growth-loops▌
phuryn/pm-skills · updated Apr 8, 2026
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Identify and design growth loops (flywheels) that create sustainable traction. This skill evaluates five proven growth loop mechanisms to reduce reliance on paid acquisition and build product-led growth.
Growth Loops
Overview
Identify and design growth loops (flywheels) that create sustainable traction. This skill evaluates five proven growth loop mechanisms to reduce reliance on paid acquisition and build product-led growth.
When to Use
- Designing growth mechanisms for a product
- Building sustainable viral or referral traction
- Reducing reliance on paid acquisition
- Analyzing competitor growth strategies
- Optimizing product for product-led growth
The 5 Growth Loop Types
1. Viral Loop
Product content created by users gets shared on external platforms, bringing new users back to the product.
- Mechanism: Users create content in-product → Share on social/external platforms → New users discover and signup
- Example: Figma designs shared as links, Loom videos shared in emails
- Strength: Exponential user acquisition if content is inherently shareable
- Challenge: Requires highly shareable output and strong incentive to share
2. Usage Loop
Users create content or value within the product, then share it, which invites new users or drives re-engagement.
- Mechanism: User creates → Shares creation → Others consume → Become engaged users
- Example: Twitter threads, Medium articles, Notion templates shared publicly
- Strength: Growth tied directly to product usage and network effects
- Challenge: Requires content creation friction to be very low
3. Collaboration Loop
Users invite colleagues to co-create or collaborate within the product, expanding the user base within organizations.
- Mechanism: User creates → Invites colleagues for collaboration → Colleagues discover product value
- Example: Google Docs invitations, Figma team projects, Slack channels
- Strength: Deep organizational penetration and high retention
- Challenge: Works best for collaborative/team-based products
4. User-Generated Loop
Users discover new content or features through other users' creations, then create and share their own content.
- Mechanism: User discovers content → Creates similar content → Shares creation → Others discover
- Example: TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube trends driving creator participation
- Strength: Creates content flywheel and network effects
- Challenge: Requires critical mass of quality content to sustain
5. Referral Loop
Users invite other potential users in exchange for rewards, incentives, or social recognition.
- Mechanism: User refers → Referred user joins → Referrer gets reward → Shares more referrals
- Example: Dropbox referral bonus, Uber rider referrals, PayPal signup bonuses
- Strength: Directly incentivizes acquisition; easy to measure ROI
- Challenge: Requires valuable incentive without eroding unit economics
How It Works
Step 1: Define Product Value
Clarify the core value users experience:
- Primary action users take in your product
- Value created per user action
- Network effects present (if any)
- Friction points in the experience
Step 2: Evaluate Loop Fit
Assess which growth loops align with your product:
- Product type (collaborative, content-based, utility, etc.)
- Target user behavior and sharing habits
- Network effects already present
- Existing user base and engagement
Step 3: Design Loop Mechanics
Create specific loop implementation:
- Trigger that initiates sharing or invitations
- Incentive for participation (intrinsic or extrinsic)
- Ease of sharing mechanism
- Conversion rate from invite to activation
- Frequency of loop repetition per user
Step 4: Calculate Loop Coefficient
Estimate growth velocity:
- Invites/shares per user per cycle
- Conversion rate of invites to new users
- Net new users per cycle
- Time per cycle iteration
Step 5: Build the Loop
Implement the highest-leverage loop first:
- Start with the most natural loop for your product
- Optimize messaging and friction
- Measure loop metrics and conversion rates
- Compound results over time
Input Format
Use $ARGUMENTS to pass:
- Product description and primary user action
- Target user demographics and behavior
- Existing sharing/collaboration features
- Current growth channels and metrics
- Constraints or opportunities
Output
A growth loops analysis including:
- Ranked evaluation of all 5 loop types for your product
- Recommended primary growth loop with implementation plan
- Secondary loops to layer over time
- Key metrics and measurement framework
- 30-60-90 day implementation roadmap
- Potential loop coefficient and growth projections
Framework
Based on growth loops research by Ognjen Bošković. Focuses on compounding user acquisition through built-in, product-native sharing and collaboration mechanisms.
Tips
- Start with one loop and master it before adding complexity
- Viral loops compound fastest but take time to build
- Collaboration loops create strongest retention and LTV
- Measure loop health weekly during optimization phase
- Combine loops for multiplicative effect once operating at scale
Further Reading
How to use growth-loops on Cursor
AI-first code editor with Composer
Prerequisites
Before installing skills in Cursor, ensure your development environment meets these requirements:
- ›Cursor installed and configured on your development machine
- ›Node.js version 16.0+ with npm package manager (verify with
node --version) - ›Active project directory or workspace where you want to add growth-loops
Execute installation command
Execute the skills CLI command in your project's root directory to begin installation:
The skills CLI fetches growth-loops from GitHub repository phuryn/pm-skills and configures it for Cursor.
Select Cursor when prompted
The CLI will show a list of available agents. Use arrow keys to navigate and space to select Cursor:
Verify installation
Confirm successful installation by checking the skill directory location:
Reload or restart Cursor to activate growth-loops. Access the skill through slash commands (e.g., /growth-loops) or your agent's skill management interface.
Security & Verification Notice
We perform automated surface-level scans (Gen AI Scanner, Socket, Snyk) during installation. These checks detect common vulnerabilities but do not guarantee complete security. Always review skill source code and verify the publisher's reputation before production use.
