Do user growth, if only along the same growth curve, then eventually will go to a dead end, unable to achieve sustained growth. China-style user growth not only follows the first curve (see Figure 1-5), but also explores new curves of growth, which is a very important part of achieving sustained growth. For growth discontinuities, I would refer you to Clayton Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma, and I won't go into the details here. Christensen's growth trilogy, The Innovator's Dilemma, The Innovator's Solution, and The Innovator's Gene [inset], is an insightful discussion of growth through incremental and disruptive innovation. Growth curve hopping is a very important part of China's user growth, so if you haven't read these three books, I highly recommend reading them after you finish.

A good user growth team must think about crossing the growth curve early on and invest resources to explore it accordingly. This kind of exploration is often the company's choice of future direction, because many of the exploration will disrupt the company's existing business model. Typically, companies need to have independent mechanisms and inputs to explore new curves, or the growth team should assume similar responsibilities. But growth teams take on similar responsibilities in agreement with the company's top leadership. As for how to explore, it is highly related to the specific business of the specific company, and it is difficult to have a general methodology. One caveat, however, is that we should try to avoid falling into the manager's dilemma

Do user growth, if only along the same growth curve, then eventually will go to a dead end, unable to achieve sustained growth. China-style user growth not only follows the first curve (see Figure 1-5), but also explores new curves of growth, which is a very important part of achieving sustained growth. For growth discontinuities, I would refer you to Clayton Christensen's The Innovator's Dilemma, and I won't go into the details here. Christensen's growth trilogy, The Innovator's Dilemma, The Innovator's Solution, and The Innovator's Gene [inset], is an insightful discussion of growth through incremental and disruptive innovation. Growth curve hopping is a very important part of China's user growth, so if you haven't read these three books, I highly recommend reading them after you finish.

A good user growth team must think about crossing the growth curve early on and invest resources to explore it accordingly. This kind of exploration is often the company's choice of future direction, because many of the exploration will disrupt the company's existing business model. Typically, companies need to have independent mechanisms and inputs to explore new curves, or the growth team should assume similar responsibilities. But growth teams take on similar responsibilities in agreement with the company's top leadership. As for how to explore, it is highly related to the specific business of the specific company, and it is difficult to have a general methodology. One caveat, however, is that we should try to avoid falling into the manager's dilemma