Startup growth strategies you need in 2026

If you're looking for startup growth strategies that actually work - this is for you. My name is Oskar. I built 2 startups and coached over 50 founders and these are not your basic 'post more on social media' tips you hear every day.

These are the strategies I wish someone had told me before I started.

Let's dive right in.

AI is incredible right now. It can do your research, your brainstorming
- heck it can even build your product. Things that used to take days now take minutes.

But let me ask you something because this is a big mistake many founders make: How many times this week did you open Claude or ChatGPT and ask something like…

→ "What features should I build?"
→ "How can I get more users”
→ "What marketing campaign should I run next?"

AI answers. Confidently. Every single time.

Even when it has absolutely no idea what it's talking about - because here’s the thing - AI doesn't know your users. It doesn't know your product.
And it has no idea what's best for your specific situation.

I've seen founders waste 6 months - 6 months - building something nobody wanted, because AI told them it was a good idea.

When I use AI in my startup, there is one rule I follow:

Use AI to speed up the busywork - The research. The writing.
The building. But the big decision? That's your job as a founder. Not AI's.

AI gets you there faster.
But make the decisions yourself.

I love this growth strat - because it's an easy way to get new users. For free. And with AI, it has never been faster to pull off. Here's how it works:

Normally, when you build a lead magnet, it's a PDF or an e-book.
And let's be honest - nobody ever reads those.

So instead, you build something small. Something useful.
Something people can use right away.

Let me give you an example. Say you've built a meditation app, and you want more users. Instead of a boring "Get 10 meditation tips" e-book, you build a quiz. At the end, people get real, useful tips - based on their answers.
And to get the full result, they give you their email.

That's it. One landing page. One quiz. Done.
You can build this with AI in like 3 hours.

But here's the important part - this is where most founders mess this up:

You need to build this fast. And it has to make sense for your product.
Your product needs to be the next logical step people take. So first people do the quiz, you get their email, and then tell them about your real product.

If you do that right, you've got a free way to bring in new users - every day.

This one's big. So, stay with me.
I once coached a founder in my mastermind.
Real product. Real users. But his activation rate was terrible.

Most people who signed up never actually tried his product.
They just left. And the reason was simple:

When you signed up, you had to click through five different screens that showed you what the product can do.

Step one, step two, step three - it was just annoying.
So, people never got to that "Wow-moment" - that magic moment where they go, "This is exactly what I need."

If people get there, they will stay.
If they don´t - they will leave.
It's really that simple.

So we looked at his product. And we asked one question:

→ What's the "Wow Moment"?
→ What's the one feature people need to see to stay?

We found it. And then we looked at everything standing in front of it.
Every single step. And we cut it.

Activation jumped from 8% to 24%. In one week.
Here's how you do this for your own product:

1. Open a spreadsheet.
2. At the top, write down your "Wow-Moment".
3. Then list every single step standing between signup and that moment.
4. And for each step, ask yourself - do we really need this to reach the "Wow-Moment"?
5. Yes? Keep it. No? Cut it.

That's the whole strategy. Get users to the "Wow-Moment" as fast as possible - and your numbers will improve.

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Now - if you want help with all of that, that's exactly what we work on in my startup mastermind. You will get personal coaching, and you can connect with other founders to see what worked for them.

You can join here:

I bet you have seen this before or you have even been doing this yourself. The free trial ends in 14 days, so you send an email at day 12 and you say:

"Hey, your free trial ends in 2 days, want to upgrade and unlock pro features?"

Same email. Every single user.
Doesn't matter what they actually did in the app.

Problem is, most people don't care.
Because they've never actually seen what your product can really do.

Here's the better way:
‍
Instead of triggering that message off a date... trigger it off a moment.
The moment someone actually sees the real value of your product.

Let me give you an example:
Say you've built a project management tool. Instead of the usual 14-day free trial, you let people build 3 projects for free. That's it. And the moment they want to create project number 4 - that's when you show the upgrade prompt. Right when they've just shown they need more.

So here's what I want you to do:

Look at what features people actually use in your product.
Find the moment where a natural upgrade makes sense.
Then put your upgrade message right there. In that exact moment.

Now, every startup loses customers. That's not the problem.
The problem is what most founders do about it.

They send one email:
"We miss you - here's a 20% discount if you come back. Please… come back"

It’s the same message for everyone. Doesn't matter if they left because it was too expensive or because they just forgot about your product.
You're offering the same fix to five different problems.

It's like you got yourself this new hammer and suddenly everything looks like a nail. Doesn’t work. So, if you want to get more people to come back, here’s what really works:

1. Check the last 50 people who cancelled.
2. For each one, find the real reason they left.
3. Then split them into groups - and write one email per group.

Not one email for all of them. Make the email really specific.
If someone left because a feature was missing and now you have built it, say exactly that. Like: "We built the feature for you".

And hey - cut the discount. Most people don’t leave because your product costs €20/M. They leave because they never got the value.

This is a pro tip I learned way too late.
But it's super strong.

Almost every SaaS product works the same way.
You sign up, you get the free version, and the good stuff (the pro features) - stay locked behind a paywall. No wonder so many people never upgrade. They only see the stripped-down version.

Try flipping that.

Give people full access right away. Every feature, no limits, for 14 days.
And instead of asking them to upgrade from free... you downgrade them to free. Automatically.

Sounds like a small change. But it makes a huge difference.

People feel a loss way more than they feel a win.
Losing €10 hurts more than winning €10 feels good. It's called loss aversion.

Same goes for your startup. Losing something you already have hurts more than never getting it at all. So, by day 14, your users aren't asking themselves if pro is worth it.

They already know - because they've been using it.

This last one is easy to fix, but it can move your conversion rate like crazy:

Pick one concrete outcome your product delivers.
And put a number on it.

Like, "Get your first report in 10 minutes." or "Set up your first automation in 5 minutes." Something specific. Then use that exact promise everywhere.
Your headline, your landing page, your content.

Here's why this works so well:
People don't buy features. They buy the result.

And if you can show them how quick they can get it - you remove the biggest thing holding them back - Not knowing if this is going to take like five minutes or five hours of their life.

One thing though - it has to be true.

If you promise 10 minutes, and it actually takes 40... you lose all trust.
And people leave.

So, before you publish that number - let someone test it.
Track how long it actually takes and then, and only then, put it out there.

These are the 7 growth strategies I wish someone told me before I started.
If I would add one more growth tip - probably the most important one - it's knowing exactly what you need to focus on in your startup.

If you want help with that - check out my startup mastermind.

You’ll get a clear roadmap so you know exactly what to focus on in your startup, personal coaching from me, and you can talk to other founders to see what worked for them.

You can join here: