User Growth and Revenue Measurement Fundamentals for a Global Consumer Internet Business

Abstract

Any consumer-facing business today typically uses the internet as part of its core strategy of acquiring and retaining users, and thereby generating revenue. Industries that have been traditionally “offline”, i.e. transportation have also been deeply disrupted and transformed by the evolution of consumer-facing internet services, be it incumbents or be it beginners/new entrants. The following paper outlines the most fundamental growth concepts governing the development of a successful consumer internet business. The objective of the paper is to touch upon two most important pillars of building a successful consumer internet business - User Acquisition and Retention (monetization strategy) and Accounting (measurement strategy). Platformization - which is crucial for a company to scale, is outside the scope of this paper. Each of these pillars are crucial as the business evolves through different growth stages. Risk exposure concepts such as Diversification are outside the scope of this paper.