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Growth Strategies for Subscription Businesses
Moats, network effects, land and expand, product-led growth, referral programs and product/market fit: the growth chapters of The Subscription Playbook.
Land and Expand
A land and expand strategy grows revenue from customers you already have. The five factors, DocuSign's six keys, the metrics and the 2026 updates.
GrowthDig Your Moat
How to build a moat around your business with the MOATS framework from The Subscription Playbook: 11 moat factors, exercises and 2026 AI-era updates.
GrowthMoats in the AI Era
Which moats AI erodes and which it can't copy: proprietary data, embedded workflows, distribution, margins and outcome pricing, with 2026 examples.
GrowthCompetitive Moat Examples
Competitive moat examples from Stripe, Nubank, WiseTech, Netflix and local businesses, sorted by moat type, plus five moats that failed and what to copy.
GrowthThe MOATS Framework
The MOATS framework from The Subscription Playbook: Marketing supremacy, One, Audience, Toughness, Switching. All 11 moat factors plus a self-assessment.
GrowthNetwork Effects
Network effects explained the Subscription Playbook way: the six types, the chicken-or-egg fix, how to stop disintermediation, and what changed by 2026.
GrowthProduct-Led Growth
Product-led growth explained with 2026 examples from Canva, Spotify, Duolingo and Zoom, the four-stage PLG flywheel, and when sales-led works better.
GrowthAre You on Track? How to Know If You…
What product market fit is, how to measure it with the Superhuman survey and 40% rule, the signs you don't have it, and how bootstrappers found it.
GrowthProduct/Market Fit Examples
Product/market fit examples from Netflix, Looker, Patreon, GitHub, Superhuman, Cursor and small businesses: the signal each saw, and five that lost fit.
GrowthThe Sean Ellis Test
How to run the Sean Ellis test, score it against the 40% benchmark and use Superhuman's four-step engine to raise it, with a worked example.
GrowthReferral Programs for Subscription…
Customer referral program examples from Dropbox, Gusto, Evernote and Ontraport, plus the six reward types from The Subscription Playbook and their math.
GrowthQuick Ways to Grow Client Numbers on a…
Grow a subscription business on a low budget: the four techniques from The Subscription Playbook, six referral rewards and 50 cheap tactics for 2026.
Where to start
Growth in a subscription business comes from three places: winning new customers, keeping the ones you have, and growing what each customer spends. Most owners only work on the first. The chapters here cover all three.
If you're early, start with product/market fit. There's no point pouring customers into a bucket with a hole in it. Once people are sticking, read Dig Your Moat to protect what you've built, then land and expand to grow revenue from existing customers without a big sales team.
If you have a small budget, growing on a shoestring covers community, webinars, referral programs and 50 low-cost tactics I've used myself. If your product gets better as more people use it, network effects explains the six types and how to solve the chicken-and-egg problem.
What's changed in the AI era
AI makes features cheap to copy. That means the moats that last are the ones AI can't reproduce: proprietary data, being embedded in a customer's daily workflow, distribution, and trust. Moats in the AI era covers which ones still hold, with 2026 examples.
Common questions
What's the fastest way to grow a subscription business? Cut churn first. Every customer you keep is one you don't have to replace, and retention compounds. See how to reduce churn.
How do I measure whether growth is healthy? Track MRR growth, net revenue retention and CAC payback together. The subscription metrics guide explains each one and the 2026 benchmarks.