Jonathan Aufray

CEO of Growth Hackers

1 January 2019 8 Min Read

Jonathan Aufray on Growth Hacking: Insider Secrets and Insights

I had the pleasure to talk to Jonathan Aufray, growth hacker and CEO of Growth Hackers, an agency that brings fast, sustainable, and scalable growth to startups, entrepreneurs, marketers, and organizations through digital marketing and growth hacking.

Jonathan’s career started with a marketing degree from Dublin Business School and his subsequent Master’s in International Business and Marketing at IDRAC Business School. Over the years, he worked as an International Business Development and Marketing Manager at Fare Auto, an International Sales and Marketing Manager at Fon-Star International Technology Inc, and a growth hacker at Linqapp, right before founding his own company.

Jonathan shared with me the risks he took in his life, introduced me to the world of growth hacking, and explained his team-building and motivation techniques. Join me and read about Jonathan’s experience!

The Logician

Would you like to introduce yourself, Jonathan? In addition, what do you do for a living, and how did you learn about growth hacking?

Jonathan Aufray

In the past 15 years, I lived and worked in 7 countries.

I am originally from France and I now live in Taiwan.

I also lived in the US, the UK, Ireland, Spain, and Australia.

I have always been attracted by small businesses as I like to be challenged and see the value of my contribution.

I am not saying that working for big brands like Apple or Google isn’t challenging but let’s be honest, if I work for one of those companies and I take 6 months off, they will be fine.

When you work for a startup or an SMB, if you take a 1-week leave, the company will suffer already.

I was introduced to growth hacking a few years ago. Because my background was in digital marketing for small businesses; once I started to work with startups, I kind of pivoted to growth hacking.

Indeed, startups need fast execution and iteration, even more than SMBs. I always found that marketing was limited because there wasn’t always a connection between product development and marketing.

That’s what I love about growth hacking: it’s a mix of psychology, product development, data, designing, engineering, and marketing. This is really the link between those departments. Growth hacking isn’t just here to grow acquisition channels but also to grow/improve the product in order to make it more user-centric.

I’ve worked with businesses and entrepreneurs from more than 70 countries. Now, I am the Co-Founder and CEO at Growth Hackers. At Growth Hackers, we help startups, SMBs, entrepreneurs, marketers, and organizations grow with digital marketing and growth hacking.

Not a big fond of describing myself, so I am going to say what people usually say about me: I am a people’s person, honest and easy-going.

In my free time, I like to travel, hang out with my friends, play sports and meeting new people.

The Logician

People often confuse this profession with marketing. Therefore, what is the main difference between the two, and do you have your definition of growth hacking? If yes, can you share it with us?

Jonathan Aufray

A lot of people believe marketing and growth hacking are actually the same. They think ‘growth hacking’ is just a buzzword.

Most of the time, these people either never applied growth hacking and are just traditional marketers or on the opposite, they are growth hackers who don’t have marketing experience.

If you worked in marketing, you know that your goal is to market and sell your products or services. You don’t really have a say about the product itself. This is the role of the product manager.

What growth hacking does is connecting marketing with product development thanks to data. Growth hacking is a department by itself where the main focus is growth, growth and again growth.

Acquisition Growth — Activation — Retention — Revenue — Referrals. I recommend you to check my definition of growth hacking for more details.

The Logician

You are a risk-taker. Which was the most significant risk you have ever taken in your life, and what was the outcome of it?

Jonathan Aufray

That’s a tough question as I believe I took many risks in my life.

Maybe one of my biggest was to move to England in 2005/2006 when I didn’t speak English. I believe this was the real start of my journey.

The Logician

Do you believe in team-building, and can you tell us something about your team?

Jonathan Aufray

Of course, I believe in team building.

I don’t think anyone would tell you otherwise. In my opinion, the secret of team building is talking, listening and adaptation.

To build a great team, people can’t be all the same, they need to be complementary with each other.

At work but also outside of work.

You also need to know your teammates well to know what they like, dislike, are allergic to, etc…

Because you don’t get personal with them and treat them all differently.

I see a lot of companies organizing retreats or trips or having a lot of ‘standard’ perks where everyone seems happy but they actually aren’t. Why? Because these companies believe in the 1 size fits all mentality. They don’t adapt to the people or to their teams.

