Growth idea action plan
Playful side-project wave radar
Build a small, weird side project around an emerging platform shift so you can test attention before the main category turns crowded.
Why this can grow a startup
A playful side project is cheap enough to ship quickly and specific enough to show whether a new behavior is real. If it gets picked up, you learn the language, media appetite, and distribution speed of the wave before everyone else starts shipping me-too products. That shortens the path from instinct to breakout launch.
Key metric to watch
The follow-on launch, YouTube Summary with ChatGPT, later brought Glasp millions of users
Ian's take
From scaling consumer platforms across MENA and Southeast Asia, my default is to distrust growth work that only looks good in a slide. My bias is to treat this as a small market test first. Make the audience narrow, make the promise concrete, and let the first real response decide whether it deserves more work. For acquisition, I would keep the first test narrow enough that a clear yes or no is possible. Broad reach is not useful if the signal is muddy. For this tactic, I would watch one clear growth signal before putting more time or budget behind it.
Action plan
- Define one narrow startup segment where playful side-project wave radar can create a measurable lift.
- Turn the tactic into one offer, page, campaign, or workflow for the Product and PR channel.
- Use the evidence from read.glasp.co to set the first version of the message, format, and audience.
- Launch a small test for 7 to 14 days with one success metric: one measurable growth signal.
- Review the result, keep the winning message, remove weak variants, and turn the learning into a repeatable growth playbook.
Source-backed example
Before launching YouTube Summary with ChatGPT, Glasp built DALL-E-dle, a Wordle-style guessing game for AI image prompts. PC Gamer covered it, and the experiment helped validate that scrappy AI side projects could win mainstream attention before the team shipped the product that later brought Glasp millions of users.
Source: Glasp Newsletter (read.glasp.co)
GrowthDex source hub: Glasp Newsletter
Last checked: May 24, 2026
Adjacent tactics in the same lane
If this page is close to your problem, these tactic pages usually belong in the same working set.
- Secret-signup waitlist illusion same source · 1 shared channel · 2 shared stages
- Founder screen-share onboarding sprint same source · 1 shared channel · 1 shared stage
- Persona-curated community outreach same source · 2 shared stages
- Adjacent-tool ecosystem DM prospecting same source · 2 shared stages
Related GrowthDex essays
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Read GrowthDex essays
The Blog turns real growth tactics into plain-English case studies by niche, channel, and buying situation.
Why this is worth your time
GrowthDex starts with tactics that founders, marketers, and product teams have actually tried. Each essay turns the evidence into a practical move you can test without pretending one case study is a guarantee.
Ian Goh has helped grow consumer platforms across Southeast Asia, India, and MENA. His work includes scaling Tiki to 100M+ users, doubling BIGO's MENA revenue in 7 months, and increasing OYO's direct booking share across 6 Southeast Asian markets.
- Helped scale Tiki to 100M+ users.
- Doubled BIGO's MENA revenue in 7 months.
- Raised OYO's direct booking share by 50% across 6 Southeast Asian markets.
Want help turning this into a growth system?
If you want someone to pressure-test this against your real market, Ian works with founders on growth, market entry, and operator-led distribution.
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