TenK 6 vs. The Growth Gurus: A Dinner Party Story

Imagine you walk into a dinner party. Around the table sit the ten most famous growth frameworks. They’ve got decades of case studies, entire libraries of blog posts, and VC money behind them. Then, halfway through the meal, a new guest walks in: TenK 6.

No suit. No jargon. Just a greasy pizza box and a notebook full of half-baked ideas.

Here’s how the night plays out.

The Guest List

| Guest | Personality | Strengths | Weaknesses | |-------|-------------|-----------|------------| | AARRR | Pirate in a blazer, shouting funnels and KPIs | Funnel clarity, easy to measure | Linear, stiff | | Growth Loops | Chess master, talking about infinite cycles | Compounding, scalable | Too abstract early | | North Star Metric | Astronomer pointing at the sky | Team alignment | Too far away for early devs | | HEART | Therapist with a clipboard | UX empathy, structured | Overcomplicated for solo work | | RICE | Math nerd with a whiteboard | Prioritization | Still subjective | | Bullseye | Archer testing every target | Finds traction channels | Lots of wasted arrows | | Growth Hacking Cycle | Mad scientist | Fast experiments | Chaotic, burns out teams | | JTBD | Philosopher | Deep user empathy | Hard to act on quickly | | Hooked | Magician with habit tricks | Retention power | Risky, manipulative | | Lean Analytics | Statistician with 10 dashboards | Data clarity | Paralysis by analysis | | TenK 6 | Scrappy indie hacker with pizza | Momentum, action, storytelling | New kid, small fan club |

The Story

AARRR Speaks First

AARRR clears his throat: “Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral, Revenue! Track the funnel and you’ll grow.”

TenK 6 shrugs: “I don’t even have a funnel yet. I just need to ship something tomorrow.”

Growth Loops Leans In

“Think bigger. Design a compounding machine. Every user should generate more users.”

TenK 6 laughs: “That’s cute. I have twelve users. I’ll get to loops later.”

North Star Metric Points Up

“All you need is one guiding metric — your North Star.”

TenK 6: “Cool. But when you’re lost in weeds, stars don’t help. Flashlights do.”

HEART Gets Emotional

HEART says: “How are your users feeling? Happiness, engagement, adoption…”

TenK 6: “I asked three people on Twitter. They said it’s neat. Good enough for today.”

RICE Scribbles on a Napkin

RICE does math: “Reach × Impact × Confidence ÷ Effort = priority.”

TenK 6: “Or I could just pick one thing and stop debating myself into paralysis.”

Bullseye Aims His Bow

Bullseye: “Try twenty channels, test them all, see which sticks.”

TenK 6: “I posted on Indie Hackers. Got two signups. Good enough loop for now.”

Growth Hacking Cycle Cackles

“Experiment faster! Build a lab! Burn through ideas!”

TenK 6: “Sure, but I’d rather sleep tonight and just run one loop tomorrow.”

JTBD Strokes His Beard

“What job is your user hiring your product to do?”

TenK 6: “Honestly? They just wanted to stop doomscrolling and get momentum. That’s the job.”

Hooked Winks

“Triggers, rewards, investments — make them addicted.”

TenK 6: “I’m the one who needs the habit. Not them. Yet.”

Lean Analytics Opens a Laptop

“Empathy → Stickiness → Virality → Revenue → Scale. Stage by stage.”

TenK 6: “Cool. Meanwhile, I just want to finish one loop this week without stalling.”

Why TenK 6 Stands Out

By the end of the dinner, the other frameworks are still debating KPIs. TenK 6 has already shared his pizza, scribbled six words on the napkin — List, Pick, Ship, Ask, Measure, Share — and left early to build something.

That’s the difference.

The others are maps.

TenK 6 is a habit.

After TenK 6 Walks Out

The room goes quiet for a moment. AARRR frowns at the half-eaten pizza slice. HEART doodles a little smiley face on her notepad. Growth Loops sighs and says, “You know… maybe loops don’t matter if you can’t even finish one cycle.”

RICE pushes his formula aside. “Yeah, I suppose even the perfect scoring model won’t save you if you never pick.”

Bullseye scratches his head. “I wasted three months testing twenty channels… dude just posted once on Indie Hackers and got signups.”

Even Hooked pauses: “Wait… he’s building the habit in himself first? That’s… different.”

The Realization

One by one, the frameworks realize something uncomfortable:

• They describe growth.

• TenK 6 creates it.

Because growth doesn’t come from elegant acronyms or perfectly optimized metrics. It comes from momentum. From running loops when you don’t feel like it. From hitting Ship and Share even when it’s messy.

That’s the secret TenK 6 brought to the table — and why the frameworks were a little jealous.

Epilogue

Weeks later, the frameworks hear a rumor. The scrappy kid with pizza? He’s still looping. His little product? It’s growing.

Not because he had the fanciest framework.

But because he had one he could actually use.

So when you use the other frameworks, don’t forget to leave early and go build your momemtum. Learn more about TenK 6 →