Growth Loops That Compound

Funnels leak. Loops compound. The difference shows up in your CAC after month nine.

Funnels vs loops

A funnel turns spend into customers — once. A loop turns customers into more customers, by design.

Anatomy of a working loop

1. Trigger — what the user just did.
2. Action — what they share, fork, refer, or publish.
3. Distribution — where it lands in front of someone new.
4. Re-entry — that new person becomes the next trigger.

Three worked examples

Content loop (Substack)

Write → readers share to their list → new subscribers → write next post. Loop velocity = posts × share rate × subscribe rate.

Product loop (Calendly)

Book a meeting → invitee sees the brand on the booking page → invitee signs up → invites more people. The loop is embedded in the core action.

Marketplace loop (Airbnb)

Hosts list → guests book → guests become hosts → more listings → more bookings. Compounds across both sides.

Where most founders go wrong

They try to run five funnels at once instead of building one loop. Pick the loop. Make it 50% better than the next-best version in your category. Then defend it.