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Acquiring the first ten million users is a milestone many startups dream of achieving. For Revolut, this feat was accomplished through a combination of unique market insights, strategic growth tactics, and an unrelenting focus on product optimization. Today, we break down the key strategies and lessons on how they reached this significant mielstone, as shared by Val Scholz, former Head of Growth at Revolut, on the recent 20VC podcast with Harry Stebbings.

⚒️ How Revolut Acquired Their First 10M Users: Tips, Tactics & Strategies

🎥 Watch the full episode here 

📆 Published: March 21st, 2024

🕒 Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes. Time saved: 55 minutes🔥 

🏞️ Find Underserved Markets

Val Scholz emphasises the importance of targeting markets with little to no competition. Instead of going head-to-head with established players like Monzo in the UK, Revolut focused on markets such as Ireland, Romania, and Poland. This strategy allowed them to quickly gain traction, raise more funds, build better products, and hire top talent.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Identify niches or regions where your product can be 10x better than the status quo.

• Utilise market segmentation to find unique opportunities and insights that competitors might overlook.

🌱 Start Simple, Scale Smart

One of the biggest lessons from Revolut’s early days was focusing on doing one thing exceptionally well. For Revolut, this was their referral program, which accounted for 90% of their B2C customer acquisition.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Prioritise and perfect a single growth channel before diversifying.

• Optimise user experiences to ensure new customers can easily and quickly complete key actions like signing up and making their first payment.

🔄 Master the Referral Loop

Creating an effective referral program requires more than just offering a monetary incentive. Revolut engineered their referral system to minimise the time between onboarding and referral actions. This rapid cycle was crucial for their exponential growth.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Engineer your referral program to shorten the time between user acquisition and referral.

• Constantly optimise the onboarding process to increase activation rates.

🧪 Experiment Relentlessly

Val shares that while many growth experiments might not yield clear results, those that do can be game-changers. For instance, distributing cards at big tech companies' cafeterias was hard to measure, but they learned to double down on successful channels like YouTube influencers.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Run a variety of growth experiments and track results meticulously.

• Scale successful channels aggressively until they’re fully optimised.

🧲 Incentivise Smartly

Revolut initially didn't use monetary incentives for referrals. They provided value in other ways, such as offering free Revolut cards, which was a cost-effective strategy given their budget constraints.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Creativity in incentives can often outperform straightforward monetary rewards.

• Balance acquisition costs with the value provided to ensure sustainable growth.

🛠️ Build for Scalability

Revolut’s growth highlighted the necessity of building scalable systems. Whether it was database management or customer support, they had to continuously scale their infrastructure to handle explosive growth.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Invest early in scalable systems and processes.

• Anticipate growth and plan infrastructure upgrades ahead of demand spikes.

🗣️ Optimise User Feedback Loops

Understanding user pain points and swiftly addressing them was crucial. For instance, Revolut significantly improved their activation rate by addressing issues users faced during identity verification and initial use cases.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Proactively gather and act on user feedback to remove friction points.

• Use direct user insights to inform product marketing and development strategies.

🚀 Expand Product Offerings Wisely

Adding new products can drive significant growth if done strategically. Revolut expanded beyond a travel card to include everyday banking, cryptocurrencies, and commodities, which increased user engagement and retention.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Introduce complementary products to enhance user value and drive cross-selling opportunities.

• Ensure new offerings align with your core value proposition and user needs.

📊 Leverage Data Strategically

Revolut’s data strategy involved creating a centralised data warehouse to connect all data points, providing a clear picture of user behaviour and campaign performance. This holistic view was vital for making informed growth decisions.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Implement a centralised data strategy to gain comprehensive insights.

• Regularly analyse and act on data to optimise user acquisition and retention efforts.

🌐 Think Globally, Act Locally

Revolut’s growth strategies varied slightly across different markets but maintaining a core focus on user needs and efficient processes was universal. Understanding local market dynamics helped them tailor their approach effectively.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Adapt your growth strategies to fit local market conditions while maintaining a consistent core value proposition.

• Use localised insights to refine and optimise global strategies.

💡 Continuous Learning and Adaptation

Val’s journey underscores the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in growth strategies. Whether it was refining referral loops or experimenting with new channels, the ability to learn and pivot was crucial.

Key Takeaway for Founders and Product Managers:

• Stay curious and continuously seek new insights and strategies.

• Be prepared to pivot based on data and user feedback to sustain growth.

Revolut’s journey from 0 to 10 million users offers a wealth of lessons for any founder or product manager. By targeting underserved markets, perfecting a single growth channel, and continuously optimising based on data, you can drive sustainable growth for your own products.

Want to know more quickly? Just ask the episode below [web only]👇️ 🤯 
or if you prefer, 🎥 Watch the full episode here 

📅 Timestamps:

• [00:02:36] Referral loop optimisation.

• [00:06:26] Referral rewards and attractiveness.

• [00:09:24] Product optimization strategies.

• [00:11:30] Bank card aesthetics in marketing.

• [00:16:45] Traditional marketing methods outdated.

• [00:20:01] Topic clusters for SEO.

• [00:22:44] Timing of hiring a growth head.

• [00:26:07] The stress of hitting metrics.

• [00:29:29] Sourcing strategies for hiring.

• [00:35:19] Culture at Revolut.

• [00:38:36] Growth reviews and progress syncing.

• [00:42:49] Scaling challenges in a fast-growing company.

• [00:46:38] Data strategy and conventional wisdom.

• [00:51:38] Building better products for growth.

• [00:53:07] The future of the internet.

• [00:56:19] Impressive Nubank growth strategy.