There’s a study by Business Insider showing that tech companies with a lot of perks actually have a terrible retention rate. This obviously shows that people aren’t happy or challenged enough.

The Logician

How do you inspire yourself and your team to maintain high work progress and focus?

Jonathan Aufray

For me, the key to motivation is happiness and trust. If you’re happy with your job, your boss, your teammates, and your clients, you’ll want to do a good job and you’ll be motivated by it.

That’s why listening to your teammates is crucial to understand what they’re looking for with the job but that’s not it. You also want to know about their personal lives and help them if needed.

The Logician

When it comes to growth hacking, do you believe that hard work pays off? Also, is this profession based on other skills such as creativity or a specific necessary knowledge?

Jonathan Aufray

I don’t think I know any professions where hard work doesn’t pay off. I think growth hacking can be learned and taught but growth hacking isn’t for everyone, though. This is not a very relaxed job.

Creativity is one thing but the most important skill for growth hacking is to be ‘eager to learn’. Growth hacking keeps changing. One thing that worked a month ago might now work anymore.

You need to keep testing new things and be open to change. To know more about what a growth hacker job involves, I suggest you check my growth hacker job description.

The Logician

If someone wants to become a growth hacker, where should they start? Moreover, are there any specific characteristics a person needs to possess to work in this field?

Jonathan Aufray

I have never been a big advocate of schools, universities, etc… I am sure Gallant Dill, who’s a college dropout and manage a great entrepreneur / motivational Facebook group would agree with me here.

In my opinion, the best way to learn is by doing (This is how I learned). Start building an easy website about one of your passions.

You can easily build a site without knowing to code (WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Weebly, SquareSpace, etc…). Then, start writing content, try to drive traffic to your site, build your email list, etc…

There are many videos, blog posts, tutorials around that will show you how to do those. For instance, you can check the Growth Hackers’ blog.

The Logician

What challenges did you have to face to get where you are now? Furthermore, did you have an idol that inspired and kept pushing you toward success?

Jonathan Aufray

One of the biggest challenges I had and I have to face is being careful to badly intentioned people. Because I am a people’s person, I always see the good in people and sometimes this makes me naïve.

In the business world, I have learned from experience that a part of people has bad intentions. They are just in business to trick and scam people. I even met people with psychopathic traits, which is surprisingly not uncommon.

I honestly don’t have an idol or someone who really pushed me. I get inspiration from fellow entrepreneurs of course but I don’t have an idol. For example, something I really get inspired by for Growth Hackers’ company culture is Buffer company culture.

I love how honest they are and the way they make remote work a success.

The Logician

Where do you see yourself five to ten years from now? More importantly, where do you think growth hacking will stand in the future?

Jonathan Aufray

I see myself somewhere on earth.

I am sorry, it’s a stupid answer but if 10 years ago people would have told me you would do growth hacking in Taiwan, I would not have believed them (Especially that the term growth hacking didn’t even exist yet).

In 10 years, I could still be living in Taiwan as I love the country and the people.
If you have the opportunity, please come to visit it (Or even live here). People are extremely welcoming, life is easy and peaceful.

But, I don’t limit myself to Taiwan, I could literally be anywhere in 10 years (Probably not Mars, Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos will be there first).

What about growth hacking? I think AI and machine learning will have a huge impact on the industry. I believe AI engineers and programmers will be in high demand.

My job in the future will be more about management I guess. This is something that can be hardly replaced by machines and AI as you need a personal touch in management.

The Logician

Finally, is there any advice you would like to give to young entrepreneurs?

Jonathan Aufray

Focus, be resilient and don’t give up.

The Logician

Thank you, Jonathan, for sharing your inspirational story! Your philosophy that the best way to learn is by doing is fundamental to implement in our lives. Your account showed me that taking a risk as significant as moving to a different country without knowing the language can open up a new world of opportunities! I am sure that Growth Hackers will continue to grow, so continue to push forward and break boundaries! I can’t wait to see what the future holds for you!

The Logician

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Jonathan Aufray on Growth Hacking: Insider Secrets and Insights

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