Skills execute code in your development environment. Always verify the publisher's identity, review recent commits, and test in isolated environments before production deployment.
List & Monetize Your Skill
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Use Cases▌
User Story & Requirements Generation
Create detailed user stories, acceptance criteria, and feature specs
Example
Generate user stories for 'password reset feature' with acceptance criteria, edge cases, and test scenarios
Reduce spec writing time by 50%, ensure comprehensive coverage
Competitive Analysis
Research competitors, compare features, identify gaps
Example
Analyze 5 competitor products, create feature comparison matrix, suggest differentiation opportunities
Complete competitive research in 2 hours instead of 2 days
Roadmap Prioritization
Evaluate features using frameworks (RICE, ICE, Kano) and create prioritized backlogs
Example
Score 20 feature ideas using RICE framework, generate prioritized roadmap with rationale
Make data-driven prioritization decisions faster
Stakeholder Communication
Draft PRDs, status updates, and stakeholder presentations
Example
Create executive summary of Q3 roadmap, monthly progress report, feature launch announcement
Save 3-5 hours/week on communication overhead
Implementation Guide▌
Prerequisites
- ›Claude Desktop or compatible AI client
- ›Access to product documentation and roadmap tools (Jira, Notion, etc.)
- ›Understanding of product management frameworks (RICE, Jobs-to-be-Done, etc.)
- ›Stakeholder contact information and communication channels
Time Estimate
30-60 minutes to see productivity improvements
Installation Steps
- 1.Install product management skill
- 2.Start with user story generation for known feature
- 3.Progress to competitive analysis: research 2-3 competitors
- 4.Use for roadmap prioritization: apply RICE/ICE scoring
- 5.Draft stakeholder communications and refine based on feedback
- 6.Build template library for recurring PM tasks
- 7.Share effective prompts with product team
Common Pitfalls
- ⚠Not validating competitive research—verify facts before sharing
- ⚠Accepting user stories without involving engineering team
- ⚠Over-relying on frameworks without qualitative judgment
- ⚠Not customizing outputs to company culture and communication style
- ⚠Skipping stakeholder validation of generated requirements
Best Practices▌
✓ Do
- +Validate research and competitive analysis with real data
- +Collaborate with engineering when generating technical requirements
- +Customize frameworks and templates to your company context
- +Use skill for first drafts, refine with stakeholder input
- +Document successful prompt patterns for PM tasks
- +Combine AI efficiency with human judgment and intuition
✗ Don't
- −Don't publish competitive analysis without fact-checking
- −Don't finalize user stories without engineering review
- −Don't make prioritization decisions solely on AI scoring
- −Don't skip customer validation of generated requirements
- −Don't ignore company-specific context and culture
💡 Pro Tips
- ★Provide context: company goals, constraints, customer feedback
- ★Ask for alternatives: 'Show 3 ways to prioritize this roadmap'
- ★Request stakeholder-specific formatting: 'Executive summary vs. engineering spec'
- ★Use skill for 70% generation + 30% customization to company needs
When to Use This▌
✓ Use When
Use for user story writing, competitive research, roadmap prioritization, stakeholder communication, and PRD drafting. Best for reducing repetitive documentation and research work.
✗ Avoid When
Avoid for strategic product vision (requires deep customer empathy), pricing decisions (needs market and financial expertise), or when face-to-face customer discovery is more valuable than speed.
Learning Path▌
- 1Basic: user stories, feature specs, status updates
- 2Intermediate: competitive analysis, prioritization frameworks, PRDs
- 3Advanced: product strategy, go-to-market planning, OKR setting
- 4Expert: product vision, market positioning, business model innovation
Discussion
Product Hunt–style comments (not star reviews)- No comments yet — start the thread.
Ratings
4.8★★★★★30 reviews- ★★★★★Aarav Lopez· Dec 24, 2024
Solid pick for teams standardizing on skills: growth-loops is focused, and the summary matches what you get after install.
- ★★★★★Shikha Mishra· Dec 12, 2024
growth-loops has been reliable in day-to-day use. Documentation quality is above average for community skills.
- ★★★★★Nia Okafor· Nov 15, 2024
Registry listing for growth-loops matched our evaluation — installs cleanly and behaves as described in the markdown.
- ★★★★★Yash Thakker· Nov 3, 2024
Keeps context tight: growth-loops is the kind of skill you can hand to a new teammate without a long onboarding doc.
- ★★★★★Dhruvi Jain· Oct 22, 2024
We added growth-loops from the explainx registry; install was straightforward and the SKILL.md answered most questions upfront.
- ★★★★★Soo Abbas· Oct 6, 2024
Useful defaults in growth-loops — fewer surprises than typical one-off scripts, and it plays nicely with `npx skills` flows.
- ★★★★★Lucas Desai· Sep 13, 2024
We added growth-loops from the explainx registry; install was straightforward and the SKILL.md answered most questions upfront.
- ★★★★★Mateo Anderson· Sep 9, 2024
Solid pick for teams standardizing on skills: growth-loops is focused, and the summary matches what you get after install.
- ★★★★★Sofia Rahman· Sep 5, 2024
growth-loops reduced setup friction for our internal harness; good balance of opinion and flexibility.
- ★★★★★Mateo Smith· Aug 28, 2024
I recommend growth-loops for anyone iterating fast on agent tooling; clear intent and a small, reviewable surface area.
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