Community | University 

Feb 05, 2026

Hello, GrowthHackers! 

Welcome to your daily unfair advantage.

Every morning, we cut through the noise to bring you sharp insights, fast news, and fresh sparks to light up your brain and fuel your hustle. From scrappy hacks to big tech moves, AI shifts to culture flips this is your intel to stay ahead, move fast, and break boring.

Think of it as your growth-fueled espresso shot.
Short. Smart. Addictive.

Let’s dive in.👇

Quick Hits

1. How to Optimize for AI Search Results
   (Clear answers > clever hacks)

2. Marketing leaders need peers, not playbooks
   (Playbooks are cute. Context is everything)

3. Spotify ventures into physical book sales, adds new audiobook features
   (Spotify entering its bookstore era was not on my bingo card)

The Growth joke of the day

Why did the marketer try to optimize for AI search?
Because ranking first was nice… but being quoted by the AI is the real flex now.

3-Minute News Bulletin with Roxie

This week's 🙌 News Bulletin explores:
AI Innovations Reshape Tech Development, Health, Finance,
and Digital Safety

In today’s News Bulletin AI is moving from experimentation to infrastructure. From Apple bringing agent-based AI into Xcode to Google’s push for privacy-first, on-device intelligence, the shift is toward AI that supports people, works in context, and operates closer to the user.

For marketers, the signal is clear: visibility now depends on consistency, credibility, and presence across platforms. LinkedIn data highlights the impact of trusted human voices in B2B, while SparkToro’s research shows that winning in AI-driven discovery is about being broadly visible, not ranking first.

AI is no longer a tool you test.
It’s the environment brands now have to grow inside.

What's New in Growth Hacking/Growth Marketing?

Strategies

• 5 Google Analytics Reports PPC Marketers Should Actually Use
  Google Analytics has never been perfect, but it used to feel familiar.

  The shift to Google Analytics 4 forced PPC marketers to rethink how they pull insights, not just where to click.

• For ChatGPT ads, behavior matters more than targeting
  Ads are now being tested in ChatGPT in the U.S., appearing for some users across different account types. For the first time, advertising is entering an AI answer environment and that changes the rules for marketers.

• Google’s subscriptions rise in Q4 as YouTube pulls $60B in yearly revenue
  Alphabet-owned YouTube’s subscription and ad revenue is trending upwards. The company on Wednesday said it now has 325 million paying users across Google One and YouTube Premium, up from 300 million three months earlier.

• Tinder looks to AI to help fight ‘swipe fatigue’ and dating app burnout
  Tinder is turning to a new AI-powered feature, Chemistry, to help it reduce so-called “swipe fatigue,” a growing problem among online dating users who are feeling burned out and are in search of better outcomes.

• 5 capabilities that separate high-performing MOps teams from the rest
  Over the last decade, I’ve watched MOps teams add more and more tools to their stack, yet somehow the work never gets easier. The requests still pile up. Priorities still shift daily. Stakeholders still bypass the process. And the team still feels like it’s drowning.

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People

• Nvidia CEO pushes back against report that his company’s $100B OpenAI investment has stalled
  Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said Saturday that a recent report of friction between his company and OpenAI was “nonsense.”

Did you hear?
The GrowthHackers Podcast is live!🎙️

A Founder’s Journey in Microscope

Building a marketplace is widely considered one of the hardest challenges a startup can face. It requires a fragile balance of matching demand with supply get it wrong, and nothing works.
In our debut episode, "Building Goodbash From Pain Point to Marketplace," we go under the microscope with a founder who dared to implement it. We dive deep into:

• Synchronizing Supply & Demand: How to manage the complexity of multiple personas.

• Reducing Risk: Navigating high marketing costs and fragmented messaging.

• The Waiting List Myth: Do pre-launch strategies create real traction or just an illusion?

Designed for the doers, builders, and growth-minded teams in our community, this episode turns complex startup theory into a proven framework for success.

What's New in Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

• Google Search Hits $63B, Details AI Mode Ad Tests
  Google is testing ads in AI Mode as Search revenue grew 17% to $63 billion. AI Mode queries run 3x longer than traditional searches.

• Generative Engine Optimization: The New Era of Search
  Instead of focusing solely on traditional search engine rankings (like SEO does), GEO is about ensuring that your content becomes part of the answers that generative AI systems deliver when users ask questions.