What Ryan Holiday Taught Me About Growth, Strategy, and Giving Old Ideas New Life
Creator: Luiz Berenguer.com
Copyright: Luiz Berenguer.com
I first came across Ryan Holiday through The Daily Stoic—a platform that brings ancient Stoic wisdom into daily practice through books, blogs, podcasts, and more. I admired how clearly he could distill timeless ideas into something that felt not only relevant, but applicable to every day life. What I didn’t expect was how much I’d take from his early work on marketing, especially after reading Growth Hacker Marketing.
In this short but sharp book, Holiday lays out a mindset that felt instantly familiar to me as someone who’s spent years in the tech industry—where experimentation, iteration, and data are key parts of the job. Growth Hacker Marketing isn’t about shiny campaigns or big ad budgets. It’s about building smart, sustainable systems for growth that are baked into the product or experience itself.
Why It Resonated
Holiday’s definition of a growth hacker is someone who replaces traditional marketing with what’s testable, trackable, and scalable. For those of us who approach marketing through a tech-driven lens, this framework just clicks. We’re not guessing—we’re testing, reiterating, testing again, and building until we hit a formula that sets us up for success and growth. We’re not chasing impressions—we’re chasing traction.
This approach mirrors the work I do: blending brand thinking with experimentation, analytics, and product insight. Whether I’m scaling awareness for a nonprofit or optimizing a user journey for a B2B SaaS tool, the growth mindset helps me make decisions rooted in evidence—not assumptions.
Building More Than a Brand
What’s also worth recognizing is that Ryan Holiday didn’t just write about this stuff—he lives it. The Daily Stoic is a prime example of modern growth hacking in action. He took a niche topic—ancient philosophy—and turned it into a global brand with millions of followers, a thriving content engine, physical products, courses, and even a brick-and-mortar bookstore, The Painted Porch, that I hope to one day visit. It’s not just content; it’s a full ecosystem.
That’s what great marketing can do: It doesn’t just promote—it creates movements. It’s equal parts storytelling, system design, and strategic foresight.
Final Thought
Reading Growth Hacker Marketing reminded me that successful marketing isn’t about flashy one-offs—it’s about building momentum with intention. It's about knowing your audience, delivering real value, and finding scalable ways to reach the right people at the right time.
In a world that changes fast, Holiday’s work is a good reminder that the best strategies are agile, data-driven, and—at their core—human.