Marketing Channels Compound Growth

A breakdown of how Dharmesh Shah grew Wordplay.com to millions of users through interconnected marketing channels and viral mechanics.

Initial Distribution Strategy

• Leveraged existing social media following
  • 1 million LinkedIn followers
  • 300,000 Twitter followers
• Used personal blog and email list
• First week achieved 50-100k users through these channels

Viral Growth Mechanics

• Built social sharing features
  • Users can challenge friends with a simple link
  • Share scores to WhatsApp groups and social channels
  • Track share button clicks as key growth metric
• Focused on compounding user growth
  • Each user inviting more users
  • Network effects from social challenges

Engagement Metrics

• Started at 4 minutes average session time
• Grew to 14 minutes average session time
• 45 million total games played
• 9.5 million unique visitors
• 2-3k concurrent users at any time

Monetization Potential

• Implemented Google AdSense as experiment
• Generated $90k/month in ad revenue
• Only costs were hosting and time
• Estimated value: $2-3M based on:
  • $600k annual revenue (conservative estimate)
  • 5x revenue multiple

Key Learning

• Cold start is hardest part
  • Getting first 100-1000 users critical
• Focus on retention metrics
• Multiple small marketing channels create flywheel effect
  • Each channel adds energy to overall growth
  • Combined effect greater than individual parts