Generative AI for growth hacking: How startups use generative AI in their growth strategies

IF 10.5 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Journal of Business Research Pub Date : 2025-03-21 DOI:10.1016/j.jbusres.2025.115320

Arash Rezazadeh , Marco Kohns , René Bohnsack , Nuno António , Paulo Rita

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Abstract

This study explores how startups and scaleups in Europe and the US use generative AI in their go-to-market strategies across product-led, sales-led, and operational efficiency-driven growth. Through interviews with 20 cases spanning pre-seed to Series E funding stages, we 1) analyze generative AI’s role in growth strategies, 2) identify large language model use cases for tackling growth challenges such as customer churn, and 3) develop a framework for AI capabilities that guides managers in building, refining, and reflecting on their knowledge of using generative AI for growth hacking. Key findings include the implications of generative AI for technical and non-technical content creation in product-led growth, promotional content creation and repurposing, and customer experience personalization in sales-led growth, and market research, market entry strategies, and customer engagement in operational efficiency-driven growth. Findings empower managers to develop effective generative AI-driven growth hacking strategies while proactively managing unintended organizational, competitive, and societal consequences.

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增长黑客的生成人工智能：初创公司如何在其增长战略中使用生成人工智能

本研究探讨了欧洲和美国的初创企业和规模扩大企业如何在产品导向、销售导向和运营效率驱动型增长的市场战略中使用生成式人工智能。通过对从种子期前期到E轮融资阶段的20个案例的采访，我们1)分析了生成式人工智能在增长战略中的作用，2)确定了用于应对客户流失等增长挑战的大型语言模型用例，以及3)开发了一个人工智能能力框架，指导管理人员构建、完善和反思他们使用生成式人工智能进行增长黑客的知识。主要发现包括生成式人工智能对产品导向型增长中的技术和非技术内容创造的影响，促销内容的创造和再利用，销售导向型增长中的客户体验个性化，以及运营效率导向型增长中的市场研究、市场进入策略和客户参与。研究结果使管理者能够制定有效的生成式人工智能驱动的增长黑客战略，同时主动管理意想不到的组织、竞争和社会后果。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Journal of Business Research BUSINESS-

CiteScore

20.30

自引率

10.60%

发文量

956

期刊介绍： The Journal of Business Research aims to publish research that is rigorous, relevant, and potentially impactful. It examines a wide variety of business decision contexts, processes, and activities, developing insights that are meaningful for theory, practice, and/or society at large. The research is intended to generate meaningful debates in academia and practice, that are thought provoking and have the potential to make a difference to conceptual thinking and/or practice. The Journal is published for a broad range of stakeholders, including scholars, researchers, executives, and policy makers. It aids the application of its research to practical situations and theoretical findings to the reality of the business world as well as to society. The Journal is abstracted and indexed in several databases, including Social Sciences Citation Index, ANBAR, Current Contents, Management Contents, Management Literature in Brief, PsycINFO, Information Service, RePEc, Academic Journal Guide, ABI/Inform, INSPEC, etc.