The last newsletter of the year has been my opportunity to reflect on the best growth learnings shared in Growth Unhinged (see: 2024, 2023, 2022). This time I’m doing things a bit differently.

I polled 130 readers about their #1 most impactful growth experiment of the year. Then I categorized all the responses and hand‑selected the most interesting tactics.

Main takeaways

• Despite all the enthusiasm around AI, the three biggest categories were outbound and ABM (20 % of responses), partner and ecosystem (20 %), and events and community (16 %).

• The tactics were quite diverse and also included content and AI discovery (12 %), product‑led growth (10 %), product launches (8 %), paid advertising (6 %), and a long‑tail of everything else (8 %).

• A few of the experiments were out‑of‑the‑box. Most came down to picking something tried‑and‑true, then executing it exceptionally.

Below are the 50 + growth tactics that actually worked, as submitted by readers. I hope these inspire creative growth experiments going into 2026.

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Outbound & ABM

Experiments from early‑stage startups

1. LinkedIn engagement‑based outreach – tracking and reaching out to people who engage with our content or competitor content brought in 10 % of the pipeline.

2. Prospecting people who engage with competitors’ posts on LinkedIn – verifies intent and nets predictable pipeline.

3. Beachhead strategy around target accounts – large, complex enterprises.

4. Mix of outbound prospecting, almost like ABM, with automated messages.

5. Full outbound AI automation on LinkedIn.

Experiments from scale‑ups

1. Website optimization and intent tracking for lead conversion.

2. Using Clay to scrape intent‑signal data and drive outbound plays to those audiences.

3. Automating outbound workflows for intent‑based selling.

4. Creating specific ABM lists with content and outbound targeting via SDR.

5. Warm connects and personalized demos for high‑value accounts.

6. Deploying ABM at the 1:1 level and building programs to engage and nurture through the funnel.

7. ABM in high‑value accounts that included an exec roadshow.

Best outbound resource: “The best automated GTM plays you’re not running (with Brendan Short)”

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Partner & Ecosystem

Experiments from early‑stage startups

1. Personal network – former employers becoming first clients.

2. Maximizing our current network of connections to get as many intros as possible, especially via our CEO.

3. Sector‑influencer customer campaigns for social proof.

Experiments from scale‑ups

1. “Give to Get” program with ecosystem partners – moving a customer to partner billing in exchange for the partner bringing more customers.

2. Joint partner marketing – co‑sponsoring regional events and co‑marketing them.

3. Aligning with industry communities and high‑quality original research.

4. Partnerships scale‑out.

5. Partnering with a B2B influencer.

Best ecosystem resource: “Ecosystem is the next big growth channel” (via Emily Kramer and Lenny’s Newsletter)

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Events & Community

Experiments from early‑stage startups

1. Webinars with industry influencers – highly engaged audience willing to spend 60 minutes.

2. Going all‑in at a conference – 35 + scheduled meetings in advance from meticulous manual outbound.

3. Photo contest – people signed up to cast their vote.

Experiments from scale‑ups

1. Inviting clients to attend conferences with us – drove new logos and 3× client investment.

2. Big tradeshow plus ancillary intimate events for a target‑account list.

3. Expanded attendance by frontline personnel to large conferences.

4. Expanding in‑person events to virtual events – lower lift and expense, similar results.

Best community resource: “How Mallory Contois mastered the community‑led growth (CLG) flywheel with the Old Girls Club”

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Content & AI Discovery

Experiments from early‑stage startups

1. AEO experimentation – testing advice from top GTM experts, now seeing results.

2. Programmatic SEO with JSON‑LD – critical for LLM SEO and AEO.

3. Substack newsletter – better channel for product updates, bug fixes, and learnings.

4. YouTube interview series – hosting industry experts, boosting awareness via guest shares; combining PLG and media for fast growth.

Experiments from scale‑ups

1. Custom GPT to generate SEO‑focused blog posts at scale.

2. Big content marketing initiatives – new maturity model and owned virtual user conference.

3. Deep, informative content across AEO, SEO, social, webinars, etc.

4. Positioning in LLM answers – gaining visibility across multiple countries quickly.

5. AEO/GEO – shift from conventional organic search to direct traffic from LLM search, correlating to qualified leads.

Best AI discovery resource: “How to turn ChatGPT into your best pipeline source”

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Product‑Led Growth (PLG)

Experiments from early‑stage startups

1. Freemium product – proprietary lead‑gen directory with warm outreach supporting adoption.

2. Mini tools to spark curiosity about product functionalities.

3. Product‑driven flow that lets users sample the experience (no free trial, but direct value‑driven).

Experiments from scale‑ups

1. Industrializing “time‑to‑first‑value” – shortened path from contract to first positive reply, unlocking throughput across sales, CS, and references.

2. Data‑backed onboarding email flow – increased conversion rate by 3 points; personalized flows per profile.

3. Introducing a PLG motion for solo users.

Best PLG resource: “Our first try at PLG nearly failed. Here’s what we did next.”

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Product Launches

Experiments from early‑stage startups

1. Hype video for out‑of‑stealth launch – went viral.

2. Coordinated massive product launch with rebrand and influencer campaign – a nightmare to coordinate but paid off.

Experiments from scale‑ups

1. Major product launch across all vectors – outbound, inbound, etc.

2. Opening new markets and categories – regulatory changes opened new opportunities quickly.

Best product launch resource: “From 0 to 200k users in 14 months”

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Paid Advertising

Experiments from early‑stage startups

1. Paid search – big winner, accounts for 50 % of customers (lower AOV).

2. G2 review collection campaigns and PPC ads within G2.

3. ABM/LinkedIn ad‑driven campaigns.

Experiments from scale‑ups

1. Eliminating paid branded keyword search.

2. Terminating paid ads – saved money with no impact on productivity.

3. Brand‑awareness investments in paid, display, and search – significant funnel lift in inbound.

4. OOH and brand‑awareness efforts – halo effect across channels.

Best paid‑ad resource: “A very tactical guide to ABM advertising”

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Other Notable Tactics

1. AI adoption across all internal marketing workflows.

2. Website scraper and AI‑driven prospect classifier – identifies ICP fit based on tech stack and business characteristics.

3. Simplifying personas – focusing on a high‑volume, high‑value, low‑complexity problem.

4. Gamifying internal LinkedIn posting – prompting team members to consistently mention the brand.

Best related resource: “How to use AI agents for marketing”

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Top Five Growth Unhinged Editions (by page views & shares)

• #5 – “A new framework for AI agent pricing” (with Manny Medina)

• #4 – “Customers don’t care about your AI features” (with Kristen Berman)

• #3 – “How to get recommended by ChatGPT”

• #2 – “You should be playing with AI agents for marketing”

• #1 – “How to use Deep Research for GTM” (with Torsten Walbaum)

Thank you again for reading and being part of this community. As always, if you have a 🔥 growth story you’d like to share in Growth Unhinged, simply hit reply.