Chapter 11: Growth Tracks — Aim Your Loops

TenK 6 stays the same: six steps, one loop. But not every loop serves the same purpose. Sometimes you need to prove a problem exists. Sometimes you need more attention. Sometimes you need dollars. Sometimes you need to keep the customers you have.

Tracks give each loop a theme. They align your actions to your biggest bottleneck so you don’t ship random features, measure random metrics, or ask random people. Think of them like workout plans: same movements, different focus.

The Four Tracks

Validate Track

Prove people actually want what you’re building. List five problems or hypotheses to test, pick one customer problem, and ship a fast test—a survey, landing page, prototype, or fake door. Ask a few people directly. Measure a real signal like sign‑ups, replies, or pre‑orders. Share what happened. Example: “Thirty replies to a two‑question survey” is stronger than ten likes on a launch tweet.

Validation keeps you from burning months on a product nobody needs.

Distribute Track

Grow awareness and reach more of the right people. List five channels or content ideas, pick one to focus on this week, and ship something public: a post, a short demo, a forum write‑up, a partner outreach. Ask by sharing it in the right rooms. Measure clicks, subscribers, or qualified comments. Share the behind‑the‑scenes. Example: one helpful tutorial that drives ten sign‑ups beats a thread that trends and converts zero.

Distribution builds audience in parallel with product.

Monetize Track

Turn users into paying customers. List five pricing experiments, pick one simple offer, and ship a basic way to buy—a pricing page, a Stripe link, a Gumroad button, or a manual invoice. Ask by pitching directly to prospects. Measure paid conversions or revenue. Share the story of what you tried. Example: two $19 sales from ten DMs tell you more than a hundred “sounds cool” replies.

Monetization replaces vanity growth with revenue evidence.

Retain Track

Keep customers engaged and reduce churn. List five retention ideas—onboarding fixes, bug patches, reminders, small delights. Pick one high‑leverage bet and ship a small improvement. Ask by talking to active, new, or churned users. Measure activation, repeat usage, NPS, or churn. Share how you solved real pain. Example: “Activation rose from 22% to 41% after a two‑step tutorial” is retention evidence.

Retention turns spikes into a stable base.

Choose Your Track

Ask, “Where am I stuck?” No users: run Validate. Users but no attention: run Distribute. Attention but no revenue: run Monetize. Revenue but churn bites: run Retain. Pick one track and run loops until the bottleneck moves. Then switch. Track changes with one sentence per week so you see when it’s time to re‑aim.

Micro‑Exercise

Identify your current bottleneck, choose a track, and run one loop this week aimed squarely at that constraint.

Next, you’ll see how the loop scales from solo to a small team without drowning in process.