fixed formula, only constant adjustment.
没有固定公式,只有不停地调整。
And honestly, that’s the best part of the job.
而说实话,这才是这份工作最棒的地方。
Edited with the help of Diana Bernardo.
在 Diana Bernardo 的帮助下完成编辑。
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如果你觉得这份 newsletter 有价值,分享给一个朋友;要是还没订阅,也不妨考虑订阅。
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