So many definitions and views on Growth Hacking, so I thought I’d put some of my favorite together here for safe keeping.

Sean Ellis – “A growth hacker is a person whose true north is growth.  Everything they do is scrutinized by its potential impact on scalable growth.  Is positioning important?  Only if a case can be made that it is important for driving sustainable growth (FWIW, a case can generally be made).”

He’s also the guy behind GrowthHackers.com

Andrew Chen‘s interpretation of the above is a bit more practical “Sean Ellis coined the term while working with Sequoia companies. It was the embodiment of a direct response marketer combined with a product manager that had a deep focus on analytics.”

Andrew Chen also insightfully added “Growth is a system, not a bag of tricks”

A lot of smart people have also said “Growth Hacking is Bullshit“.

Wikipedia – “Growth hacking is a marketing technique developed by technology startups which uses creativity, analytical thinking, and social metrics to sell products and gain exposure.”

Gregory Ciotti‘s a bit more lackadaisical “So if you’re someone with coding skills, marketing know-how, and a drive to create sustainable growth, you can be a growth hacker. Fair enough.”

Aaron Ginn – “growth hacker (noun) – one whose passion and focus is pushing a metric through use of a testable and scalable methodology.”