# Sean Ellis

> Sean Ellis coined the term 'growth hacking' in 2010, invented the 40% product/market fit test, and served as the first marketer at Dropbox and Eventbrite. Founder of GrowthHackers.com (1.8M members) and co-author of 'Hacking Growth' (750,000+ copies, 16 languages), he is arguably the single most influential figure in the modern growth discipline - the person who gave the industry its name, its frameworks, and its operating system.

- **Role:** Fractional VP Growth / Founder at GrowthHackers
- **Organizations:** GrowthHackers, GoPractice, Qualaroo (acquired), Bounce
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Bachelor's Degree, University of California, Davis
- **Known for:** Coined the term 'growth hacking' (2010) - now an industry-standard global term, Invented the Sean Ellis Test / 40% Rule for product/market fit (2009), Invented the ICE (Impact/Confidence/Ease) prioritization framework for growth experiments

## Career timeline

- **1994** — Graduated from UC Davis
- **Late 1990s** — Head of Marketing / President of European Operations at Uproar Inc. — led company from launch through NASDAQ IPO, later acquired by Vivendi Universal
- **Early 2000s** — Founding team member and Head of Marketing at LogMeIn — led from launch through IPO; company later sold for $4.3B
- **2006-2008** — First marketer at Dropbox — established viral referral mechanics that drove explosive growth
- **2008-2009** — Interim VP Marketing at Xobni; advised multiple early-stage startups
- **2009** — Published the 40% Rule / Sean Ellis Test for measuring product/market fit on startup-marketing.com
- **2009-2010** — Head of Growth at Eventbrite — helped company reach unicorn status
- **2009-2010** — First marketer at Lookout — helped reach billion-dollar valuation
- **2010** — Coined the term 'growth hacking' in blog post 'Find a Growth Hacker for Your Startup' — defining growth hackers as people whose true north is growth
- **2011** — Founded Qualaroo, a SaaS survey/user research tool with clients including Uber, Starbucks, Spotify, and Intuit
- **2011-2016** — CEO of Qualaroo — grew to serve major enterprise clients
- **2016** — Qualaroo acquired by Xenon Ventures; Ellis departs to focus on GrowthHackers
- **2016** — Founded GrowthHackers.com — grew to 1.8M member global community
- **2017** — Published 'Hacking Growth' (Crown Business / Penguin Random House) co-authored with Morgan Brown — 750,000+ copies sold, 16 languages
- **2019** — Launched The Breakout Growth Podcast with co-host Ethan Garr
- **2020s** — Co-founded GoPractice with Oleg Ya (former Facebook data scientist) for growth/PM education
- **2022-2024** — Served as VP Growth at Bounce (email management platform)
- **2024-present** — Operating as Fractional VP Growth; guest lecturer at Harvard Business School; advising startups globally

## Achievements

- Coined the term 'growth hacking' (2010) - now an industry-standard global term
- Invented the Sean Ellis Test / 40% Rule for product/market fit (2009)
- Invented the ICE (Impact/Confidence/Ease) prioritization framework for growth experiments
- First marketer at Dropbox - established viral referral program foundations
- Founding team / Head of Marketing at LogMeIn (IPO; company sold for $4.3B)
- Head of Marketing at Uproar (IPO; acquired by Vivendi Universal)
- First marketer at Eventbrite and Lookout - both reached billion-dollar valuations
- Founder of GrowthHackers.com - 1.8M member global community
- Co-author of 'Hacking Growth' - 750,000+ copies sold, translated into 16 languages
- One of the earliest popularizers of freemium as a growth strategy
- Guest Lecturer at Harvard Business School
- Advised Microsoft and Nubank on growth strategy
- Co-founder of GoPractice (growth/PM education platform)

## Latest updates

- **2024-09** — Featured in Lenny's Newsletter/Podcast as 'the original growth hacker' revealing his secrets
- **2024** — Operating as Fractional VP Growth, advising early-stage startups on PMF and growth strategy
- **2024** — Active on Substack at substack.com/@seanellis publishing growth insights
- **2023-2024** — Continuing The Breakout Growth Podcast with Ethan Garr
- **2023** — GrowthHackers community reaches 1.8M global members

## Links

- Website: https://www.seanellis.me/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanellis
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/SeanEllis
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seanellis.me/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/sean-ellis
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-28