Build Front Doors, Monetize on Side Doors
Acquire viral point solutions, then cross-activate users into existing products.
- Difficulty
- Expert
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 100%
Acquire a focused product that solves one clear problem and has an embedded mechanism for continually attracting users, such as collaboration, sharing, or product-led virality. Keep that product functioning as a low-friction “front door” through which new users enter the broader company ecosystem. Then connect the acquired product to the buyer’s existing “side doors”: complementary products capable of generating greater engagement, retention, or revenue. The usable opportunity is based on active users who perform meaningful actions, not the headline number of registrations. Before completing the transaction, model the active base, verify product and audience overlap, and define the integrations and cross-activation journeys that will expose users to the wider portfolio. Continue investing in the acquired product’s own growth loop, because its recurring user acquisition—not merely its installed base—is what makes the strategy durable.
Origin
Kieran Flanagan names this model while examining Atlassian’s acquisitions of Trello and Loom, which together provided large, self-replenishing user bases that could be cross-activated into products such as Jira.
Core principles
- 01Buy a product that can continually acquire users through its own growth mechanism.
- 02Judge the opportunity by active users, not registered-user totals alone.
- 03Preserve the point solution as an effective front door.
- 04Integrate complementary portfolio products into the acquired user journey.
- 05Treat cross-activation and cross-selling as the transaction’s explicit monetization mechanism.
How to run it
- 1
Find a Strong Front Door
Identify a point solution that solves one problem clearly and attracts users through virality, collaboration, sharing, or strong word of mouth.
Pro tip Prefer products whose ordinary use naturally exposes additional people to the product.
Watch out A large historical registration count is insufficient if the acquisition loop has stalled.
- 2
Measure Meaningful Activation
Determine how many registered users complete actions demonstrating that they use the product meaningfully.
Pro tip Use a product-specific activation event rather than a generic login metric.
Watch out Do not build the acquisition model from total registrations alone.
- 3
Map the Side Doors
Choose existing products that solve adjacent needs for the acquired product’s active users.
Pro tip Prioritize side doors that create an obvious continuation of the user’s current workflow.
Watch out Weak product relevance will turn cross-selling into intrusive promotion.
- 4
Model the Cross-Activation Thesis
Estimate how many active users can be introduced to each complementary product and what conversion would make the deal attractive.
Pro tip Use conservative activation and cross-sell assumptions.
Watch out Do not justify the purchase using an undefined promise of future synergies.
- 5
Integrate the Portfolio
Create useful product integrations and contextual journeys that let front-door users discover and adopt the side-door products.
Pro tip Lead with workflow value before asking users to upgrade or buy.
Watch out Overloading the point solution with portfolio promotion can weaken its original growth loop.
- 6
Optimize Both Engines
Continue improving the front door’s user acquisition while testing cross-activation, adoption, and monetization across the side doors.
Pro tip Maintain separate dashboards for front-door health and portfolio conversion.
Watch out Extracting short-term revenue at the expense of front-door growth undermines the strategy.
In the wild
Atlassian acquired Trello, a focused project-management product with 19 million registered users and strong team-driven adoption. Trello continued growing to roughly 25 million registrations. Atlassian could preserve that product as a front door while integrating and cross-activating users into its existing products, including Jira.
→ Atlassian gained a large, continuing source of product-qualified users for its broader portfolio.
Atlassian acquired Loom, a single-purpose video-recording product whose users expose recipients to Loom whenever they share recordings. Flanagan estimates that Loom and Trello together represent 50 million registered users and uses a 20% activation assumption to illustrate a potential base of 10 million meaningful users for cross-selling.
→ The acquisition added another viral front door that could connect users to Atlassian’s existing products.
Common mistakes
Valuing Signups Instead of Active Users
Registered-user totals exaggerate the monetizable base unless users complete meaningful product actions.
Buying Without Product Adjacency
A large audience creates little strategic value when existing products do not solve relevant adjacent problems.
Damaging the Front Door
Aggressive cross-selling can erode the simple experience and organic growth loop that made the acquired product valuable.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for multi-product companies with strong complementary products but slowing top-of-funnel growth.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when the acquired product lacks organic growth, active users have weak overlap with the portfolio, or integration would damage the front door.
From the transcript
“So this is build front doors, monetize onto side doors, right? Build front doors, monetize on the side doors.”
“I buy my front door Trello, and then I obsess over how to monetize on my side door Jira.”
“But the thing that really matters is how many of them are active, which means how many of them commit to the tool and did…”
From the episode
The $1.5 Billion Growth Strategy (#166)